“Coming into that race, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I just wanted to go out there and do the best that I could. I did everything I could possibly do during the week, and I think I was as prepared as I could possibly be, so I could give it everything I had, every lap out there.”

 

“Everything that was going on with the weather played a lot with your mind. I think most of all, I tried to have fun with it and do the best I could, get a good start and have some good vision. I crashed once and kept the bike running, and I got splashed by a couple lappers and had to lose the goggles.”

 

“Every lap was pretty sketchy. I was glad to only have one spill. Going into to it, I knew that the start was going to be huge because of the vision thing and getting roosted. If you can’t see where you’re going, it’s hard to go anywhere. Getting a good start was huge. I didn’t think I was going to get it. I was behind Ben Coisy, but somehow managed to snake to the inside and came out in the lead. If I didn¹t get that, I don’t know what I could have with the bike. It’s hard to be behind someone in the mud like that, because you can¹t see anything. It was bad enough with the water holes, but getting roosted was bad.”

Ryan Villopoto, No. 2 Kawasaki

“There’s not much you can do about these conditions. All 25 of us have to ride the same track. You go out there and make sure you stay up, and in conditions like that, make sure your bike stays running. Last night, I stayed here at the track, and it started to rain. It let up this morning, but they cancelled second practice and then it started to rain, and it hasn’t let off since. Obviously you guys can see it out there, there are spots that are deeper than your bike. That was pretty hard to get through.

 

“Coming into tonight, there was a lot of rain. What do you know? It kept on raining. So I made the best of it. I got second. I went down a couple times.

I also lost my front and rear brakes. I¹m glad I just made it through the night, and we’ll go on to next weekend."

 

“I knew it was going to be bad when they cancelled the second practice. I knew it was going to be bad. It wasn’t raining at the time, but it sure came down hard. The more it rained, the more I smiled. I’m a phenomenal mud rider. I struggle being tall and being the biggest guy in the Lites class right now. Whenever it rains, that’s my time to shine. If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have brought some extra gear. I didn¹t know how much rain we were going to get, but the more it rained, the more I smiled. Man, it’s been an incredibly long, hard road with so much blood and tears. I’m so glad I’m here.”