Ryan Villopoto Wins 2013 Supercross In St Louis

PIC: www.cyclenews.com

There are certainly many valid claims to the legitimacy of it, but two-times champion Ryan Villopoto picked up his fourth win of the 2013 championship with another commanding victory at St.Louis.

Anyone who might question whether a Supercross race is exciting enough would have been duly silenced after the events on Saturday. St Louis had it all: crashes, restarts, intense racing and a couple of suspicious acts of rule breaking...

First things first. After a nasty accident between Kyle Chisholm and Matt Goerke on lap 3 (see the first video), the race was restarted with a not-often-seen single file line. With James Stewart having led the race up until that point, he sat at the front of the queue. Ryan Villopoto (who already seemed to avoid a wrist slapping for jumping while a medical flag was out) sat back in 6th. 

It wasnt a position he would stay in for long as both Villopoto and Chad Reed quickly work their way past Mike Alessi (who started in 3rd), to start  chasing down Justin Barcia in 2nd. Villopoto then muscles Reed out of 3rd before the end of lap five.

By lap eight, everything started to kick off: Barcia was sat on Stewarts tail, with Villopoto hot on the heels of Barcia. By lap 10, RV had overtaken Barcia and was swapping the lead with Stewart multiple times over the next couple of laps. At one point, both Ryan Villopoto and Justin Barcia sit ahead of James Stewart but Barcia tags a tuff block on lap 13 which allows Stewart, Reed and - from out of nowhere - Ryan Dungey to get past, pushing Barcia back to 5th.

With five laps left to go, we are shown a replay of VIllopoto passing Stewart on a yellow flag but it seems that the race officials let the Monster Energy riders second infraction slide.

So, by the end of the race, RV takes a big chunk out of Millsaps points lead (Davi finished back in 6th) and Ryan Dungey sits as a quiet threat in 3rd. There are seven races still to go, but Villopoto is showing that he wont let anything get in his way on his mission for a third championship title.

ST LOUIS RESULTS

1st Ryan Villopoto
2nd James Stewart
3rd Chad Reed
4th Ryan Dungey
5th Justin Barcia
6th Davi Millsaps
7th Mike Alessi
8th Trey Canard
9th Justin Brayton
10th Andrew Short

2013 SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1st  David Millsaps          189
2nd Ryan Villopoto         177
3rd  Ryan Dungey           166
4th  Trey Canard              148
5th  Chad Reed                147
6th  Justin Barcia             132
7th  James Stewart         122
8th  Andrew Short           113
9th  Justin Brayton          103
10th Broc Tickle               87 

Villopoto Wins Anaheim II Supercross

Pic: MotoX Addicts

With all the unpredictability in the Supercross of late, Ryan Villopoto delivered a dose of the familiar with a confident win for round 3 of the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross Championship at Anaheim II.

The race started with a holeshot from Jake Weimer, chased by last weekends winner, Justin Barcia. However, an uncomfortable landing in the rhythm section sees Barcia taking fall back through the field. His fate was sealed in lap 4 after casing the triple and smashing his face badly on the handlebars. A face filled covered in blood means a very understandable trip to the medical unit.

Before the end of lap 4, Trey Canard is leading the race, followed by Millsaps who is clearly trying to prove that his performance at the very start of the season was no fluke.

By lap 5, a hard-charging Poto storms past Millsaps with an aggressive pass and has hunted down Canard by lap 6. Even though RV steams into the lead, everyone is still got huge respect for Canard, who, this time last year, broke him back in an accident that still turns our stomach when we watch it. If he could finish on the podium then that would still be an incredible achievement.

By lap 12, Villopoto has extended his lead to nearly 7 seconds, with Millsaps and Reed duking it out for 3rd. Although Reed snatches the position on lap 15, Millsaps quickly reclaims it back only to slide out on a corner before the end of lap 17, gifting a podium place Chad Reed.

While this is going on, the much-maligned James Stewart falls on a corner where he cant put his busted knee out for support. He will eventually finish down in 12th.

There are no last minute changes over the final few laps. Canard stops RV from extend his lead any further to keep second and Chad Reed finishes 3rd in front of Millsaps who will still hang onto the red plate in Oakland thanks to a slender 3 point lead on the championship table.

Ryan Villopoto Story Of A Champion

There will be many of you who will be unable to muster a shred of sympathy for multi-millionaire and multiple Supercross champion Ryan Villopoto. However, his path to success has come at the expense of his childhood, a traditional relationship with his family, alienating his siblings and bringing his father the brink of financial ruin. 

Would you be prepared sacrifice as much and have the livelihood of your own parents resting on your success in order to have the same? No wonder RV can come across the wrong in interviews.

If youve got the time, this documentary is well worth a watch and you may see Villopoto in a different light by the end. Let us know what you think in the comments below!