Ryan Villopoto rebounded from his rough start at the FIM MXGP opener to win round two handily.
Ryan Villopoto’s rough start to the FIM World Motocross Championship season is now a memory after the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team rebounded to earn his first career MXGP win at Nakhonchaisri Raceway in Thailand, Sunday.
Villopoto showed that he is more than prepared for GP Series when it comes to fitness and that his midweek tesing in Belgium had yielded improvements as he braved the sweltering 100-plus degree heat and high humidity to win his qualification race by a whopping 33 seconds. In the first MXGP moto he grabbed the lead from teammate Tyla Rattray early and was never seriously challenged en route to the moto win.
In moto two, Villopoto was forced off the track early. He recovered and worked his way into third place, and although he was unable to catch leader Antonio Cairoli and runner-up Clement Desalle, his third-place finish was more than good enough to net him the overall win, which also moved up to fourth in the championship standings, just 18 points behind series leader Desalle.
“We only had two days to test when we went back to Europe, but we made good progress with the bike,” Villopoto said. “We made some big suspension changes and then some fine tuning here. I think the track here is not only new for all of us, it is also a little more jumpy than the usual GP track and suited me. For sure there will be weeks when a track suits me best, and other weeks when the track suits the European guys. I didn’t ride this sort of heat for one and a half years, and it even started snowing when we were training in Belgium on Tuesday, so it was a shock change for all of us. I guess I have some things to learn, too. There’s a strategy to GP racing, but I’m gradually getting used to it. I got pushed around a little in the first few turns of race two, but when I got to third I just tried to be smart, and at this stage of the season a safe third is better than risking a crash. It’s cool to come here to Thailand and see things which you would normally only see in the movies; it’s a bizarre experience.”
Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings, on the other hand, has yet to be defeated in his return to the MX2 in his legitimate return to the MX2 class. Herlings dominated the class to bag another two impressive moto wins and claim the overall win. Herlings looks like the same man who won the back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
“This was a really tough weekend, and I don’t have so much riding fitness yet because I have only been on the bike four weeks,” Herlings said. “The heat really got to me but we made our way through and won both motos. I also won the qualification so I can go home happy. The track is what it is and riders have to adapt, but for sure it was kind of supercross style, and with this heat, humidity and such a track it was really tough. Sometimes you have to fight through a wall, and that’s what I did. Now I have three weeks to recover so I’m going to rest, recover and start training again on Wednesday.”
Round three of the FIM Motocross World Championship is scheduled to take place at Patagonia Race Track in Neuquen, Argentina, March 29.
FIM Motocross World Championship
Nakhonchaisri Motocross Track
Nakhonchaisri, Thailand
Results: March 8, 2015 (Round 2 of 18)
MXGP
1. Ryan Villopoto (USA)-Kaw/1-3
2. Clement Desalle (BEL)-Suz/2-2
3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA)-KTM/5-1
4. Roman Febvre (FRA)-Yam/3-4
5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL)-Suz/6-5
FIM Motocross World Championship MXGP Point Standings (After 2 of 18 rounds)
1. Clement Desalle-88
2. Antonio Cairoli-79
3. Max Nagl-78/1 win
4. Ryan Villopoto-70/1 win
5. Roman Febvre-67
MX2
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED)-KTM/1-1
2. Pauls Jonass (LAT)-KTM/4-2
3. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA)-Kaw/2-4
4. Thomas Covington (USA)-Kaw/5-5
5. Valentin Guillod (SUI)-Yam/6-6
FIM Motocross World Championship MX2 Point Standings (After 2 of 18 rounds)
1. Jeffrey Herlings-100/2 wins
2. Dylan Ferrandis-78
3. Pauls Jonass-70
4. Julien Lieber-62
5. Valentin Guillod-58
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