Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Villopoto’s “On Fire”

July 25, 2006, 6:17am

Blazingly fast in his first full year of competition, Villopoto now
gets to head home, Washougal, Wash., for the next round of the
Outdoor Nationals

CARLSBAD, Calif., (July 24, 2006) – Monster Energy-backed Ryan
Villopoto topped veteran AMA Lites class racer Broc Helpler, along
with series points chase rival Mike Alessi, to win the overall title
at Lakewood’s (Colo.) Thunder Valley Raceway this past Sunday,
increasing his lead in the overall points chase by 13 points (over
Alessi).

Villopoto’s performance was masterful. In the first moto the Pacific
Northwest native led the race wire-to-wire, at one point clocking a
lap time which was nearly two second faster than the second-fastest
racer (Hepler).

“My Kawasaki KX250F ran unreal – especially given the things we
were up against,” said Villopoto of the altitude and fuel issues all
the teams were dealing with at Lakewood. “Not having to worry about
my bike holding up in the extreme conditions allowed me to focus on
my racing, which took a lot of pressure off and made it so I could
relax more – especially late in the motos.”

In the second moto Villopoto took over the lead from Hepler on lap
three and again put up a blistering fast lap time in the process –
some 1.5 seconds faster than Hepler (2nd overall) best effort. And
rival Alessi was even further back than that.

Also benefiting from the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki
technology was Troy Adams. The Floridian overcame a first moto crash that dumped him from 5th to 25th on the second lap (eventually 17th overall) to rally to an impressive 7th place finish in the second
moto – his best moto finish since scoring a 5th in the second moto
at Round Two (Mt. Morris).

The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team returns to action on the 2006 Toyota AMA Motocross Championship this weekend (July 30th) when the tour stops at Washougal MX Park in Washougal, Wash., for Round Eight of the 12-round series.