250 Words: San Diego

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Was there ever really much doubt? Ryan Villopoto has been positioning himself as the next big thing in this sport for the last year now, and his championship clinch at San Diego just marked another notch in his ascension. RV has executed a championship blitz that included six wins in seven races, taking a second in the only one he didn’t win and miraculously wrapping up the championship almost three months before the supercross season is over.

Credit the schedule for a little bit of that, though, since there’s only one points-paying West Region race left after this one. Regardless, RV is showing all the tools right now: starts, speed, stamina, and a no-nonsense approach that should keep him on the right career path for the next few years. In fact, if his slightly older peers continue to hit bumps in the road in their transition to the 450 class—riders like Davi Millsaps, Ivan Tedesco, Grant Langston, and Andrew Short—Villopoto may already be positioning himself as the next great challenger to the supercross throne.

That’s a ways off though, as RV has already declared he will race East Lites next season. And he’s going to spend his money on property in Texas so he can further develop his program for the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship. Ryan said he would rather spend his championship money on training property than a fancy car, but then his sponsor, Toyota of Escondido, hooked him up with a new FJ Cruiser for his title, so in a ways he has both. Does he have it all, though? We’ll see in a few years.