Viking Voyage National Hare & Hound Round Four

Racing is generally a series of scary moments, but it usually entails riding just over the edge. For Team Green's Destry Abbott at the Vikings Motorcycle Club's Virgin Voyage yesterday near Lucerne Valley, California, round four of the AMA/FMF Racing National Hare & Hound Series, he feared he'd gotten lost and would lose the lead he'd held most of the race.

"I rode pretty flawlessly the first loop then the second loop everything went well," Abbott said. "Then about 25 miles out [on the second loop] or whatever-I hadn't had any problems yet; I was just riding a good, clean race-then we had problems with the course markings. That's when it was dj vu all over again (referring to round two where he lost the race after getting lost almost within sight of the finish). I thought I was going to get lost. I couldn't believe I was going to lose a race again because of this.

"Luckily, we got it figured out, but I'm kind of curious to see what happens. We all finished the way we were riding [when we got lost], but it's frustrating because we all worked so hard and then for that to happen."

Whether the stiff winds blew the course markers away, whether they were taken down by saboteurs or whether they simply weren't put up in the first place had not been determined shortly after the race.

Abbott won by only a few seconds over rival and former champ Russell Pearson. That gives Abbott two wins and two seconds, tying the points battle between the two as the Montclair Yamaha racer also has two wins (rounds one and two) and two second place finishes now. Two rounds remain—one in Utah in two weeks and one in Lucerne at the end of October.

Pearson found himself left at the starting line when the banner dropped. "It was all good until the stupid banner dropped," he lamented. "I don't know if I got a little whisky throttle with it, a little throttle-happy or... I don't know. The next thing I know, it just didn't go."

After kicking "frantically" four or five times, his YZ450F lit up and he took off, veering around the wall of dust before him and threading through spectators' vehicles. Incredibly, by the end of the bomb run, he'd clawed his way toward the front end of the pack: "It actually wasn't too bad; they said I was 12th or something."

Pearson caught up with Abbott on the tast first 40-mile loop, despite a crash that broke his visor. He hit a rock disguised by a bush, endoing into a face plant. On the more technical second 40-mile loop, Pearson got lost and came upon Abbott who was coming back on a trail he'd explored for naught. After finding the course once again following a couple minutes of further exploration, Pearson chased Abbott all the way to a fairly close finish.

Honda's Kendall Norman kept himself in the hunt and ended up third on his XR650R, his best finish to date in a National. Early leader Steve Hengeveld rode to a solitary fourth place on his XR650R, and Team Green's David Pearson rounded out the top five on his KX500. All stated they'd lost the course as well, though it ultimately didn't make a difference in the final results.

Viking Voyage National Results

1. Destry Abbott, Kawasaki
2. Russell Pearson, Yamaha
3. Kendall Norman, Honda
4. Steve Hengeveld, Honda
5. David Pearson, Kawasaki
6. Matt Gosnell, KTM
7. Mike Childress, Honda
8. Luke Dodson, Suzuki
9. Ryan Kudla, Yamaha
10. Brett Saunders, Yamaha
11. Kenji Gauthier, Yamaha
12. Erik Mattson, Honda
13. Paul Krause, KTM
14. Chuck McBurney, Yamaha
15. Quinn Cody, KTM
16. Justin Mollow, Yamaha
17. Matthew Henderson, NA
18. Anthony Modica, KTM
19. Nick Pearson, Kawasaki
20. Matt Kearney, Yamaha