The Champ returns to Monster Energy Cup

Vans Moto Athletes Ryan Villopoto, Jake Weimer and Blake Baggett all had weekends with up's and downs! Last year Villopoto had an unthinkable night at the Monster Energy Cup and was able to capture the Monster Million. He was forced to sit out the summer with an injury he sustained after winning the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross championship, but that did not set him back one bit. Villopoto came out of qualifying just a few tenths of a second off of the fastest time. When the gate dropped for main event one, Villopoto came out in second and moved into the lead on lap two. From there all he had to do was get through the Joker lane clean. Once he built a gap of roughly six seconds, Villopoto dove into the Joker lane, in which each rider had to take once per race. Lucky for him, the second-place rider followed Villopoto through the section and he lost no time to take the win. With the first main event win, Villopoto was the only rider eligible for the million dollars. Villopoto grabbed the holeshot of main event two, but made a mistake entering one of the corners in the outdoor section and crashed over the berm. With a very small window of time to recover for the next race, the team elected to sit out the third main event. His race scores gave him 10th overall and displayed for the competition that he is ready to go for a third-straight supercross championship come Anaheim 1 in January! “It was a disappointing way to end the night,” said Villopoto. “I showed that I had the speed to repeat for the million and felt great on the bike. This was a good race to see where we size up against the competition and know now what we need to work on before the 2013 season begins. We’ll be there to win.”