Ryan Villopoto Bio

Villopoto moved to the KX450F in 2009, but suffered a knee injury that would put his season on hold.

There have been plenty of great 125 riders, but Ryan Villopoto has become the best 250F pilot to date. Riding on the Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX250F machinery doesn’t hurt his chances, but RV knows how to get every last drop of performance out of the quarter-liter motors on the track, just like his boss Mitch Payton does in the shop.

His first championship came outdoors in 2006 following a third place in the Western SX Lites series. He backed that up with a sweep of 2007 and was poised to do it again in ’08 but came up short in the final SX Lites race. Newcomer Trey Canard pulled an aggressive move in the battle for the race win and championship that sent RV off the track. Villopoto would have his revenge once the series took it outside and he blitzed the AMA Motocross Lites for his third consecutive outdoor title.

Perhaps the most crowning achievement of RV’s young career was his utter dominance of the 2007 Motocross of Nations. Riding his 250F, Ryan smoked the world’s best MX offerings regardless of bike, country or credentials. Even the other Americans couldn’t hang with him and Ricky Carmichael and Tim Ferry followed his lead to sweep the MXoN event. Villopoto again contributed to a MXoN victory in 2008, his final appearance on the quarter-liter.

In 2009, RV moved into the space vacated by James Stewart to ride the fuel-injected KX450F full-time, but a knee injury put his season on hold. Before the injury, RV was well on his way to making history - Villopoto became the third person in history to win his first premier class race and the only other person besides Carmichael to claim three-straight 250 motocross titles and then win his 450-class debut. 

RV will race alongside champion Chad Reed aboard the Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450F for 2010.

Villopoto has always been the quiet, intense type. He's moved to the 450 class and will test his skills against the big dogs in 2010.