WORCS
Round 1
Surprise, Arizona
January 21, 2007
I really feel like I've been riding really well these last couple weeks and have been looking forward to this race. The only problem was the fact that I wasn't expecting all this rain we've been getting the last couple of days. I do really well in hard-pack dry conditions, but still need a little work on my mud skills J. Not to many people rode Friday's MX practice since it was a huge mud bog. I rode Saturday and felt really good, but got a little arm-pump trying to hold on too tight. Other then that, it went really well.
The race didn't start until 12:00 and the rain showers stopped around 10:00, just in time for our race. It was still really muddy and I knew I needed to get a great start to have a shot at winning. It's a lot easier to say than to do! The starting gate was concrete and I spun really bad since it was still wet. After the first corner it was so muddy I was already going through my tear-offs. I was mid-pack and around 20th leaving the mx track into the off-road section. It was really hard to pass, because a lot of the course was one lined while the rest was just sloppy mud. I made a few passes after the first lap and was probably 15th, but losing a lot of time to the leaders. I wasn't riding as aggressive as I would've liked, but I didn't want to hit the ground in the muddy sections. They had this really cool log section for the pro riders and I'm pretty sure the spectators loved it. I had this section dialed and made a few passes going over them on the second lap. The next few laps went ok, but I was still riding a little tight. At the hour mark, I think I made it up to 8th and had a great pit stop and was off. Not to long after I took off, I realized I had a lot of dirt inside my goggles bouncing around. I tried to ride two laps with it in there until one went in my left eye and I couldn't see anything. I had to take them off so I could rub the dirt out. I stopped again for new goggles and was off again. Bobby Bonds and Smail weren't to far in front of me, so I started to push it more and see what I could do. I was feeling a lot better and the bike was working great. The next lap I made the pass on Smail and Bonds, but coming into the stop check in the middle of the pits I stalled the bike. The both got back by and I wasn't too happy. I still caught back up to Smail and made the pass, but took a big digger when I hit a pothole. I went flying over the bars and was pretty sore getting up. I really wasn't in that big of a hurry, but once I got going again it wasn't that bad. With about 20 minutes to go I felt good and made one last push to the finish. I was able to get by Lance again and then on the last lap made the pass on Derek. I finished 5th and really wasn't to upset with it. I know I have the speed to run up front, but with all these fast guys you can't make too many mistakes. My goal was to be in the top 5 after the first round and then go from there. It's a long year and I know consistency is going to be the key!
Results (Top 20 Pro's) As you can see there's a ton of fast guys here!
1st Ricky Dietrich
2nd Ryan Hughes
3rd Kurt Caselli
4th Bobby Bonds
5th Destry Abbott
6th Lance Smail
7th Derek Costella
8th Robby Bell
9th Justin Soule
10th Matt Karlsen
11th Kyle Summers
12th Casey Johnson
13th Mike Kiedrowski
14th Jeffrey Loop
15th Tony Boughten
16th Eric Rhoten
17th Mikey Griffin
18th Bryce Olson
19th Dennis Stapleton
20th David Kamo
The WORCS crew put on another great event and they even put up $7,500 for the pro purse. They'll have no less then $5,000 for every race, which is really great news for us. The weather was pretty wild for Arizona (with the rain, hail, snow, and really cold weather). They still were able to put on a great race and everyone I talked to was pretty happy with the way the weekend turned out.
I need to give my mechanic Jonny a huge thanks for all the hard work he put in getting our race bike built and then getting it ready for the mud! The bike looked great before the race, but with all this mud she's going to need a little TLC!
This was our first race with Monster as our new main sponsor. As you can see I have a few other ones that are on board this year too. I'm pretty pumped with our race bikes look this year.
It was great to see so many new pro riders show up for the first WORCS round. I'm always happy to see the MX riders come and give it a try. I know we had over 40 guys in the pro class. Let's just hope we can keep this going.
Steve Hengeveld came out to give the first round a try, but had a pretty hard crash right off the start and I heard he broke his upper arm. I hope he has a fast recovery and we'll see him back at the races soon.
My next race is next weekend for the first AMA H&H in Lucerne, California. I'm really looking forward to running my number 1 plate and will do everything I can to keep it for the fifth time (tie the H&H record).
I'm just finishing redoing my site for 2007. I'm working on adding new video section, pictures, sponsors, and having t-shirts for sale. Be sure to check it out. www.destryabbott.com !
I attached a few photos from Mike and Amber. You can see more photos at www.fastphotolab.com.
On a really sad note Elmer Symons lost his life a couple weeks ago racing the Dakar. I knew Elmer pretty well and he was a super cool guy. He's been racing here in the states (H&H's, BITD, and GNCC's). He'll be truly missed!
2007 Sponsors: Kawasaki Racing, Monster, Thor, Dunlop, Pro Circuit, Scott Goggles, SIDI, HoyFox.com, Motion Pro, BRP, Works Connection, Shoei, CTI2, Red Baron, Maxima, Kicker, OGIO, Acerbis, Wiseco, Steahly, Trick Fuel, DP Pads, RK/Excel, Team Hawg Racing, Racing Renthal, Bent, Hinson, American Racing Wheels, IMS, Jonre Multimedia, Cyto Sport, N-Style, GPR Stabilizers, Zip-Ty, UNI, Tire-Balls, and ZLT.