Ryan Villopoto doesn’t give much away. He may go out and attack a track like he’s angry at every corner, jump, and whoop, and he might twist the throttle on his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki like he’s trying to break it, but he never lets on about this aggression when he talks. But it would seem impossible for a racer to ride so darned hard without wanting it real bad, or at least wanting it much more than Villopoto seems to indicate. 
 

RV rebounded at A2 photo: Steve Bruhn

Perhaps this is all part of the plan. Villopoto seems to avoid the mind games and confidence wars that define so many other racers; he seems to care little about who he races or what track it is, and he has gone on record saying he doesn’t even understand what confidence is. The gospel according to Ryan says that if you’re faster than a rider, you beat him, and if you’re not, you get beaten. It’s simple.

But then Villopoto, after taking a loss last week in Phoenix, came out and laid a huge whooping on the field at Anaheim 2. Yes, his main competitor, Christophe Pourcel, was battling an injury all night, then reportedly broke his shin, but RV’s riding made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to lose to anyone anyway. He was angry at the track again and riding like he wanted to break his bike.

After the race, when asked if he jumps the biggest jumps on the track on a 250F to boost his confidence, he said he does it only because jumping bigger jumps saves time. Maybe Villopoto wants to win so badly that he’s mastered the art of looking like he doesn’t want to, which only makes him that much tougher to understand, let alone to beat.