Pro Diaries - Destry Abbott - WORCS Round 2 And Adelanto GP - Dirt Rider Magazine

Adelanto GP
February 21, 2009
Adelanto, Ca.Race Day:
Let me start off by saying that this was a really busy weekend for me! I went and rode practice at the WORCS race, not too far away, (early in the morning) and then made it over to race the 30+ race for the Adelanto GP. This is a race I haven't done since 2003 (I believe). I saw that they had a $15,000 pro purse and $5,000 went to the winner, so I asked Monster Kawasaki if I could do it (which they said yes to). The only bad part about this was the fact that it was going to wear me out, and I would miss Saturday's pro practice at the WORCS race. I ended up signing up for two classes at the Adelanto GP; the 30+ which was at 12:30 and the pro race at 3:00. I had a lot of fun in the 30+ race and won that. Then it was time for Jonny and I to make some small adjustments before the big pro race. As I was sitting on the start line spectators were everywhere. This is, by far, one of the biggest and most popular races I've done in a while. It was like being at an outdoor national. Anyway, the start was dead engine and that hasn't gone to well for me this yearJ Luckily I had a first kick start and was in second at the first corner, with Nick Burson leading. I made the pass not too far in, and started to put a little gap on the field. Going out on the second lap I had a pretty good get-off, but was able to get going before the pack was able to get by. I was really feeling good and the bike was working awesome. At this point, I really felt confident and knew I had a great shot at this win! The next few laps everything was perfect and I had over a minute lead on everyone (Burson, D. Pearson, Childress, and Crawford). Around the 45-minute mark, I stopped for a quick splash of gas and was out. The course was really getting rough, and my wrist and left hand started to feel it (my hand started to bleed from blisters). I was still able to put more time on everyone, and then the white flag finally came out. The last lap I backed it down and, more or less, enjoyed the lap a little more! I was able to take the win and felt really good about the way I rode.Pro Race:
1st Destry Abbott
2nd Morgan Crawford
3rd Nick BursonWORCS:
Racetown 395
February 22, 2009
Adelanto, Ca.Race Day:
The start was at 12:00 and I had the 7th gate pick. Once the gate dropped I had an ok jump, but for some reason everyone was out of control in the first few corners. By the time I got into the off-road part I was around 25th (out of 37). It wasn't really the place I wanted to be, but I was slowly working by guys. It was super sandy and it was hard to pass. I was struggling early and riding a little too tight. About 30-minutes into it, I was still slowly working my way up. I had some great battles with my teammate Huffy, Bell, Sutherlin, and a few other guys. An hour into it, it was time for my quick splash. I believe I was around 15th, but I still had a group of guys in front of me. I made some more passes and made it up to 12th, but that was as far as I made it before I started to hit the wall! With two laps to go I was really feeling the long weekend and it finally hit me hard. First Gracyk got back by me, and then Bell. I finished a disappointing 14th overall.Overall summary (for the weekend):
I came into this weekend not at 100%, and didn't get much quality time on the bike due to my wrist and hand injury a couple weeks ago. I rode awesome at the Adelanto GP and felt really good on the bike, but I also used a lot of energy that day. The WORCS race was a lot tougher for me. I already had a hand that had blisters, from the day before, and just wasn't feeling alert or focused. 14th isn't something I'm happy with, but at the same time I didn't even know if I could race either one of these events a week ago.Pro Results (top 20):
1st Mike Brown
2nd Justin Soule
3rd Nathan Woods
4th Tim Weigand
5th Bobby Bonds
6th Brenden Ritzman
7th Bobby Garrison
8th Damon Huffman
9th Josh Strang
10th Taylor Robert
11th Kevin Rookstool
12th Gavin Gracyk
13 Robby Bell
14th Destry Abbott
15th Ryan Orr
16 Kevin Urquhart
17th Jared Minor
18th Nick Brozovich
19th Ty Hames
20th Dennis StapletonOther Notes:Here's Monster Kawasaki's race report. http://kawasaki.com/Racing_news/Article.aspx?id=1123This is the 5-minute WORCS video clip from the race. http://www.worcsracing.com/Videos/2009_round2_bikes.htmlRicky Dietrich had a tough race (WORCS). He had the lead and then had some bike problems. He was definitely the fastest guy at the race!I heard Soule and Brown had an awesome battle going for the last hour of the race. Brown got his first win with Justin right on him for 2nd.I know there was no way I would've been able to race this weekend's races if it wasn't for Dr. Popiel's help with my wrists. He's been a huge help for me this last year! Thanks!I was pretty worried about what I was going to do with my hands for the WORCS race and then Lori Smith (Rodney's wife) was cool enough to wrap them for me. It made it a little easier to deal with for the 2-hour race.It was really great to be able to race the Adelanto GP again. If you haven't made it to the race you would be shocked to see so many people at one off-road race. It was packed with spectators around the whole 10-mile course. In years past, they would get around 3,500 entries for the weekend and way more spectators. It was really cool that the Kawasaki guys let me do the race too.I was checking out Sunday's paper (Daily Press) and was pumped to see I was on the cover in the sports section (from Adelanto's pro win). It's pretty cool to see the press getting into motorcycle racing more.Thanks to Mike and Amber Farmer for the photos. www.amberdesignz.com or www.fastphotolab.comBest Wishes,
Destry
www.destryabbott.com
2009 Sponsors: Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing, Thor, Dunlop, GPR stabilizers, Shoei, Pro Circuit, Stephen Gall Training, SIDI, IMS, Zip-Ty, HoyFox.com, Motion Pro, BRP, Braking, Works Connection, Concept2, CTI2, Maxima, Kicker, O'GIO, Steahly, RK/Excel, Renthal, Bent, Hinson, Jonre Multimedia, Steahly, Scott, Cyto Sport, N-Style, UNI, Parkway Chiropractic, Acerbis, Tire-Balls, and ZLT.