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Supercross & Motocross
SX: The Holeshot - Houston
Villopoto's triumph, Stewart's disappointment, Windham's fall, and Barcia's emotion get put under the spotlight in this week's Holeshot.
(Photo: Hoppenworld.com)
The inevitable happened on Saturday night and Ryan Villopoto cemented his name on the list of all-time motocross greats. The Kawasaki rider captured his eighth victory of the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross season, a new career high, inside Houston’s Reliant Stadium, and took home his second consecutive world title along with it.
What more can be said of Villopoto? He assembled the most successful season of all time one year ago, yet is somehow on a path to better it this year. His back-to-back titles have placed him firmly among motocross’ elite, joining Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Stanton, and Bob Hannah as the only riders to do ever successfully defend their titles. That’s some mighty impressive company.
As if that wasn’t enough, Villopoto captured the championship with four races remaining -- earlier than any rider in history. Not even McGrath accomplished that when he took home 14 wins in 15 races back in 2006 -- the most statistically dominant season on record.
There is no doubt that Ryan is currently the most prolific rider in the motocross world. He’s never lost a championship in the motocross discipline, he’s undefeated at the Motocross of Nations, and once he hit his stride in Supercross he's proven to be virtually unstoppable.
Since capturing his inaugural win on a 450 in 2009 -- at his home race in Seattle no less -- Villopoto has won 23 of his 47 starts -- nearly half. Sure, others before him have posted similar numbers, but Villopoto is doing this despite being pit up against the likes of James Stewart, Kevin Windham, Chad Reed, Ryan Dungey, and Trey Canard. Three of those riders are former Supercross champions, and the other two are arguably the best riders currently competing without a premier class title.
This is the commonly considered the most competitive era the sport has ever seen, and yet Villopoto is somehow making it look easy. Sure, his '12 effort was unfortunately aided by a rash of injuries that plagued the top riders in the division, but that does nothing to take away from what Villopoto has accomplished. There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t have defended his title even if his challengers had stayed healthy. Villopoto was already in possession of that coveted red number plate by the time the field began to thin.
What more can be said of Villopoto? He assembled the most successful season of all time one year ago, yet is somehow on a path to better it this year. His back-to-back titles have placed him firmly among motocross’ elite, joining Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Stanton, and Bob Hannah as the only riders to do ever successfully defend their titles. That’s some mighty impressive company.
As if that wasn’t enough, Villopoto captured the championship with four races remaining -- earlier than any rider in history. Not even McGrath accomplished that when he took home 14 wins in 15 races back in 2006 -- the most statistically dominant season on record.
There is no doubt that Ryan is currently the most prolific rider in the motocross world. He’s never lost a championship in the motocross discipline, he’s undefeated at the Motocross of Nations, and once he hit his stride in Supercross he's proven to be virtually unstoppable.
Since capturing his inaugural win on a 450 in 2009 -- at his home race in Seattle no less -- Villopoto has won 23 of his 47 starts -- nearly half. Sure, others before him have posted similar numbers, but Villopoto is doing this despite being pit up against the likes of James Stewart, Kevin Windham, Chad Reed, Ryan Dungey, and Trey Canard. Three of those riders are former Supercross champions, and the other two are arguably the best riders currently competing without a premier class title.
This is the commonly considered the most competitive era the sport has ever seen, and yet Villopoto is somehow making it look easy. Sure, his '12 effort was unfortunately aided by a rash of injuries that plagued the top riders in the division, but that does nothing to take away from what Villopoto has accomplished. There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t have defended his title even if his challengers had stayed healthy. Villopoto was already in possession of that coveted red number plate by the time the field began to thin.
SX Seattle
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