Ryan Villopoto clinches third consecutive supercross title

When the supercross season opened with a race at Angel Stadium in early January, reigning champion Ryan Villopoto stumbled to a 16th-place finish.

But two weeks later Villopoto won the sport’s second stop in Anaheim and the Seattle-area native never looked back.

Villopoto, 24, clinched his third consecutive title in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series with a win in Salt Lake City on Saturday night, the Kawasaki rider’s series-high ninth win of the season.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Villopoto said. “We started the season off really rough and had a lot of stepping stones to overcome, but we did it as a team and we did it well.”

Villopoto joined Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael and Bob Hannah as the only riders in history to win three consecutive championships in supercross, which is the stadium version of off-road motorcycle racing, or motocross.

Supercross wraps up its season this Saturday in Las Vegas.

Davi Millsaps, a Murrieta rider who won the season opener in Anaheim, is second in the title standings behind Villopoto. Former champion Ryan Dungey is third and Justin Barcia is fourth.

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ng,” said Villopoto. “Every year I have a goal of winning a championship and we all worked hard to accomplish that goal. Everyone on the Monster Energy Kawasaki team worked hard in the off-season and during the week to make sure we could run the No. 1 plate again next year. Even though we will be celebrating tonight, the work has already started to earn the outdoor title as well. ”

s is an amazing feeling,” said Villopoto. “Every year I have a goal of winning a championship and we all worked hard to accomplish that goal. Everyone on the Monster Energy Kawasaki team worked hard in the off-season and during the week to make sure we could run the No. 1 plate again next year. Even though we will be celebrating tonight, the work has already started to earn the outdoor title as well. ”