Ryan Villopoto will not contest the Grand Prix of Europe this weekend at the Valkenswaard circuit in the Netherlands and has chosen to use the two weeks before the trip to Spain on May 10th for what will be the sixth round of eighteen in the MXGP FIM Motocross World Championship to heal a multiple fracture of his coccyx. The American announced that he would not be taking part in his first Grand Prix in the sand at the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team 2015 team presentation at the squad’s workshop just north of the city of Eindhoven on Friday evening.
Villopoto sustained the injury through a bizarre crash in the second moto last Sunday in Italy for the Grand Prix of Trentino when he toppled off the back of his KX450F. Of the incident ‘2’ said: “It was a rookie mistake basically, [something] in the heat of the moment. I was really close to Tony [Cairoli] at certain parts of the race but to actually get around him was a different story. Then Clement [Desalle] was close. I landed off the single [jump] by the pit area no different to any other time. I went into a wheelie and before I knew it I was upside down. It happened really quickly…I wish it hadn’t!”
Speaking of the injury that forces him to miss his first fixture of the season the multi AMA Champion commented: “The pain is not so much except for when I sit down. We took this week to stay off the bike and recover as much as we could. As of now it is still a problem to sit down and to race on a track like Valkenswaard on a good day would be tough. I think it is best for us to sit this one out and come back in Spain and be able to race and race hard. We feel like if we go out there this weekend then it is only going to prolong this injury.”
Villopoto will still be at the Eurocircuit to meet fans and sign autographs on Sunday but his championship prospects for 2015 now look bleak. The Kawasaki man is currently 47 points behind Clement Desalle and sits sixth in the MXGP standings. Team-mate Tyla Rattray confirmed that he will be competing after recovering from a light concussion this week.
Photo by Ray Archer
