Trentino - A Challenge

It isn’t difficult to get excited about the next round of the FIM Motocross World Championship set for the Crossodrome circuit in the north of Italy.

Already in 2015 we have seen three very different circuits, and three very different countries. Returning to Europe for the first time this season the fourth round in Trentino, Italy has everything to make it a classic.

Of course the return of defending MXGP champion Antonio Cairoli to his homeland is something that will not be taken lightly by the Italian spectators. There is even talk that this Grand Prix of Trentino might have a similar atmosphere to the annual Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations.

Hotels are sold out and race tickets are being sold in huge numbers as the motocross hungry Italian people get prepared for what could see their hero take his first GP victory of the season.

What makes this GP all the more special is the fact that the hard-pack circuit will favor riders like Clement Desalle and Gautier Paulin, two of the big five from this year’s MXGP class.

One rider who has never raced on this type of circuit is American Ryan Villopoto, and everyone knows that his aggressive style will be tested to the limit as he continues to adjust to the FIM Motocross World Championship.

Villopoto knows he isn’t always going to have it his own way in 2015, and he also knows that when the time comes to race hard-pack he will be ready.

“We have a lot of slick circuits in Supercross,” Villopoto said. “Circuit that you need to use throttle control and be careful. Of course these circuits don’t have little pebbles on them like you might get in motocross, but it is still slick and blue groove and I’ve always done ok on those types of tracks.”

Danny Laporte is a former American and world champion and he knows how tough it can be to race on the variety of circuits in Europe against riders who have grown up racing hard-pack all their lives.

“You know you have the hard-pack in Italy and France,” Laporte said. “The sand in Belgium and Holland, maybe clay in Portugal, loamy circuits in England, it’s always different, every weekend there is a different type of dirt and different riders who excel on those circuits. For me that was part of the challenge, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy, I think Ryan (Villopoto) knows how to win, you don’t win as much as him without having that. He will work it out I think, but I know from experience, it won’t be easy.”

So while the best European riders might head to Trentino in Italy with high hopes and high confidence, don’t count out the American racer. He has already won a GP in 2015 and sits nicely in the point’s race. Nothing makes a rider more excited than a challenge, and come the weekend of April 18 and 19 Villopoto might find one of his biggest challenges to date.