BUD LITES:
It was not long ago when 17-year old Ryan Villopoto and 18-year old Mike Alessi were doing battle for Motocross' most prized amateur titles. In those mini days it was Alessi who got the better of the younger Villopoto more often than not.
Early on in his pro career Alessi was more mouth than he was results. He jumped right into the Motocross class as a 17-year old, passing on the Lites class. Alessi quickly proclaimed that he could run with the big boys like Ricky Carmichael and Kevin Windham. But Alessi's hype was just that and it was quick to see the kid was over matched on the bigger machines.
This season Alessi looked to do the right thing. He and team KTM-RedBull were looking forward to contending for the Lites Class Championship and early on it looked like it was going to come up all orange.
Some of the faster guys had early season trouble. Josh Grant could not string it together, Andrew Short fell on some bad starts, Broc Hepler started the season on the IR, and Villopoto was having starting problems and was even forced to DNF an entire moto due to mechanical failure.
But week after week something was happening. Villopoto was consistently putting together the fastest lap times in practice each week, and was charging through the pack to make up points after poor or average starts. Slowly but surely RV started putting together some better starts and was taking it to the leaders, and putting them into his roost.
Now with half the season gone, Villopoto leads the points by a slim but still significant margin. But the most important by product is that RV is now getting into people's heads. He has proved he can catch and pass anyone, and that so far no one can run his pace, not even Alessi.
It seems that perhaps the worm has turned. All those years of Alessi dominating Villopoto must have been educational and now the student has become the teacher. It is Alessi who is scratching his head looking for speed that just does not seem to be there at this time.
Alessi's inability to move up in the pack has killed him. It seems that if he starts in 7th, he cannot make up many points by passing more than a couple spots. And at times he's been caught and passed by riders who are not in any championship hunt for places like 4th. You just don't win an MX title by getting passed more often than you pass.
Villopoto has been exactly the opposite. A poor start for RV just means it will take him longer to work his way up to the leaders. And thus far he has not failed to make points in every moto he's been able to finish. His fitness is excellent, and he's got that extra gear much like Carmichael. Just when you think you've made time on him, he seems to be able to wick it up another notch and break your spirit. That is something that all the great champs have been able to do.
There are a lot of great young riders out there right now under the age of 20. Davi Millsaps is having an amazing year as an 18 year old rookie in the big class, he's been nothing short of excellent for Team Honda. Add to him Villopoto, Alessi, Hepler, Grant, and a handful of other teenage dark horses like Jason Lawrence and Martin Davalos. And of course we cannot forget that a guy named Bubba Stewart is only 20 years old himself.
The future of MX/SX is brighter than ever.
It was not long ago when 17-year old Ryan Villopoto and 18-year old Mike Alessi were doing battle for Motocross' most prized amateur titles. In those mini days it was Alessi who got the better of the younger Villopoto more often than not.
Early on in his pro career Alessi was more mouth than he was results. He jumped right into the Motocross class as a 17-year old, passing on the Lites class. Alessi quickly proclaimed that he could run with the big boys like Ricky Carmichael and Kevin Windham. But Alessi's hype was just that and it was quick to see the kid was over matched on the bigger machines.
This season Alessi looked to do the right thing. He and team KTM-RedBull were looking forward to contending for the Lites Class Championship and early on it looked like it was going to come up all orange.
Some of the faster guys had early season trouble. Josh Grant could not string it together, Andrew Short fell on some bad starts, Broc Hepler started the season on the IR, and Villopoto was having starting problems and was even forced to DNF an entire moto due to mechanical failure.
But week after week something was happening. Villopoto was consistently putting together the fastest lap times in practice each week, and was charging through the pack to make up points after poor or average starts. Slowly but surely RV started putting together some better starts and was taking it to the leaders, and putting them into his roost.
Now with half the season gone, Villopoto leads the points by a slim but still significant margin. But the most important by product is that RV is now getting into people's heads. He has proved he can catch and pass anyone, and that so far no one can run his pace, not even Alessi.
It seems that perhaps the worm has turned. All those years of Alessi dominating Villopoto must have been educational and now the student has become the teacher. It is Alessi who is scratching his head looking for speed that just does not seem to be there at this time.
Alessi's inability to move up in the pack has killed him. It seems that if he starts in 7th, he cannot make up many points by passing more than a couple spots. And at times he's been caught and passed by riders who are not in any championship hunt for places like 4th. You just don't win an MX title by getting passed more often than you pass.
Villopoto has been exactly the opposite. A poor start for RV just means it will take him longer to work his way up to the leaders. And thus far he has not failed to make points in every moto he's been able to finish. His fitness is excellent, and he's got that extra gear much like Carmichael. Just when you think you've made time on him, he seems to be able to wick it up another notch and break your spirit. That is something that all the great champs have been able to do.
There are a lot of great young riders out there right now under the age of 20. Davi Millsaps is having an amazing year as an 18 year old rookie in the big class, he's been nothing short of excellent for Team Honda. Add to him Villopoto, Alessi, Hepler, Grant, and a handful of other teenage dark horses like Jason Lawrence and Martin Davalos. And of course we cannot forget that a guy named Bubba Stewart is only 20 years old himself.
The future of MX/SX is brighter than ever.
posted by motoguru at 7:42 PM
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