Only three men have been able to beat Antonio Cairoli in world championship battle since the little Italian arrived on the GP scene back in 2004. New Zealand’s Ben Townley caught the rookie off guard in 2004, Frenchman Christophe Pourcel did it in 2006 and South African Tyla Rattray did it in 2008.
These three men all headed off to America pretty soon after winning their motocross world championships, but Cairoli stayed in Europe, racked up eight MX2/MX2/MXGP titles and will head into the 2015 season looking to climb a little closer to the record of ten world titles held by Stefan Everts. While Townley, Pourcel and Rattray never really added to their motocross success stories, due to injuries and bad luck, the Italian legend grew as a rider to become possibly the greatest GP rider of all time.
Standing in his way in 2015 will be American legend Ryan Villopoto. Like Cairoli the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider has his own long list of success. Nine AMA MX and SX titles and he is known as the fastest man on the planet by many. So what do the people think of the whole Cairoli versus Villopoto situation and more importantly what do Cairoli and Villopoto think themselves.
Antonio Cairoli: I think it is amazing to have the best rider from USA last year to come and ride the world championship. It is the main championship in the world, that is clear, we race all over the world and not just USA. Him coming will bring more interest to the sport and more viewers. It’s a new challenge to have him in the world championship and to race against him it’s nice, his fans and my fans.
Ryan Villopoto: It’s probably going to be like a mini motocross of nations every week and that will be a cool experience and I am looking forward to checking that out. To be honest, he (Antonio Cairoli) is just another top guy on the track. It will be interesting, and I think he will catch me out in places and I will catch him out in some places. As far as racing Cairoli, I might as well be racing Dungey or Stewart, you know. It doesn’t really matter to me.It’s obviously going to be different, but for me I am just going to enjoy this last season, that’s my main goal and to try something new. I am going to have to learn really quick, because racing Antonio and everyone else, I mean you have to draw his name out because he has won so much. I mean it’s going to be a quick learning curve, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the tracks at all, that won’t be a problem for me.
Ben Townley: I was excited for the sport; to have an American great go to Europe is a great thing for the sport as a whole. We've seen rider after rider go to the USA from Europe, but hardly any riders with RV's credentials go the other way. It has already lifted the buzz and we are five months away still from the first round. I personally think it's a good decision for him. He looked burned out at the end of supercross and (talk of) retirement was thrown around and I'm sure, financially, he is going to do well out of it for doing 2/3 the amount of events compared to the US! He doesn't have anything left to prove if you ask me.
Christophe Pourcel: The circuits are very different and I think if you want to be world champion you need two seasons to get used to them. To learn the circuits so quickly isn’t easy and not possible in one season. I learnt that in 2012.
Tyla Rattray: Having him coming here is just awesome. I think it will be a big help for him having me around. I mean he doesn’t know the tracks or other stuff. Training wise he is ok, but it’s nice to train with younger guys and we are similar with mountain biking and the gym work and it will be cool to be training together. Gives a lot of motivation for me because riding with him I will always be chasing and learning from him. He is known as the best rider in the world and I should be able to improve my speed. I mean I want to close the gap down. It’s big for the MXGP series and racing the world championship.
