DESTRY ABBOTT’S RACE REPORT: WORCS ARIZONA
WORCS Round 1:
January 18, 2009
Speedworld, Arizona
Race Day:
I really enjoyed having two months off of racing and felt really good coming into the first race of 2009! On the start I wasn’t quite ready though! The gate dropped faster than I thought it would, so I didn’t get the best jump. I was pretty aggressive right away, and pushed my way up into the top 10 before leaving the MX track (we had 40 pros). I made a few more passes in the off-road sections and I believe I made it up to 8th or 9th after the first lap. The next couple of laps were going pretty well, and it seemed like I would pick one or two guys off a lap. First it was Soule, Brown, and then Weigand. Then about 40-minutes into it, I was right behind Woods and Bonds wasn’t too far in front of us.
At this point Bonds really picked it up and started to put some time on Nathan and I, but at the same time we were putting a gap on everyone behind us. I was pretty content with my pace and staying with Nathan. At the half way point, I made a quick pit and was still in a solid 5th about 10-seconds behind Nathan. While the Kawasaki guys were fueling me up I told Jonny my stomach was starting to hurt really bad, but other than that I felt really good. Kyle Summers was leading with a hard charging Dietrich in 2nd, followed by Bonds. After my pit I got within 5-seconds of Nathan and really was happy with my speed and pace. He would put a few seconds on me one lap and then I would do the same the next. With about 30-minutes to go that’s when it just hit me. I was pounding through one of the many beat up sections of the course, and I just threw up (no good way to put it). It was nasty and it felt like I just got punched really hard. I’ve never had that happen before! I drank some more water, to see if that would help, but I was really hurting. As you can imagine my pace really started to drop off. At the end of that lap, Nathan had put a ton of time on me and I could see a pack of riders catching me. I was trying everything I could, but just couldn’t do it. I just wanted the race to be over at this point! The next couple of laps went by so slow, and then I crashed with two laps to go. I finally got the white flag and knew I could at least put one more in, but I had another crash on the last lap. I tried my best to get up quick and luckily the bike was still running. I finally made it to the finish, but not far in front of another pack of riders behind me!
Overall Summary:
My goal coming into the race was a top 5 and I have no doubt I had a great shot at that today. I was sick off and on the week before the race, but thought I was good until the last half hour. The good part about this race was that I realized I had the speed, and the training I did in the off season seemed to pay off. My fitness is way better then what I showed today and I know most of it was due to having a bug this last week. I’m really feeling good on the bike and if I can just stay consistently up front in the WORCS series I’ll be happy! This series is more stacked than ever before.
Results top 20 (Pro):
1st Ricky Dietrich
2nd Bobby Bonds
3rd Nathan Woods
4th Timmy Weigand
5th Mike Brown
6th Justin Soule
7th Destry Abbott
8th Brendan Ritzman
9th Damon Huffman
10th Bobby Garrison
11th Colton Udall
12th Robby Bell
13th Arik Swan
14th Dennis Stapleton
15th Scott Simon
16th Matt Karlsen
17th Kevin Urquhart
18th Ryan Orr
19th Ryan Reina
20th Brian Garrahan
Other Notes:
Here’s a video clip from ShotMaker Productions from round 1. https://shotmakerproductions.com/worcs_fastest_5_phoenix_az_round_1.html
What a big day today was! Not because of the race, but because my Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl (WOW)! I told the guys at Kawasaki to give me the score during the raceJ . I’m a huge sports guy and I’ve been a Cardinals fan since they moved to Arizona. I’m pretty excited that I have the weekend off of the Super Bowl. Go Cardinals!!!
Ryan Abbatoye won the Pro2 class (13th overall), but the big news was his dad. Mark was having chest pains the night before and into the morning of the race. He got checked out by some EMT’s and they told him he needed to go to the hospital. He didn’t want to ruin Ryan’s race and wanted to wait until it was over. They finally ended up taking him later in the day to find out he was having a mild heart attack. They did surgery right away and had to unblock an artery. He’s doing great now and should be good. Mark is a great guy, but a little stubborn sometimesJ
What a huge turnout for round 1. I know they had around 1,100 entries and we also had a full gate of Pro’s. Let’s just hope we can keep that up all year!
I’ve mixed up my training a little this year and one of the things that worked great for me is my rowing machine. It’s awesome and I’m addicted to it now. You can check them out at www.concept2.com . Great group of guys and they really support our sport!
I want to give a big thanks to everyone cheering me on! It’s cool to have a local race and see so many people show up to support us. I also had some help getting prepared for this race from Stephen Gall (who’s here with his family from Australia), James Perez and of course my good buddy and great mechanic Jonny! The family was also in full force helping me out! I couldn’t do it without them!
I attached some photos from Woody (our local photographer) and a few other miscellaneous photos from the weekend. He really does a great job and he also has a page that has a lot of various photos of me https://dicp.smugmug.com/gallery/7019144_TQsQK.This is his main site too https://www.desertimagecollection.com/
On Thursday I flew over to California for the Kawasaki team announcements. It was really a great time seeing a lot of my Kawasaki teammates (SX, MX, quads, etc.). They also gave me my championship ring and hopefully it won’t be the last oneJ.Here’s a link with some photos and what happened. https://www.kawasaki.com/Racing_news/Article.aspx?id=416
This weekend I have the opening round of the national H&H series (Lucerne, Ca.). I’m pretty excited to put the number 1 on my bike and try to win the championship for 2009!
I also attached one photo of my National H&H race bike that Jonny just finished today.
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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