Famous Riders

Ryan Villopoto has certainly built himself a reputation in the world of competitive motocross and supercross racing.

As a competitor in the AMA Motocross Championships from 2005 up until 2014, he pushed harder and harder in every race that he entered.

While he’s retired from the AMA series, he still competes in other races. Yep – he hasn’t given up on the roar of that 2-stroke weapon between his legs.

Ryan Villopoto Early Life

Ryan was brought up by his dad Dan Villopoto who sadly passed away in late 2018 due to a massive heart attack. Dan was a massive motocross addict who had to sacrifice a lot to allow his son to prosper in the sport of competitive racing. Even Ryan’s grandfather was deeply involved with the sport.

As a young rider, Ryan was on his junior motocross tracks early and riding around including jumping and stunt work. The twist of that throttle at an early age is certainly addictive.

Ryan pushed and pushed, often putting schoolwork aside for racing competitively. As a teenager, he won his fair share of titles.

Retirement from Motocross Racing

Ryan Villopoto retired from MX racing at the age of 26 due to a severe crash in April 2015. This left him with a nasty back injury and a very sore tailbone.

Yet today, he still continues to ride recreationally as well as professionally. He hasn’t gone anywhere – there are just other up and coming stars into the sport.

His net worth isn’t as strong as other competitors, sitting at just $5,000,000. Yet that’s certainly enough to retire comfortably in his early 30’s. That’s a result of more than 44 supercross wins.

Today he rides almost daily around his own motocross track while coaching others into the sport. Check out this WR450F project that he’s working on:

Our Thoughts

Ryan has earned a reputation in the sport for actually focusing on the prize. He’s sacrificed a lot and has been through his fair deal of hardship both on and off the track.

It’s that resilience that gets riders through the toughest of times. In a world of cotton wool, it’s refreshing to see someone making it happen, instead of hiding behind the computer screen.

Ricky Brabec has recently become a legend in North America for several very cool records. What are they exactly?

Ricky Brabec won the motorcycle division of the 2020 Dakar Rally. This is the first time in history that a rider from the United States of America has won the Dakar on a bike. Ricky won the race using a heavily modified Honda CRF450 Rally which also broke KTM’s 18-year streak of back-to-back championships.

Unfortunately, during the same race, Paulo Gonçalves passed away. Australian Toby Price was first on the scene and stayed with Paulo for 90 minutes until help had arrived. The race was suspended the following day for motorcycles given the emotional nature of the race.

Ricky Brabec Growing Up

Ricky absolutely loved dirt bikes and raced competitively from an early age. As with many dirt bike racers, he was into motocross as a kid. While he had some interest in the bitumen, it was the dirt that really gave him the thrills.

He’s competed in many races including the Baja1000 with some losses and wins. These races made him hungry for more and thus, he started competing in the Dakar.

As a Dakar Rally Competitor

Ricky competed while under the age of 30. This makes him one of the youngest-age riders into the race. Most riders are 35+ and have raced multiple times.

Despite its reputation as a gruelling event and the toughest motorcycle race in the world, riders keep coming back again and again. It’s not just tough on the body but the mind too, as riders are required to use a manual race chart and keep an eye out for key waypoints. Unsurprisingly, some riders routinely get lost along the route.

Ricky happened to be 1 of 5 Honda riders entered in that year. Honda has a fully kitted out race team with a truck that carries all their gear between the stages. This includes completely new engines that can be swapped out in the evenings while the competitors sleep. That is – just a few hours sleep, as some races begin as early as 4am!

Did we say it’s grueling already?

Participating in the Dakar is no small feat and Ricky had to pass qualifications. Given that he was representing Honda, he really had to be up to standards mentally and physically. There is a strong component of diet and exercise that comes forth to create a rider who’s tough and can ride out (mind the pun) the tough 2 weeks.

Given that the United States had never won a Dakar and Ricky had previously retired from 3 Dakar Rally’s, they were stocked to have won. Needless to say that both the country and Honda praised this champion for going all the way, and had actually scored wins on 2 stages of this rally too.

Better yet – they took the crown away from KTM who had somewhat owned the Rally for almost 2 decades. Go Honda!

The Future of Ricky’s Career

We can forsee Ricky entering the Dakar in 2021 though we’re not as ambitious like Honda may be. Did they simply get a fluke has Honda been stretching themselves to really own the Dakar? Only in late January will we know for sure.

This post has no commercial intention other than to pay tribute to Andy Caldecott; one of Australia’s best offroad enduro champions.

Andy Caldecott Overview

Andy was born and bred in Keith which is near Adelaide in South Australia. As a kid, he rode frequently and loved being behind the handlebars and likely more than being in the classroom.

Keith happens to have extensive offroad tracks and one of the best dirt bike riding areas near Adelaide. The entire region lends itself to scrub and mallee riding, and Caldecott was extremely passionate about the sport. This is why he operated a motorcycle shop while loving the offroad racing atmosphere.

After a lot of training, he began entering numerous dirt bike races. After a few years he was into the Australian Safari Rally and won 4 consecutive races from 2000 to 2003.

He then entered the Dakar Rally. In 2004 he didn’t finish, though in 2005 he did come in 6th position. Remember this is a global race with the best riders in the world, which represents an excellent result. Even finishing the gruelling Dakar is a mission in itself.

Andy Caldecott’s Dakar Crash

On Andy’s 3rd entry into the prestigious Dakar Rally, he, unfortunately, crashed on the 9th stage and died from a neck injury. This was a special stage on the way to Kiffa from Nouakchott and represents death #23 after almost 30 years of racing.

Interestingly enough, prior to heading over for the Dakar Rally, he was actually discussing the death of another rider, Fabrizio Meoni. This was in the previous year in 2005.

The news of his death shock not just his hometown of Keith but the entire country. Just about every dirt bike rider knew of Andy as he represented Australia in what is still the toughest race on earth. Letters of consolidences poured in as did a long-term capital investment fun to support his surviving wife Tracey and their 2 children.

In addition, a large memorial was opened in Keith on the 14th of August, 2011. This is known quite simply as the Andy Caldecott Memorial.

Some years later in 2015, Motorcycling SA Inc actually inducted Andy into the Motorcycling SA Hall of Fame. You can actually find some of Andy’s bikes on display at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood if you’re ever near Adelaide.

Going Forward

The Dakar Rally is a dangerous race at high speeds. It’s an ever-present danger despite the soft sand conditions. Even recently, Paulo Gonçalves passed away while attempting to achieving his dream of winning the Dakar Rally. He had reached 2nd place in 2015 which is a remarkable achievement in itself.

Just about everyone knows about the supercross legend James Stewart. His reputation for claiming podium finishes and epic crashes lives on.

Known as Bubba Stewart, he competed in many AMA Motocross and Supercross Championships around the country. He soon became known as “The Fastest Man on The Planet” for his incredible speed and moving ahead of the pack in every race.

One remarkable example is that in 2008, James was able to win every race and every moto that the AMA Motocross season had thrown at him. He simply ate ’em all up, including his competitors. He’s only the second rider in history to accomplish this, with Ricky Carmichael having done this in both 2002 and 2004.

James Stewart Jr At a Glance

James was introduced to the competitive world of dirt bike racing by his dad. Given that his father raced motocross, he simply encouraged his son to take up the sport. Word on the street is that James was riding on his father’s lap while still in diapers.

Age the age of 4, James was already racing! We’re talking PeeWee 50’s here but nonetheless, this man was born to ride. By age 7 he already had a sponsorship deal underway and in the following years, he won many races as a teenager.

He even claimed 11 Amateur National Tirles and then he got started into professional supercross. Unfortunately, he struggled here due to numerous crashes and injuries which are typical.

How did he achieve all of this? Well, he was home schooled as he was clearly excelling in his skills behind the handlebars.

James “Bubba” Stewart Reputation

James Bubba Stewart garnered a reputation among the spectators. Some people loved his performance and some people just hated his lack of ethics. His riding was sometimes taken as simply reckless as he would mow down other riders on the track when overtaking.

Some people would tune in to see him not only win but who he would get into fights with on the track, whether on the track or in the pits. If he wasn’t in a fight, then he’d be on a podium or on a stretcher recovering from a crash.

Now, one thing is for sure – this man is competitive. He simply wants to win! He’s the type that will bring a 50 cal to a knife fight because that 1st place win is exactly what lights him up.

Some say his garage at home had more dirt bikes than he had pairs of underwear. Somehow, we’re not surprised. Clearly when you’re in it to win it, you’ll stop at nothing!

As a result, James Stewart has a net worth today of around $20 Million US dollars. This includes a large country estate, his own motocross track, numerous dirt bikes and a collection of hot road cars. What is he doing now? Well, he still spends his time riding motocross casually though has retired from racing to spend more time with his wife, Brianna Chavarria.

What we can learn

While James Stewart retired more than 5 years ago from competitive dirt bike riding, there’s so much that we can learn. This is true even if we’re not looking to win trophies or create a tribe of fans…or even the haters.

The world has become soft in the last 2 decades, but it’s clear that there are still men around who are powering through. Interestingly, thousands would come to see one man push through to win championships. Just like in life, way more people watching from the sidelines than actually being out there themselves.

If you want to win big, then you’ve gotta go big. No more binge-watching YouTube tutorials. You learn so much more about throwing a dirt bike around by actually doing it.

Get yourself behind the handlebars for 10,000 hours. At that place, you reach mastery.

When you’ve got a few hours to spend watching dirt bikes being flogged on YouTube, it’s hard to know who to turn to.

Because they all look pretty smick. These riders doing incredible stuntwork or simply running tutorials to help you become a better rider, whether you’re racing or just out there to have some fun.

We’ve done a roundup of the best YouTube channels for dirt bike enthusiasts. They are:

1. Dirt Bike Channel

For an authentic channel which has no commercial ties, Dirt Bike Channel really brings the goods. If you’re new to the sport, this is the channel that you’ll really want to pay attention to. No fluff and no associations. It just feels real here.

Kyle has been the host for years and people love his honesty and no-nonsense editing. He simply shares the genuine nature of owning a dirt bike and where to go riding casually, both for kids and adults alike.

2. The MX Factory

The MX Factory is perfect for the dirt bike enthusiast who loves to race. If closed-circuit racing is your thing, then pay close attention to their many tutorials featured.

Their channel is a combination of education and entertainment. You’ll love their flair of comedy mixed in with the seriousness of beating your previous lap times week after week.

3. Dirt Bike Magazine

Much like The MX Factory is Dirt Bike Magazine. They not just talk about becoming a better rider but improving your bike through upgrades and parts. They actually feature newer bikes as well as older bikes that still perform.

They aren’t so focused on the casual rider and are more attuned to the racer. If you love the nature of weekend racing rather than just discovering local trails, then this is for you. There is much found on skills development to help you become a more confident rider who gets ever closer to winning tropies.

4. Rocky Mountain ATV MC

Who hasn’t heard of Rocky Mountain before? They are not just a popular online store for dirt bikes and adventure riders (and all types of motorcycles, actually) but they also have a popular YouTube channel. Their channel has a seriously high number of subscribers.

Some criticism comes across through their quite generous product reviews. There is a massive team behind their YouTube channel which feels quite commercial, but there are elements of great content and tutorials to help you get started.

5. Enduro Life

For the absolute toughest of enduro rides, pay close attention to Enduro Life. This channel becomes quite obsessive when you see what’s truly possible with riders up the most impossible of hill climbs.

Be warned! There are plenty of injuries here so not for the faint-hearted. It’s clear that this raw and edited footage doesn’t turn others away given their channel has 2.7 million subscribers.

6. ARiemann aka Motology Films

We’ve left the best until last! If you love genuine Australian spirit and extremely crafty editing, then get yourself subscribed to Motology Films where Adam Riemann can tell a genuine story. Part MX rider and part adventure rider.

Watch one video and you’ll watch them all! They are certainly addictive including his overseas journeys told with no fancy support vehicles. Just him, his mates and motorcycles. That’s the essence of life for genuine motorcyclists.

Going Forward

You can get easily obsessed with these YouTubers and not forget that they’re here to simply inspire you. Life is too short and it’s best spent twisting your own throttle rather than watching others twist theirs.

Use these channels to get you educated and see what your bike can do, then get out there and make it happen!