Grant won the 2007 AMA 250 Motocross Championship in 2007, but was not able to defend due to an eye problem. Photo by: Hoppenworld
With KRT/Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto going overseas to try to win the 2015 MXGP World Championship, our friend and major contributor to MotoXAddicts’ MXGP coverage, Geoff Meyer (owner of MXLarge.com), has been grabbing interviews with everyone that has been there and done that. This week he tracked down former World Champion and former multi-time AMA National Champion Grant Langston to talk about RV2 and the 2015 MXGP World Championship. Check out the interview below to get the South African’s take on the 2015 season.
Former FIM and AMA champion Grant Langston has had success in both Europe and America. The 2000 World MX2 (125cc) champion, 2003 AMA 125cc Outdoor National Champion, 2005 AMA Supercross 125cc East Champion, 2006 AMA Supercross 125cc West Champion, and 2007 AMA 450cc Outdoor National Champion might be retired, but in his new job giving commentary for the AMA Nationals and other leading off-road events in America he still has his eyes on the sport.
Coming to Europe as a 15 year old and working hard to eventually be considered one of the greatest riders of his era Langston was always known as a smart rider, but more importantly somebody who never gave up in a challenge. We caught up with him and asked him about the current MXGP class and the arrival of Ryan Villopoto.
Grant, did you get to see any of the opening two rounds of the MXGP class in Qatar and Thailand?
I caught most of Thailand, and I caught the second moto of both classes in Qatar. I saw the highlights and stuff.
Did it surprise you that Ryan Villopoto turned it around so quickly after his disappointing opening round?
Villopoto has been one of the strongest riders in the motocross world for several years now, almost 10 years. I don’t think it was a surprise, I think depending on who you talk to some thought he would dominate and some thought going to Europe is a different story and we have seen at the Motocross of nations American riders have been beaten the last few years.
Going back to Qatar, I am not a racer, but I can’t understand how somebody could be so far out with settings and stuff. How is that possible?
I think there are a few reasons and one reason and some guys don’t want to admit it, sometimes there are guys that are not good test riders, and they think they have the right set-up then go to another track and don’t like it. You also have to remember not much has changed for Villopoto in bike set-up (compared to USA) but in the GP there is so much variety, you have the deep, deep sand, the rock hard with the big hills and you have clay and so many variables, and in American the tracks are done by the same group of people. The tracks are similar in the way they prep them. I think maybe Ryan rode a lot in America prior to the season and then he went to Europe with a totally different crew. You might be on a KX450, but you have different people doing the suspension and stuff. I don’t know all the details and who he is dealing with, so it is not for me to say that was the problem, but maybe it was. I was team-mates at Pro-Circuit with Villopoto, of course he was young back then, but I remember he wasn’t a good tester.
It seems the rider talent pool is pretty well divided at the moment between USA and the GP guys?
I don’t think there is much of a gap between the US and Europe as far as talent goes and there is also depth in both series. I think as far as Villopoto goes he has a lot of credentials, and he goes there to win and he expects to win, but it’s going to be tough going into their backyard when they get to Europe.
You’ve ridden the hard-pack in Italy and deep sand in Holland and Belgium. How will Villopoto deal with those circuits?
So far there hasn’t been a GP on European soil and there will be tracks where guys like Desalle, Paulin and Cairoli will be in their element. They haven’t had a chance to flex their muscles yet. It’s going to be a good season to watch because everyone talks about Cairoli and Villopoto, but Paulin and Desalle and knocking on the door and there will be other riders that have big weekends. For Villopoto some of these tracks might be difficult for him, like the deep sand or the hard Italian tracks. It’s going to be interesting, but you will probably see the same three or four guys on the podium on a regular basis. It’s setting up to be a fun championship to watch.
Do you think he can win on those hard-pack circuits or the deep sand?
I think he will do ok, but I don’t think he will do that great. His riding technique is pretty aggressive and on those Italian tracks you need finesse and that is why those French and Italians are so good on those tracks. They have ridden on those tracks their whole lives. I agree what Cairoli said to some extent (Cairoli mentioned that Villopoto will be hard to catch if he gets the wholeshot), on the tracks he is comfortable with, but those tracks that I mentioned, the deep sand or the hard pack, I think he will have a hard time winning. I think a podium here and a podium there is possible, and no doubt some days Villopoto will be the fastest guy in the world and he will win races, but I think there will be days when Cairoli goes 1-1 and same with the other guys.
Because Ryan is so aggressive, what are the chances of making big mistakes on those circuits in your opinion?
Any time you are on the track and pushing that is always a possibility, but sometimes you mental approach can stop that stuff. I mean 18 Grand Prix’s that is 36 moto’s, that is a lot of racing and he knows it is better get a fifth than crash your brains out. He’s been around the block and won many championships and you don’t win all those championships by being a fool. He is aggressive, but you live by the sword and die by the sword.
As you mentioned Antonio Cairoli mentioned on a video recently that if Villopoto gets out front he will be hard to beat, if he gets the holeshot.
If he gets out front he will hammer it and mentally kill those other guys, but he won’t have that at every track. What was beaten into my head when I raced was it’s a long season, and when I raced it was only 16 rounds, but I go back and look at what we had to deal with, the different tracks, and different food and all that stuff. When I won the championship I was the only guy who scored points in every race. Even when I had a first corner crash I still pushed for points and when I went to those hard-pack tracks there was always a French guy or an Italian guy who was super-fast. You went to the deep sand and somebody else had a good day. I was always around the podium or on it and I think Ryan is smart enough to be around there.
He seemed rather relaxed in Qatar, depite the difficulties and poor results.
He’s never done a series that is so long as this and he didn’t panic in Qatar and he went back and sorted the problem for Thailand. He didn’t have a great opening round and a lot of people were more concerned than him. He came back and it wasn’t convincing but he won the second round. Cairoli is also finding his form, and Desalle is just lurking, almost the Ryan Dungey of the GPs. He is always around there.
He seems like he’s doing a great job with the change to Europe. Politically he has done everything right I think.
You know I don’t talk to him on a personal level or anything like that. I mean interviews they all sound the same, but at the end of the day he made the decision to go to Europe and maybe he needed a change. I always say something makes everyone tick and it’s not the same for everyone. It’s not often you see a guy in his prime go to Europe from America. I have heard he wants to prove he is the best of his time and to do that he has to beat Cairoli in his prime. Maybe he is just enjoying touring Europe. America is tough, you don’t really get an off-season. I mean he’s won everything in America, what was next. I mean for RC he just wanted to win and win and win. Everyone has a different agenda, but you might know better if he is looking happy. He has enough money to travel how he wants, and he has a South African in Tyla Rattray as a team-mate and fellow American in Thomas Covington around him. That also helps.
