AMA H&H : Destry’s AMA H&H Race report

March 21, 2010

Race Day:

Coming into this race was a lot different than most! I dislocated my shoulder on Wednesday, and I really didn’t think I was going to be able to race this one. Jonny, Gary and I were supposed to leave on Thursday, but I told them to go without me so I had more time to see a doctor and hopefully get my shoulder stronger. As of Friday I still didn’t think I was going to be able to race, but I wasn’t willing to give up so I booked a flight up to Boise for Saturday. I had a lot of people help me out and they made it possible to race on Sunday, but it wasn’t easy by any means. I could still barely lift my arm up, however I was actually more worried about it popping out during the race and not being able to put it back in. Fortunately I had a really good brace that I wore, and it helped keep it in the right position most of the time.

The race was a little over 100-miles and I heard there were going to be quite a few whoops (which I wasn’t looking forward to). My goal was to try and get a top 10, and as many points as I could. I came into the race with the series points lead (by 7 points), but knew I wasn’t going to be leaving with it. When the banner dropped I had a first kick start and was off, but by the time I got to the end of the banner I was in 4th (which was way better than I thought I would’ve been). I was ok sitting down and could actually ride a decent pace, but as soon as I started hitting bumps my shoulder hated it and I would have to slow way down. A couple riders passed me, but I was still sitting in 6th at the alternate gas (25-miles in). Justin Imhof passed me, while I was getting some gas, so now I was in 7th. I stayed here for the rest of the first loop, and didn’t see anyone behind me so I was pretty happy. The first 46-mile loop was over and now I just had the second 59-mile loop left. I definitely wasn’t on the tired side, but my shoulder was aching and hurting more then you could imagine. Not too far in I lost my front end and went down! Luckily it was a slow speed crash so everything was good. Once I got going again, I was staying just a little ways behind Justin and figured if it wasn’t rough I might make a little push to see if I could get by. Well over halfway into the loop he slid into a barb wire fence and got his bike stuck. I asked if he was ok and he gave me the thumbs up. I was really happy to be in 6th and honestly never thought I would be that far up front. Then as we got closer to the finish Justin was back on me fighting for 6th place. We ended up going back and forth a few times, and this was by far the hardest I had to ride all day. I hit one drop off that scared me really bad and I’m not sure how I held onto that one. I ended up getting back into 6th and holding him off until the finish.

Overall Summary:

I’m super bummed to lose my points lead, but at the same time I’m only 8 points down and pretty pumped to be able to pull off a 6th today! This was by far the hardest thing I had to do in a long time, but it was all worth it. Now it’s time to get things taken care of and try to finish the rest of the H&H series strong.

Results (top 10 overall):

1st Kendall Norman

2nd David Kamo

3rd Gary Sutherlin

4th Jacob Argubright

5th Underwood

6th Destry Abbott

7th Justin Imhof

8th Bobby Prochnau

9th Nick Burson

10th Josh Mott

Other Notes:

I was really lucky to be able to make it to this round! I had a lot of great people that helped me out and would like to thank Dr. Cohen, Dr. Popiel, Dr. Micheel’s, and Stephen Gall. I also have to thank Kit Kamo for picking me up at the airport Saturday and for bringing some goodies.

I’m having an MRI done this Wednesday and will know more this weekend as far as what I’m going to have to do. I had this same thing happen in 2002 and had to have surgery. This was the first time it dislocated again, but I’m hoping to be able to put surgery off until summer (if I have to have it done). I know a lot of guys thought I separated it, but there’s actually a big difference from a separated shoulder and a dislocation. Luckily when it did pop out I had Gary Sutherlin and another buddy there to help put it back in (20 painful minutes later).

I’ll be missing this weekend’s WORCS race in Havasu, but I’ll probably still be going to watch and support my teammates. Monster Energy Kawasaki is putting a fill in rider for me this weekend, and I’m actually really happy with who they chose. I know he’s looking forward to it and should do great!

I have to give huge props to everyone that helped put this race on. They did the best I’ve ever seen as far as getting the word out on the race, and hosting a national caliber event. We had a pro signing on Saturday night in town and I was pretty busy for a good 2-hours. I also did a phone interview with one of the big radio stations on Friday. We were flipping through the channels on Saturday night and saw that the Fox TV station was talking about it in their news segment. They also had a plane that followed the leaders and took some footage of the race. Great stuff guys! Hopefully we can get more clubs to do that kind of stuff.

Here’s a really cool video clip with one of my favorite sponsors and great guys (Randy Norman from GPR). He’s hanging out with Jay Leno talking about the GPR! https://www.jaylenosgarage.com/extras/car-parts/how-to-gpr-stabilizer/

I attached a cover of a European magazine Motokross that I was on. They did a big interview with me and they did a great job!

Since I’m not racing this weekend I have a couple off weekends to get ready for the Utah H&H (April 10). Time to rest up!

www.destryabbott.com
2010 Sponsors: Monster Energy Kawasaki, Thor, Dunlop, GPR stabilizers, Shoei, Akrapovic exhaust, Stephen Gall Training, SIDI, IMS, Zip-Ty, HoyFox.com, Motion Pro, BRP, Braking, Works Connection, Concept2, CTI2, Maxima, Kicker, O’GIO, Traxxas, Renthal, Hinson, Jonre Multimedia, dragonfireracing.com, Matrix, Scott, Cyto Sport, N-Style, UNI, Parkway Chiropractic, Tire-Balls, and ZLT.