Villopoto Tops Qualifying
FIM MX World Champs 2015
Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto showed that the hype was worthwhile as he completely dominated the Saturday MXGP qualification race, winning by a massive 30 seconds over Rockstar Energy Suzuki rider Clement Desalle and HRC rider Gautier Paulin.
Villopoto took the holeshot and as the American was rocketing off into the distance MXGP champion Antonio Cairoli was picking himself up off the ground in last spot after a first corner crash.
Clement Desalle tried to stay with Villopoto but the speed of the AMA Supercross champion through the wave section was just unbelievable, like nothing we have seen in Europe. The many jumps and technical sections really played into the hands of the Monster Energy rider as he held at nine second lead after four laps.
Desalle was second, then came De Dycker, Searle, Nagl, Strijbos, Rattray, Paulin, Philippaerts and Frossard in 10th. Strijbos made a mistake and dropped back to 17th spot and Cairoli was up into 11th place on lap five.
Searle also made a mistake and went from fourth to 10th, Nagl moved into fourth place and Paulin fifth position. Van Horebeek was also struggling in 18th position as was his Yamaha team-mate Romain Febvre in 16th.
South African Tyla Rattray also showed signs of improvement holding down sixth spot as 6th, 7thand 8th (Rattray, Philippaerts, Cairoli) keep the former or present MX champions together in the pack.
10 laps in and the lead is now 17 seconds as Villopoto continues to destroy the Thailand circuit. On lap 11 he pulled four seconds on Desalle to move to 21 seconds ahead and the destruction of the GP riders continues.
Villopoto continued to put together amazing laps times moving a further eight seconds on Desalle in a single lap, going 29 seconds ahead on lap 12 and 42 seconds on third places Paulin.
Just as he showed little mercy on his American rivals over the last 10 or so years Villopoto totally dominated the GP riders on this warm day in Thailand winning the MXGP qualification race and he goes into tomorrows GP as the heavy favourite.
Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto didn’t waste time in letting his MXGP rivals that he is here with bad intentions after winning the MXGP qualification race.
We spoke with Villopoto and Jeffrey Herlings about their win and what to expect tomorrow.
MXlarge: How did it feel to win the qualification moto?
Villopoto: It was a lot better than last weekend. It is just one qualification race, and I don’t think you can go too much off this win. The bike felt better and we changed it quite a bit. We only had two days to do some stuff on the bike back in Europe. After this GP we will have two weeks, so it will be a lot better. The progress we are making is good. All suspension stuff, but also when we flew back to Europe between Qatar and this one.
MXlarge: Your drop off the gate wasn’t great, but you got out of the first corner well?
Villopoto: Tommy got a good start and he edged me out and I had a little on Desalle, but Tommy come over on me a bit and I was able to move over on Desalle and we just keep working and make slow progress.
MXlarge: Do you think it helped that the circuit is a level playing field? Nobody has raced here before.
Villopoto: I think for sure it’s a level playing field here and there are a lot of jumps compared to a regular outdoor track and like I said before there will be places I am better and place they are better and I think this one might be a better one for me. We will just try and do better and the days we struggle we just do the best we can.
MXlarge: You were making up 8 seconds at lap at the end of the moto. Was that you making a statement or the other just backing off and you not?
Villopoto: I guess I need to learn that a little more, maybe because of the heat the others don’t want to waste energy and they backed it off more than I did near the end of the motos. I probably have to learn how they do that and do it a little better for next time.
MXLarge: How do you like Thailand?
Villopoto: It is bazaar, it is really cool, I mean Thailand is something you only see in the movies and it’s been a lot of fun. You can’t explain to somebody what it is like here.
MXlarge: How can you explain Qatar?
Villopoto: I mean we had bike issues and it was a little bit me also, but we will sort that stuff out and already we have made good progress.
MXlarge: How often have you had to remind yourself not to use tap water to brush your teeth in Bangkok?
Villopoto: You know, it’s actually been pretty good so far, the food hasn’t been the best, but it’s been just fine and it’s a great experience.
Herlings comment
Click here for qualifying highlights
It is tough to prepare for this race, something we can’t get used to being back at home. We trained between Qatar and Thailand and it was like five degrees and tomorrow will be tough. Two long motos but we will do our best and see tomorrow. I think for passing the track last year was better, but the track is what is it and we just have to adapt.
MXGP Qualifying Results
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Clement Desalle
3. Gautier Paulin
4. Max Nagl
5. Ken De Dycker
6. Tyla Rattray
7. David Philippaerts
8. Antonio Cairoli
9. Steven Frossard
10. Tommy Searle
Full results here.
MX2 Qualifying Results
1. Jeffrey Herlings
2. Pauls Jonass
3. Tim Gajser
4. Dylan Ferrandis
5. Jordi Tixier
6. Jeremy Seewer
7. Benoit Paturel
8. Julien Lieber
9. Mel Pocock
10. Brian Bogers.
Full results here.