APRIL 16–WORCS (Price, Utah)

April 6, 2003. Round 4.
I wasn’t able to make this event last year, because I tore my ACL a couple of days before the race. I heard it was a fun race, but a little on the dusty side. It looks like this year that’s not going to be the case. (The forecast says snow:) I actually drove my motorhome up with my new mechanic, John Reeves, on Thursday night so I could ride Friday’s practice. Friday went really well and I was able to get the bike working great for the 5,000 foot altitude and the super cold weather. I think it was in the low 20s last night.

Saturday
I really didn’t have to race today, because I was in the top 10 in points. (Which gave me a good gate pick on Sunday.) All the other guys outside the top 10, had to ride a qualifier for the next gate picks. Brian Brown ended up winning that race and looked really good. I did ride the 250 race at 2:30, just after the big snow storm blew thru. I wasn’t sure if I should go out and ride, but I don’t get the chance to ride in snow to often. I had one of the best times in a long time, racing thru the snow and mud. I was leading for a little while and then waved Josh Mclevy by, so I could follow him for a little while. We rode the next couple laps together and then I decided to pull off so I wouldn’t get too tired for tomorrows race. Josh went on to win the race.

Race Day
It was super cold last night and everything around seemed to be frozen. Luckily we had the pro quads race earlier in the day to get most of the mud off the track. Our race didn’t start until 1:00 and the weather was a little weird. I wasn’t sure if it was going to snow again or if it would hold out for a few more hours. I had a pretty good start and was in fourth after the first corner, behind leader Robert Naughton, Russ Pearson, and Ty Davis. Ty was able to get around Russ early and then Robert a little bit later. Russ and I hooked up and were both able to pass Robert and not let Ty get away. After a couple of laps there was a small pack of five of us, with Ty having about a 15 second lead on Russ and I. (Russ and I went back and forth for second. ) Then fourth was Robert (10 seconds back) and Brian Brown right behind him. But the man on the move was Lance Smail, who stalled his bike on the start. Lance was able to get by all of us within the first five laps and take the lead, until the 1:15:00 mark when he broke a chain. (This has happened twice this year for him.) After that happened I was able to move up a spot and get back into the top three. Ty had the lead now and then it was Russ about 30 seconds back. I was around 45 seconds off of Russ. I was riding really well earlier in the race and made some mistakes and was never able to catch back up to Ty and Russ. On the last couple of laps, it started snowing on us. I was able to finish a comfortable lead over fourth, which went to Robert. I had a great time and thought the WORCS guys did an awesome job with the course. I’m really looking forward to the next WORCS race in Washougal (May 17-18), which I won two years ago. Hope to see you there.
Top 6:
TY Davis
Russell Pearson
Destry Abbott
Robert Naughton
Brian (The Brain) Brown
David Pearson

Other Notes:
After 4 round I’m sitting in 3rd overall in the West coast series, with 3 rounds to go.

This was my first race with my new mechanic, from Arizona, John Reeves.

I had to buy some extra event T-shirts this time, since I was the one on the back of them:)

Best Wishes,
www.destryabbott.com
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