Okay, so this young kid has already taken the AMA Motocross Lites championship in his first full year of competition aboard a Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX250F. He did so despite two mechanical DNFs. In other words, he had the competition so thoroughly covered that he won the championship despite scoring zero points in two motos due to no fault of his own.
We are talking about Ryan Villopoto, of course. Villopoto most recently attended the Motocross des Nations as a member of Team USA. How did he do there? Well, you probably already know that Team USA won the title, but you may not know specifically how Villopoto fared against the best riders in the world. Racing two motos that included larger displacement machines (Moto 1 included 450cc machines, and Moto 2 included open-class machines) Villopoto finished 3/2. In the process, Villopoto’s best lap time was slower than only four other riders and two of those riders were ten-time World champ Stefan Everts (Yamaha) and James Stewart (Kawasaki).
While he is already being compared to a young Ricky Carmichael, the sky is the limit for Ryan Villopoto. He will return to the Lites class aboard a Kawasaki again next year for both Supercross and Motocross. With his blazing speed and cool head, he would have to be the favorite to take two titles in 2007.
