Ryan Villopoto: Life After Retirement, AUS-X Open and more

In May, four-time Monster Energy Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto confirmed he would come out of retirement—for one race, anyway—and compete in the 2016 AUS-X Open on November 12-13 in Sydney, Australia.

The event will serve as Villopoto’s first full-schedule racing appearance since announcing his retirement from professional racing last year.

Current 250MX points leader Cooper Webb, who edged out Chad Reed on the second night of the event last year in an epic showdown, has also confirmed he will race the event. Reed will also race the event for a second consecutive year.

Kayne Taylor of AME Management recently had the chance to talk with RV about the event, life after retirement and much more.

Tickets are on sale today.

AME Management: So, Ryan, what have you been up to since retiring?
Ryan Villopoto: A little bit of everything; trying not to travel too much! Obviously at the start of the year I rode a little bit in California doing those ‘Science Of Supercross’ pieces, which was cool, and that was the first time I’d been on a supercross track in a while.

But really, I’ve just been staying at home and enjoying being around where I grew up and around the rest of my family and things like that. So, to be honest, I’ve been staying pretty busy. I haven’t been sitting around twiddling my thumbs, so it’s been good.

You also have a new family on the way too…
Yeah! That’s still quite recent; we’re just over halfway now. We have two boys that are on the way now, and that’s going to be a crazy thing. They’ll be here before I know it, and then I’ll be fully involved with them—cleaning their diapers, and, you know. It’ll be hectic there for a little while. [Laughs]

Sounds as though life has changed quite a lot since being a full-time factory racer to where you are now…
Oh yeah, it’s changed a lot. The lifestyle that we live as professional racers is pretty hectic and on-the-go all of the time, and that’s one of the things that I kind of wanted to step away from and sort of settle down. I have sort of done that now with the two kids on the way. We’re really looking forward to see where that takes us from here on out.

Have you missed racing?
You know, to be honest I come out and ride here and there, and unless the track is bitchin’ and everything is just perfect, I get out there and ride, like, three or four laps, then I come in and hang out, then go do three more laps, and then I’m like “Ok, I’m done”. [Laughs] It’s still not at the point where I’m really looking forward to going and riding, don’t get me wrong, it’s always fun, but I’m not at that point where I have the itch to load all my shit and go ride by myself. I’m sure that’ll come later down the track, though.

You’re racing the AUS-X Open in November. What have you heard about the event?
I heard it was really good! I’ve always seen the races down there and stuff, and there are always guys coming up from Australia and racing supercross, and majority of them are pretty good. You know Chad’s obviously been here for many years now and I know Dan Reardon was here racing at some stage too. So I’m excited to get down there, check Australia out, race those guys and have a hell of a time.

What’s the reasoning for choosing the AUS-X Open to race, when you’re retired?
It seems like a unique race in many areas. It has metal ramps for some of the take offs, so that in itself there makes it a little bit less stressful—everything to do with around the race seems like it’s something to draw the fans in, and it’s built as more of an “event spectacle” type of thing. It seems like more of a good enjoyable show, and sure we’ll be racing hard, but it’s not all about who’s going to win this race and then move onto the next round. It is, from what I gather, just going to be something really cool that people are going to enjoy watching.

Talk about Chad. What’s your relationship like with him?
My relationship with Chad over the years of racing was pretty good. You know, no real highs, no real lows. We’ve had some great battles, and shit, you have to give it to him, he’s still out there racing today. So, I’ll be lining up on the gate with him again, and sure I want to be up there and being able to race with him. We’ll see if I can do that. [Laughs]

What are you most looking forward to?
What am I most looking forward to? Lining up behind a gate. I mean, sure I’m a little bit nervous as it’s been a while, but that’ll be cool, and then also just the experience going down there and checking Australia out. I’ve heard it’s really cool.

How do you think your fans will react when they’re seeing you race?
I feel like it’ll be good. I think that, with my fans, maybe I didn’t completely give them the appreciation that they needed, but I feel that I was on a level playing field with them. But the AUS-X Open is something cool that I think all my fans will just like. I think no matter where they are [based], they’ll want to tune in to some degree and see what’s going on.

I think it’ll be a thing like, “Cool, Chad’s down there racing and so is Ryan; shit lets see where he’s at,” you know? So hopefully the fans will tune in, check it out and like it.