Desalle about Villopoto's close crash
One of the sensational moments of the Grand Prix of Trentino last weekend was the crash of Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing rider Ryan Villopoto who was in contention for third place in the second series. The American was in a duel with Rockstar Suzuki rider Clement Desalle when he opened the throttle a little too far and stalled the bike just before the pit lane.
Villopoto limped to the end of the pit lane and had to undergo an MRI scan on Sunday evening to assess the damage to his lower back. However, word soon came from KRT that the former AMA SX champion was uninjured, although there was no explanation for this type of 'video game' type crash, which was incredibly rare to see at this level of the sport. There was even talk of an electronic or traction failure on the bike in the paddock on Sunday evening, but it looked more like Villopoto completely lost his balance and was no longer able to use the rear brake. At least this was what the Suzuki rider saw and was very happy that he was not caught by the spinning Kawasaki engine. “It was a very fast line there,” Desalle said. “I took the jump right with him and he saw me coming too. He opened the throttle to defend his line and then the bike started to wheely. Because of this he kept coming to the left, I was already on the limit and had to make a small jump to take the bend. Luckily I got through it okay, but I still made a small mistake afterwards.”
RV also received his first DNF of the championship and this has led to the gap in the championship increasing to 47 points. Villopoto is currently sixth and is now almost two heats behind leader Clement Desalle, who has just one point more than Antonio Cairoli and Max Nagl. But there are still twenty-eight heats to complete this season.
Details of any potential injury are not yet known but the subject may be covered very enthusiastically at the 2015 media launch planned by Kawasaki at the Dutch workshop just north of Eindhoven later this week.
Text: Adam Wheeler / OTOR
Foto: Suzuki / Kawasaki
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