3. Ryan Villopoto
2011-2014 AMA 450cc (Premier Class) Supercross Champion
Premier-Class Wins: 41
Most Premier-Class Wins in a Season: 10 (2013)
Ryan Villopoto seemed like the second coming of Ricky Carmichael from the very first time Villopoto lined up at an AMA Pro event.
Like Carmichael, Villopoto was a diminutive, redheaded racer who was a much more natural outdoor racer than supercross racer. Like Carmichael, Villopoto won the 125/250cc National MX championship his first three seasons, and only won one SX title during the same period of time. Like Carmichael, Villopoto liked to steer his motorcycles around the track using the rear wheel as much as possible. Like Carmichael, it took Villopoto a few years to win a premier-class championship. And like Carmichael, once he started winning, he couldn’t be stopped.
Villopoto was closing in on what could’ve been his first 450cc Supercross Championship late in 2010 when a bad crash left him with a broken leg, handing the title to rival (and rookie) Ryan Dungey. After that, though, Villopoto dominated the sport, winning four titles in a row between 2011 and 2014 to match a consecutive-championship record set by Jeremy McGrath. Then Villopoto retired.
Villopoto’s status as one of the greatest of all-time was set, but he burnt himself out in the process. He still races occasionally, such as at this year’s Australian SX Open, but it’s just for fun nowadays. Still, he’s remained onboard with Kawasaki as a brand ambassador and is frequently seen around supercross races.
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