AMA H&H Lucerne, Ca. Round 5
AMA H&H Lucerne, Ca. Round 5 |
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I showed up to the race Friday afternoon and spent a little time riding with Ryan Abbatoye. Saturday was basically the same, a little play riding and then working on finding a good line for the start. I felt really good with the way the bike was working, but I was a little beat from the heat (high 90?s).
Race Day: I spent the night out in the desert in my dad?s motor home (who drove over on Friday with my son and Jonny). I was up early and ready to do some final adjustments for the bomb. When the banner went up at 9:30 we all shut our motors off. It?s a pretty cool thing when a few 100 riders are just sitting there, quiet, waiting for the banner to drop. When it fell around the 1-minute mark, my bike fired right away and I went through the gears wide open. By the time I got to the end of the bomb (a little over a mile out) I was first and was still wide open, which means around 90+ mph. For the first 5-miles I was leading, but wasn?t feeling really good in the high speed stuff. David Pearson made a great pass on me and dropped me back to second. I pretty much just rode out of his dust for the first loop (44-miles). David was really on the gas through the fast stuff and I was struggling with my bike set-up, because it?s set up more for rocks and slower stuff. When we came into the pits, I was about 30-seconds back while Russ Pearson was about the same behind me. I was looking forward to the second loop, but I knew it was going to be hard to pass because it was so dusty. Right away we went down this real rocky hill, and I knew the bike was working well. I started to reel David in on the rocky sections, but then would get dusted out and had to back off. About 15-miles into this loop I got right up on David and he knew I was there, because he really picked it up. I got right next to him and then we jumped into a sand wash and I had to back off again. This actually happened a couple more times and I knew I wasn?t going to have too many more opportunities to make the pass. With about 10-miles left in the race, I was a couple bike lengths behind and a gear high so he couldn?t hear me. Then as we were on this off-camber hill I knew this was my chance. I down shifted and finally pinned it past him. I?m pretty sure I caught him by surprise, but he didn?t let me go by easy. We actually had a great race for the next mile until we got into a little valley, and he had to back off because of the dust. Now I knew I just needed to keep it on two wheels and I would be fine, but then I saw this huge valley we had to go through to the finish. This is where I was struggling, but I rode as hard as I could and was able to take a much needed win. Just before the finish David ran out of gas and had to get some from some spectators that were around. Russ was able to get by and finish second. I?ve been feeling really good lately and I knew I needed to win today to keep my title hopes alive. The bike was great and it really feels good to be back on top of the podium! Now I just need to do it two more times and hope everything works out!
Top 10 Overall Results: 1st Destry Abbott 2nd Russ Pearson 3rd David Pearson 4th David Kamo 5th Quinn Cody 6th Josh Morros (1st 250F) 7th Steve Hengeveld 8th Kellon Walch 9th Nick Burson 10th Brett Saunders
Other Notes: I actually had a lot of fun coming into this weekend. On Thursday I went out to Glen Helen and spent the day with Stephen Gall working on some things. By the end of the day, I felt my speed was better then before and felt really confident on the bike. Stephen is one of the most amazing guys I?ve ever met, and I owe him a ton for all the help he?s been giving me.
Next week I have off, but the family and I are going up to watch the Vegas SX. I also have an autograph signing I?ll be doing at Carter Powersports on Friday. I?ll be there with my other off-road teammates (Ricky and Nathan), the PC team, and Kawasaki?s SX team. Hope to see you there.
I owe Teresa Morros (Josh?s mom) a huge thanks for getting me out of a bind. When I showed up to the race I had two flats on my trailer (out of four wheels). She took them into town for me Saturday night and had some mounted for me. That saved me from the two hour drive doing that.
This weekend I ran the new GPR stabilizer and this thing is awesome! It?s really easy to adjust while you?re racing and was a big help today.
I thought the club did a great job on the course, especially the second loop. The first loop is a lot faster then I like, but I know they have to try and make everyone happy. I really liked the second loop, but had some scary moments on a few road crossings. They were huge and didn?t seem to have the marking I though they should. Overall they did a great job!
On Saturday I spent some time with Mark Kariya doing some how-to-tips. We did some really good ones with off-camber rocks, preparing your line on the bomb, dead engine starts, and up-hills. I think they turned out really well!
I had a great weekend, and when I heard my Phoenix Suns went up 3 games to 1 over the Lakers it made it even that much better (basketball playoffs). I?m a big basketball and football fan, and I even think the Cardinals might be good this year.
This was a really fun weekend! Cooper (my son) had a great time riding around with Braasch on his Rhino, and playing football with some kids and myself. Camping out in the desert is just a great relaxing time, until I have to go raceJ.
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. |
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