Mitch Covington, one of the leading men at Monster, feels Ryan Villopoto’s presence in MXGP brought many more eyes and in turn, respect to the world championship series.
Speaking to Gypsy Tales, Mitch, father of former GP rider, Thomas Covington, said: “Villopoto, though, was a huge turning point in the popularity of that sport, globally, not just in Europe, it’s always going to be kind of big in Europe, and Europeans, it’s a major sport to them there. Villopoto played a part in the history of that sport, and there’s no question about it.
“I said, why don’t you come over and race the GPs for a year? You’ve always said you wanted to do that, this is your chance. So he comes over and he goes, yeah, I think I would, and his dad, yeah, I love his dad.
“He says, I think I can beat those guys, he says, you know, I beat them in the nation, so I smoked out Desalle, Clement, oh, gosh, he says, I’ve already beat these guys, it’s going to be easy, a lot of work. Yeah, that’s what he’s thinking, right, it’s going to be a victory cruise, go see the world.”
“I wanted him to enjoy the experience on a personal level, and on a business level, I wanted to give credibility to this series, MXGP, because all the American fans thought it was a second-rate place you go if you can’t make it in America, and I knew that was not exactly the way it is, so I really wanted to prove that, and so whether he won or lost, I knew he was going to be in for a dogfight.”
“You notice over the last five years, everybody’s been saying the Europeans are better motocross, and the U.S. are better supercross, that’s why, because the four Villopoto went over there and got beat. They thought that was a second race, second rate motocross, they wasn’t as good, and it was, all of a sudden, the star goes over there, and every Moto fan in America starts watching and tunes in, and starts watching the GPs, and it gave the GPs mega credibility that they didn’t have, across the pond, right? And instead of it being this old series, that these old riders, you know, nobody knows who they are, all of a sudden now, everybody knows who Clemente Desalle, is, everybody knows who Jeffrey Herlings… everybody starts watching GPs.”
“It’s important to us, we have a big investment in the motocross around the world, and when water rises, all boats rise, right, so if that series gets more popular, our investment pays off, so one of our challenges is to make the series that we sponsor, whether it’s UFC or MXGP, the water level rise, because we’re investing in it, you know, we bet on that horse, and so, he am going over there, and not just smoking the field, gave the MXGP’s credibility they would have never had, and it completely changed their life over there, for sure.”
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