Press release
29KB
march 02, 2015 - Kawasaki
Kawasaki - MXGP: Baptism of fire for Ryan Villopoto
Ten times US champion Ryan Villopoto had a baptism of fire in Qatar as he finished seventh on his debut for the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team in the FIM MXGP World Championship.
The 26 year old from Poulsbo in Washington State was inevitably a little race rusty after nine months without a race. He also acknowledged the difference in many aspects of the sport in the USA and on the world stage, and already displayed his commitment to tackling the challenge during the weekend in the Gulf state. After finishing on the same second as the leaders during practice, he faced a tough ride to eighth in the qualification but race day started badly when he stalled the motor at the start of the opening points moto. Despite two falls he eventually finished ninth, and advanced one further place up the scorecard in race two even though he was forced to ride the second half of the race with a damaged rear brake after a rock hit it. He will now return to Europe for some days of testing before the second round of the World Series in Thailand.!
Teammate Tyla Rattray was dogged by even more bad luck throughout the weekend as crashes affected his results. The South African had twenty-second choice of gate after an incident in qualification and a crash in the opening GP moto restricted him to seventeenth. After adjustments to some bike settings he charged from twenty-first to sixteenth in race two.!
Ryan Villopoto: “I haven’t raced since May last year, and it wasn’t a good day but we scored points and that’s definitively something we have to work on. I never had a schedule like that one for a long time, but I’ve got to get used to that and all the rest, including how the gate drops, how they do everything. We struggled a little bit with the start today, a little me and a little the bike, but we came back and got points. We’ve definitively some work to do, but that’s part of it. We learned a lot this weekend and will be stronger at the next GP; we have to work on setup stuff, which make thinks a little bit easier. For me every time I went on the track this weekend things went better; in the second race I had some issues as my rear brake felt strange; I don’t know if it’s a rock or what, but it’s part of the deal. We can make some stuff this week, even if the team doesn’t go back home, and we will be better next weekend.”!
Tyla Rattray: “It was a tough weekend for me, for the team, for Ryan, for everyone. We’re not where we want to be; we did a lot of testing, with suspensions, we thought we had good settings coming here, but the GP tracks are much different than the US tracks and where we’ve been testing in Europe. In this case we return to the drawing board, and do some testing; we return with Ryan to Belgium before going to Thailand, we’ll do some more testing this week and will continue to work hard. Sometimes you have to deal with the circumstances, and do the best that you can, but we’ll be ready for Thailand.”
hi_Rattray_GP01_PH_0332
3888x2592, 4MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_PH_0732
3888x2592, 3MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_PH_0850
3888x2592, 3MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_SL_0621
5760x3840, 3MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_SL_0685
5060x3374, 2MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_SL_0887
4263x2842, 2MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_SL_1499
5076x3384, 2MB
hi_Rattray_GP01_SL_7236
5381x3587, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_PH_0322
3888x2592, 5MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_PH_0384
3888x2592, 4MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_PH_0500
3888x2592, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_PH_0581
3888x2592, 3MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_PH_0600
3888x2592, 4MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0091
5760x3840, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0143
5599x3733, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0160
5712x3808, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0185
5406x3604, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0378
4243x2828, 1MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0390
5001x3334, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0622
5436x3624, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0928
3986x2657, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0958
5760x3840, 5MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0980
5230x3487, 4MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_0993
4159x2773, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_1324
5760x3840, 3MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_1428
5448x3632, 3MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_2385
3960x2640, 2MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_2441
5332x3554, 3MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_2485
5760x3840, 3MB
hi_Villopoto_GP01_SL_7225
5394x3596, 3MB
Related news |
||
|
|
|
april 15, 2024
|
april 08, 2024
|
march 22, 2024
|
|
MXGP 2024, Round 4 of 20, Pietramurata, TrentinoMXGP stayed in Italian soil but swapped the sand of Sardinia for the hard-pack of ... |
As the temperatures soared in Sardegna, so too did the results for the The Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing Team, with Kay de Wolf... |
Power, dependability, and a cool image certainly won’t be in short supply around the MXGP FIM Motocross World Championship Red Bul... |
Download all 
You might be interested in |
||
|
|
|
march 10, 2024
|
february 22, 2024
|
february 19, 2024
|
|
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser started 2024 exactly as he wanted, by winning the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina qualification races and taking... |
GALFER continues its rise in the world of Motocross and, after the news earlier this year of its participation as a Technical Part... |
REGISTRATION FOR YOUNGSTERS TO ENTER THE SUPER EXCITING MOTOCROSS SERIES OPEN TODAYDoes someone in your life race a GASGAS MC-E 5?... |
Italian 
Download all 
Share
Share via mail 
Automotive
Sport
Events
Art&Culture
Design
Fashion&Beauty
Food&Hospitality
Technology
Nautica
Racing
Excellence
Corporate
OffBeat
Green
Gift
Pop
Heritage
Entertainment
Health & Wellness