AMA Hare Scramble
February 24, 2008
Globe, Arizona
Race Day:
After walking a little of the course Saturday afternoon, I knew it was going to be good (it was raining here Friday night). The course was going to be technical, but hard to pass at the same time. The race started at 10:00 a.m. sharp with a dead engine start. I had a great jump, and was in third after the first two corners (around 30 pro's). Justin Soule was leading, followed by Ryan Powell. Since it was so hard to pass, I rode right behind them the first lap and we actually had a lot of guys right on us (a little freight train). As soon as we headed into the Endurocross section I was able to pin it past Ryan, and then I passed Justin going down the next hill. Once I was in the lead, I tried to put a little gap on them so they couldn't key off me. After the third lap, I made my first pit stop (total of 7-laps in the race). I wasn't sure if I could go 4-laps so I played it safe, but Ryan passed me when I was pitting. Once I took off again I wanted to make sure Ryan didn't put a good gap on me, because I knew he had to pit on the next lap. Ryan was riding really well and I knew he was going to be tough to beat. I was about 3-seconds behind him when he stopped for gas, which gave me a nice gap again and the lead. After this I rode a good pace, and was able to pull further away each lap. On the last lap, I had to stop again for gas (just to be safe). My Cooper, my dad, and Bob Russell, did an awesome job at getting me out quick each time. On the last lap, I knew I just needed to keep it upright and I would take the win. It felt really good going down towards the finish, and having everyone cheer me on. I finished in around two hours and 40 minutes and took a nice win!
Overall Summary:
It was really an awesome day and, to be honest, I didn't have any close calls or any type of problem (that's why it's a boring story). It was just a really smooth race and everything worked perfect. I've been feeling awesome all year, and it's nice to finally show that my speed and endurance is where it's supposed to be. Now I just need to take this same thing into the H&H and WORCS series! Hopefully they'll have some more technical type of races.
Results (top 15 overall):
1st Destry Abbott
2nd Ryan Powell
3rd Gary Sutherlin
4th Jordan Brandt
5th Justin Soule
6th Ian Blythe
7th Ty Davis
8th Brian Garrahan
9th Brandon Johnson
10th Dylan Murdock
11th Garrison Gragg
12th Corey Floyd
13th Patrick Garrahan
14th Devin Bolin
15th Brian Butler
Other Notes:
Here's an awesome video clip of the National from today. http://promoto.tv/2008WNHS-RND02.htmlBeau really has been putting in a lot of hard work, and helping us off-road guys out by going to the races and filming. I know he's finishing up on a DVD, which he'll be selling here soon. A few of the photos are from Beau's wife too.
I actually wasn't sure if I was going to race this event last week. I was in California all last week testing, and didn't get home until Friday night. I had to finish prepping the bike Saturday morning, and drove up after that. The bike was actually really stock, besides a GPR stabilizer, IMS tank, suspension, and a few other goodies. I was pretty proud of myself for building this bike from ground up. It's been a long time since I had to get my own race bike ready. It was hard to turn down a national event here in my home state though (doesn't happen to often).
This was the first time I've raced a National Hare Scramble race in years. If I knew they were all like this, I would love to do this series. It really felt good to get a National win again and in my home state!
I really need to give huge props to AMRA (Rock Stars) for putting on such a great event. It was by far the best National event I've raced in a long time (counting H&H's). It was really technical and well marked. You could definitely tell they put in a lot of hard work. It was great for the spectators too, and they even had a cool Endurocross section. As far as the course goes, I think I only got in fourth gear one time each lap (it was tight) which is the way I like it. It was right at 9-miles and taking us over 24-minutes for each lap.
It was really cool to see Gary Sutherlin get up on the podium. He's one of our local boys here, and has always had the speed and seems to be putting it together. He also runs my www.destryabbott.com stickers, which is probably a huge help too!