AMA H&H
Jericho, Utah
April 14, 2007
Pre-race:
What a weekend this is going to be! I really feel like I prepared myself for it, but it's been a long time since I've had two major races back-to-back (Saturday & Sunday). On Thursday, we drove up to race the H&H just South of Salt Lake City. Then after the race, we'll make the trip to the airport to fly out to Reno for the WORCS race on Sunday. The conditions here for the H&H are way drier then I thought they would be. It's going to be really dusty and a good start is going to be very important.
Race Day:
The race didn't start until 11:30, so there wasn't a huge hurry to get out to the race early. When the banner went up, I felt pretty good about my starting spot. It dropped, and the 450 started on the first kick and I was off. I was second at the end of the bomb behind Russ. I was pretty good with this, because we went right into the sand dunes and it really wasn't dusty here. I went back and forth with Kendall for a little bit, and then Kendall and Russ had a huge crash into each other. I really just caught the end of it when they went down, but I knew it was bad. This put me in the lead, but just after that I lost the course and took a right hand turn up these dunes. Then a little bit later, I realized the course had gone left where I made the right. I had to turn back and just tried to find the course as fast as I could. By the time I got back to the course, I was around 11th or 12th. I tried to make as many passes as I could before we got out of the dunes and into the dusty sections. By the time we got out of the dunes I was in 4th (about 7-miles out). I had TJ (I think it was him) in front of me and boy I was having a tuff time getting by. I followed him for another 10-miles, until we got into a section where I really had to push it to get by. I finally made the pass, but I took more chances then I wanted to. I knew the leaders were checking out, and I needed to get up front. Once I got by I had clean air and couldn't see any dust. I really pushed it for the rest of the first loop (38-mile loop). By the end of the loop I made it up to Kendall's dust and could see David was just in front of him. I felt really good with the way I was riding, and the way the bike was working. I knew it was going to be really hard to pass Kendall and David though. The dust was just really bad and it seemed like every time I would get close, I would have to back off and eat more dust. It was really frustrating since there really wasn't anything I could do. With about 10-miles to go, I was probably 30-seconds back from Kendall and that's about how far the dust would settle in sections. We finally went back into the dunes and there was only 6-miles left. I gave it my last good push, and then one of the sage brushes grabbed my front brake lever and pulled it in and I hit the ground. It was really a stupid crash and I was only in second gear, but I had to pick it up and get going again. I wasn't able to close the gap I lost and finished third.
Overall Summary:
I really don't know what to say, but I did everything I could. The one time I got lost really cost me! I really feel like my speed is good, but I need to get some wins now to have a chance at keeping my H&H title. My hats off to David and Kendall, because they both rode really well. I think I had 7-minutes on Quinn at the finish so we all rode really well. When it's this dusty, it's just too hard to pass and if the guy in front of you doesn't make a mistake you have to settle with where you're at.
Results (top 12 overall)
1st David Pearson
2nd Kendall Norman
3rd Destry Abbott
4th Quinn Cody
5th Rob Phillips
6th TJ Hanifin
7th Kellon Walch
8th Reese Honea
9th Chris Papworth
10th Matt Gosnell
11th Russell Pearson
12th Carl Maasberg
Other Notes:
My next race is actually tomorrow, but then I have another H&H in Lucerne in two weeks.
The club did an awesome job with the course. This really is a great place to race, but when it's dusty it can be one of the worst. The course itself had a lot of different terrain in it and I though it was the best one this year.
If you haven't seen the latest Cycle News, be sure to check it out. It has a picture of Kit Palmer on the cover (on the KLX450). In the back of it they have a cool two page spread of me from Havasu. I was pretty pumped! Issue 15.
WORCS:
Honey Lake, Ca.
April 15, 2007
Pre-race:
I had a great night sleep at the Morros' house and felt pretty good after racing yesterday. Stephen Gall gave me some great things to do, right after the H&H race, to make sure my body would be prepared for today. I headed out to the race early Sunday so I could go walk some of the course. Just about everyone spent time riding the course yesterday (besides the pro sections) and I knew I had to do my homework to be ready. After walking a lot of it, I was really excited about the course. It's not as fast and it's really rocky in sections, which is what I like.
Race Day:
After the parade lap (we rode the whole thing) I knew this was going to be an awesome course. When the gate fell (just after 12:00) I jumped out, but got squeezed off by Bobby Garrison and Bobby Bonds and had to shut off. I just let off the gas and tried to go under everyone at the first corner, but it didn't work that well. Not too far after that, I got stuck in a bottleneck leaving the MX track. Now I was somewhere around 20th place. Then we came to the cool off-road section, but a lot of the guys in front of me were really struggling and it became a big train of all of us stopping and sitting there. We were in the big ravine and you couldn't pass anyone. I just took the time to look to see who was behind me and watch the leaders pulling away. When we finally got out of here I really pushed it and started to make some passes. After the first lap I was in 18th and a long ways behind the leaders. Everything just started to click and I felt awesome on the bike. I was picking guys off really fast and just kept moving up. By the halfway point, I was in 6th or 7th and had Hughes, Garrison, and Soule in sight. All three of them pitted and we decided to wait until the next lap to pit, so I got by all of them and moved into 3rd or 4th (not sure). The only problem here was just after the waterfall section. They had three lines you could use up this hill, and when I made the left to go up it a lapped rider was sitting in the middle of it. I was stuck, and had to get off the bike and turn around. By the time I got going the right way, all three of them passed me back. The next lap I pitted, and that gave them all a bigger lead again. Then I went back to work, and finally picked off Hughes and then Garrison. With three laps to go, I could see Soule about 30 seconds in front of me. He was really riding awesome and I knew this was his local event, so he was going to give it everything he had. On the last lap, I was about 20 seconds back and was closing the gap. The last lap was definitely going to be the fastest of the day. I was within 10 seconds halfway into the lap, and then lost my front end in a hard pack corner. I knew then it was probably over. I finished 4th, with all the guys in front of me putting in great rides.
Overall Summary:
I can't believe how great I felt all day. If it wasn't for the bad start and the bottleneck on the first lap, I really feel like I would've had a great shot at winning. This is the best I felt in a long time, and I know all my hard work is starting to show. I keep saying my speed is good and proved that today, but I'm a little frustrated I wasn't on the podium.
Results (Top 10 in Pro's):
1st Nathan Woods
2nd Robby Bell
3rd Justin Soule
4th Destry Abbott
5th Bobby Garrison
6th Derek Costella
7th Ryan Hughes
8th Scott Simon9th Mike Kiedrowski
10th Kyle Summers
Other Notes:
Jason Smigel, Jonny and I stayed at Morros' house last night after we flew into Reno. Thanks for picking us up at the airport and letting us stay at your mansion. They were a huge help for us.
Josh Morros put in another great ride and finished 7th overall, 1st in Pro2.
I haven't seen the lap times yet, but was told I had the fastest lap of the day by a few guys. I'm pretty happy about that since I had to come from the back of the pack.
I really need to give the guys at Kawasaki a huge thanks. Jeff prepped my race bike the week before over in California and that was a huge help for Jonny and I. Jonny also worked really hard this week getting the H&H bike done and then doing a final prep on the WORCS bike when we showed up. Thanks to Jason, Jonny, Jeff, and Craig for all your hard work. I really appreciate everything you guys do for me!
The WORCS crew did an awesome job on the race and it was really great to have a technical race. I know a few pros weren't too happy with the course, but this is off-road racing not the outdoors. You have to have a lot more patience and it's not just about pinning it all the time.
It was really cool Ryan Clark came and raced his first off-road race. I'm sure he wasn't really happy with his results, but he raced one of the toughest WORCS races in a long time. I know he wanted to stay healthy and not jeopardize his SX/MX season.
Speaking of outdoors; this week I finally told everyone I'll be racing four of them (maybe five). It's going to be Red Bud, Budds Creek, Colorado, and Washougal. I'm really excited about it and it's been about six years since my last outdoor race. Most people don't realize I used to race a lot of moto, but now I'm stereotyped as just an off-road guy (which really isn't that bad). I'm hoping to go prove that I can moto too.
Best Wishes,
Destry
www.destryabbott.com
2007 Sponsors:
Kawasaki Racing, Monster Energy, Dunlop, Stephen Gall Training, Scott goggles, Thor, IMS, Pro Circuit, Kawasaki Accessories, SIDI, GPR, Acerbis, CTI2, Jonre, BRP, Motion Pro, Works Connection, OGIO, Kicker, Hinson, Hoy Fox Toyota, American Racing Wheels, Braking, Renthal, DP pads, Team Hawg Racing, Twisten Wrenches, Cyto Sport, Red Baron, Trick, Zip-Ty, RK/Excel, N-Style, Shoei, Maxima, ZLT, Bent, Steahly, and Tire Balls.