Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto became the first 450cc racer of 2012 to win more than one race this past weekend at Angel Stadium in Anaheim; a race referred to as Anaheim 2. It was the Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series second round at the stadium (thus the name “Anaheim 2”), and fifth round of the series, and when things were over, Villopoto had regained the points lead. He carries that points lead into the San Diego Supercross this coming Saturday night.

Monster Energy: Do you see this as sort of a repeat of A1?

Ryan Villopoto: It wasn’t that good, you know? Obviously, at A1, I had a bigger lead than that, but the track was tough tonight. It seems like all this year the tracks have been deteriorating really quick, and obviously it’s Anaheim and it gets hard and slippery. You’ve got to have some patience and be on your game.

Monster Energy: What about at the beginning when Chad Reed got really close to you off the start there into the second turn?

Ryan Villopoto: Man, I had a great start – pulled the holeshot – but I’m not sure exactly how he got right next to me, but he was able to run it in on me and get me through the whoops, then I was able to get him back over here on the triple.

Monster Energy: It looked like he hit you in the turn...

Ryan Villopoto: No, we didn’t hit, but he ran me high, though. He ran me high, and that’s racing there, you know?

Monster Energy: How’d you get him back?

Ryan Villopoto: I went on the inside over here before this triple, was able to stay a little bit lower, and then get beside him and pass him...

Monster Energy: Does using the horn like that [revving your bike behind another guy in a turn] really work?

Ryan Villopoto: Yeah, I mean, I did it to [Justin] Brayton [in the heat race]. When someone does that, you don’t really know if he’s really coming in hot to hit you or not – if it’s a scare-tactic.

Monster Energy: Brayton wanted to race with you in the heat...

Ryan Villopoto: Yeah, I think the emotions got me a little bit because I saw him take Jake [Weimer] out... Well, not take Jake out, but him and Jake get together a little bit [when Weimer crashed out of the lead of the heat race], and Jake said it was really just his fault afterwards, but as soon as I jumped the triple, I saw them go in there, and it looked like Justin had gotten in there pretty hot, and once I saw that, I was pretty mad, and I was like, “I’m going after you.” I guess maybe it wasn’t the case, but I let the emotions get a hold of me.

Monster Energy: So, you were defending your teammate... That’s cool...

Ryan Villopoto: Yeah, a little bit.

Monster Energy: Why have a teammate if you aren’t willing to do that for them, right?

Ryan Villopoto:  Right?

Monster Energy: What about the points right now?

Ryan Villopoto: I’ve got the red background [points lead], and that’s good. Obviously, our bike good with the red, but it’s early in the season and there’s still a lot of racing left.

Monster Energy: Were you keeping tabs on James Stewart and what was going on behind you?

Ryan Villopoto: Yeah, I was. I wasn’t doing this on/off jump off of the low line; I was rolling it and jumping onto the tabletop, then off, and when I had that little bit of a lead, I hit that little double after it, and I was able to see that James was jumping onto it from the low line, so the next lap around I came through and I had to jump onto it, because that was a lot faster. Once I did that, the pitboard said I was clicking off laps just a little bit faster every lap than those guys, and then once we hit lappers it was kind of a different story. It was just survival ‘til the end.

Monster Energy: Looked like more lappers tonight than usual...

Ryan Villopoto: Yeah, I don’t know why that is. Maybe the track was a bit tougher tonight because the laptimes were pretty long and it makes for a longer race...

Monster Energy: How do you handle the longer race from the standpoint of preparation?

Ryan Villopoto: I mean, we’re here, and we’re racing, so that all comes down to the preparation during the off-season. You’re not going to train during practice.