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3 Minutes with Andre Villa

Posted By aren in Moto-X | Dec 24 2009 / Thursday Skip To The Comments (3)

André Villa is not one to sit still for long and does not believe in giving up.

He was probably not supposed to ride dirt bikes as he comes from a small Norwegian mountain village called Vågå, where there’s winter over 8 months a year. But motor sports was in his blood. His grandfather became Scandinavian Ice Rally Champion on his 1926 Bugatti and his father, KJetil was a motocross pro in France in the 80’s and collected 15 medals in the Norwegian Championships together with André’s uncle. It was after one of his trips to France that Kjetil brought back a PW50 for André and so the story begins - at 4 years old André learned to ride a motorcycle before his bicycle.

After starting to race early he was already dominating the 80cc class by 1997 and in 1998 he was elected as one of the lucky students to enroll at the Norwegian Sports College with 50% motorcross riding and 50% school – every young man’ dream!!

Unfortunately a neck injury following a crash in the Junior World Championships in the same year put a halt to his motocross career and studies at the Sports College. Following his ambitious spirit André did not let this get to him. Instead he devoted his time between some playriding, as André calls it, which resulted in him starting to hit ramps in 2001, and his 2nd passion in life, Freestyle Skiing. In 2003 the skis were thrown out of the van and André, with his dirtbike, made the pilgrimage to Spain, the mecca of European FMX (and where NO snow could stop him!).

Within a year he was Spanish FMX Champion (but could only master "Another beer, please" in Spanish) and had his own FMX course near Allicante. In 2005 André’s determination and ambition paid off as he was awarded both IFMXF Rookie of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in German MotoX Magazine. Today, with more than 20 podium finishes and 10 1st places in the IFMXF World Championships, André is still as ambitious and passionate about the sport and looking forward to conquer many more podiums! Watch out – there is no stopping this Norwegian!