Written by:
Denny Hartwig
Monster Energy Kawasaki Ryan Villopoto (Photo: Steve Cox)
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Ryan Villopoto has thrown a wrench into the two-man machine that has dominated the 2009 Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, and with the penultimate round set for this Saturday at Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, the story line is expected to take another exciting twist.
On the heels of his first career victory last week in Seattle, the Monster Energy Kawasaki-backed Villopoto has become the wild card in the James Stewart and Chad Reed championship race. Villopoto’s win not only turned Reed’s five-point lead into a three-point deficit to Stewart, but he also became the first AMA Supercross class rider to win a main event in which Stewart did not crash, snapping the previous string of 54 consecutive races that Stewart had either won or crashed.
Coming into Seattle, Stewart had won 34 of 53 starts to that point with at least one crash in each of the 19 races he lost. He did stall his motorcycle on Saturday night, but he never touched the Seattle dirt, which means Villopoto's first win came with the rare distinction of doing it on a night when Stewart either crashed or won -- the first such night in his AMA Supercross class career.
At the start of the AMA Supercross main, Reed, of Tampa, Fla., crashed and began to play catch up from 19th place, and Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., was mired in 11th by the end of lap one. Throughout the early portion of the race, Alessi and Villopoto battled for the top spot before Alessi washed out just before halfway to give up the lead. Villopoto, in his first race back since New Orleans on March 14, put his head down and rode to an impressive and surprising victory.
“It’s awesome,” said Villopoto. “I can’t thank my team enough and everybody that put effort into it. It hasn’t been the year we wanted but they never gave up. I could see James and Chad out of the corner of my eye sometimes. I just focused on Mike (Alessi) and he made that mistake. The track was super tricky tonight and there were some slick spots so you really had to ride smart.”
