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Destry's AMA H&H Race Story
Race Day:
The race was at 9:30, so I was up early trying to find a good line for the bomb run. It was really fast and pretty smooth. When the banner fell I kicked, but the bike didn’t fire up. I hurried up and kicked again and this time it started. All the guys around me dusted me out, but luckily I was still able to get to the line I was using first. By the time I was at the end of the bomb, I was surprised to find myself in 3rd. Russ and David Kamo were 1st and 2nd. I followed Kamo for about 12-miles and then made the pass in some tighter stuff. Russ wasn’t too much further up, but with the dust I had to wait until the right time. It was around the 18-mile marker when I made the pass on Russ. It wasn’t even a ½ mile later that I realized I had a rear flat! I couldn’t believe it! I tried to do my best, but Russ knew what had happened and went by when I was hitting some rough stuff. I was able to keep a decent pace, but was definitely losing time. Kamo caught me and I just waved him by. I rode the last 22-miles on a flat and I was still in 3rd when I pitted. Jonny was ready, and the guys at Kawasaki did an awesome job changing the rear wheel. As I was pulling the bike off the stand, they told me I was a little over 2 ½ minutes down from Russ (who was leading). Ty Davis passed me in the pits and, just as I was getting ready to pull out, I saw Gary Sutherlin right behind me. I knew I had my work cut out for me if I was going to have a chance at winning. I went out and charged really hard and was able to catch Ty 5-miles into this loop. He was really cool and waved me by. I was making some mistakes, because the wind was so bad. It was really hard when the wind was coming from the side. The second loop had some awesome downhills and uphills, and for the most part I was cleaning them pretty well. Halfway into the loop, I still didn’t know if I was making up any time. I was starting to doubt myself, but then I could see dust a ways up. With 10-miles to go I could tell I was making up quite a bit of time. I could see Russ and David having a great battle back and forth. One second I could see David leading, and then the next time I would see Russ would be back in the lead. I finally got close enough to David and made a good pass. Then I was right on Russ (1-second back) as we jumped on a little graded road. The next thing I know my rear wheel is just all over the place again. I’m like, no way do I have a flat again! Yep, I looked back and it was done! I knew I had no chance now and had to let Kamo back around. I took it to the finish with a third and wasn’t too happy! I heard Russ and David had a great battle to the finish and were only seconds apart.
Overall Summary:
I’ve really been working hard and definitely felt I had a great shot at winning today! I was really happy to make up the time on the leaders, after my first flat, and thought I still had a shot at the win. I haven’t had a rear flat in over 5-years (racing) and to have two of them in one race was pretty wild. I still feel really good about the year, but it would’ve been a lot better with a win after the first round. This is just round 1 of 8, so we still have a ways to go!
Results (top 6 OA)
1st Russell Pearson
2nd David Kamo
3rd Destry Abbott
4th Gary Sutherlin
5th Ty Davis
6th David Pearson
Other Notes:
The weather was pretty wild to say the least! I guess they had a little rain earlier in the week since some parts had some moisture in it. During the race the winds had to be the worst I’ve ever seen out there. When I was on some of the mountains it was so hard to stay on the bike with the winds coming from the side.
The club did a really good job and I have to say I loved the challenging second loop. It was a nice national caliber second loop. I just hope we can get more clubs to run us in that kind of stuff and make the races a little longer! Great job guys!
I attached some photos from Kenny Jones. I was out play riding the day before and he was cool enough to shoot some photos for me. I have a ton of them if anyone needs some. I also did a photo shoot with Woody earlier in the week on my H&H race bike and Kawasaki/Thor race gear.
Mark Abbatoye was at the race after his surgery last week. He looks really good and it’s nice to see him back to normal after his surgery.
Josh Morros and his mom and dad showed up to the race too. Josh really is looking good and you can tell he’s been working out a lot. We actually did a little ride together the day before the race which was really cool.
I have this weekend off, and that’s an awesome thing since my Cardinals will be playing in the Super Bowl Sunday! I’m looking forward to hanging out with some friends and relaxing!
My next race will be another H&H in Ridgecrest, Ca. in two weeks. I’ll be ready!!!
Best 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.
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