American motocross and supercross legend Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was hanging out in Teutschenthal for MXGP of Germany over the last couple of days. Walking with a limp after having a knee reconstruction last month, the nine-time AMA champion took the time to chat to some of Europe’s top media representatives in a ‘meet and greet’ hosted by one of his major sponsors Parts Europe on Friday night where a ton of questions were asked with some of the hottest topics being his thoughts on fellow American CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Thomas Covington choosing to race the FIM Motocross World Championship over staying stateside in the US, how his trip to Europe has gone and the recent reveal that his archrival James Stewart has tested positive on a drug test.
When asked his thoughts on young American star on the rise Thomas Covington, who has signed a two year contract with CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy at the tender age of seventeen years old to contest the MX2 world championship, the champ responded “From what I have heard he (T-Cov) likes it over here. He had a lot of success at the start of the season and he is doing well. It’s a big move, the tracks are a little bit different but the biggest thing is the lifestyle. The lifestyle is completely different and I think he bit off a lot, but he is handling it well and I think if he can get this year under his belt, next year he will be good.”
As for his time in Europe, Ryan and his wife Kristen have been doing a bit of sightseeing, starting their tour in Barcelona to soak up a MotoGP experience, “It’s my first time at MotoGP and it was a good one to come to, a really great race obviously,” Ryan said, he also told a reporter the most amazing thing was the sound, “’we have a much lower sound limit (in motocross and supercross). I’d been told the bikes were loud, but I didn’t expect them to be that loud!”
The couple, Ryan and his wife, also went to Venice in Italy before heading over to Germany for the eleventh round of MXGP at the iconic circuit of Teutschenthal.
The last topic hot on the lips of every journo in site was the recent reveal that his archrival James Stewart has been penalized for testing positive on a drug test. “I’ve been here in Europe for a week so I don’t really know much about it since I’ve only been able to log on when I am in wifi zones. I don’t know what they have found, if it is something like allergy medication than of course that’s not going to help (race performance),” he said on the topic.
While drug testing is something relatively new to the American scene Villopoto agreed with the action, “I agree with drug testing, I think it is something that needs to happen. This year they have just introduced drug testing into the outdoors, so that’s good, it’s moving in that direction.”