Interview by: Geoff Meyer
Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto didn’t waste time in letting his MXGP rivals that he is here with bad intentions after winning the MXGP qualification race.
We spoke with Villopoto his win and what to expect tomorrow.
How did it feel to win the qualification moto?
It was a lot better than last weekend. It is just one qualification race, and I don’t think you can go too much off this win. The bike felt better and we changed it quite a bit. We only had two days to do some stuff on the bike back in Europe. After this GP we will have two weeks, so it will be a lot better. The progress we are making is good. All suspension stuff, but also when we flew back to Europe between Qatar and this one.
Your drop off the gate wasn’t great, but you got out of the first corner well?
Tommy [Searle] got a good start and he edged me out and I had a little on [Clement] Desalle, but Tommy came over on me a bit and I was able to move over on Desalle and we just keep working and make slow progress.
Do you think it helped that the circuit is a level playing field? Nobody has raced here before.
I think for sure it’s a level playing field here and there are a lot of jumps compared to a regular outdoor track and like I said before there will be places I am better and place they are better and I think this one might be a better one for me. We will just try and do better and the days we struggle we just do the best we can.
You were making up 8 seconds at lap at the end of the moto. Was that you making a statement or the other just backing off and you not?
I guess I need to learn that a little more, maybe because of the heat the others don’t want to waste energy and they backed it off more than I did near the end of the motos. I probably have to learn how they do that and do it a little better for next time.
How do you like Thailand?
It is bazaar, it is really cool, I mean Thailand is something you only see in the movies and it’s been a lot of fun. You can’t explain to somebody what it is like here.
How can you explain Qatar?
I mean we had bike issues and it was a little bit me also, but we will sort that stuff out and already we have made good progress.
How often have you had to remind yourself not to use tap water to brush your teeth in Bangkok?
You know, it’s actually been pretty good so far, the food hasn’t been the best, but it’s been just fine and it’s a great experience.
