Destry’s AMA H&H Race Story

Race Day:
This was a great race to come to, because I had no pressure and was able to wrap up the championship the round before. The 100’s always do a great job with their race, and this year they had us doing three loops which I like. The start was a little after 9:30 and I felt confident about my line. I had a first kick start and was off. It was really dusty and I was trying everything I could to not shut off until I got close to the banner. I saw I had a little gap, as I was coming to the first hill, and once I made it over clean I just tried to put a gap on everyone early. I was able to do that! The first loop was pretty fast, but it also had some pretty cool slower sections too. When I came into the pits they told me I had a pretty good lead, but they didn’t tell me how much it was. On the second loop, we got right into some great single track stuff and this is where I really started to have some fun. We had a pretty good hill climb before the fun downhill. It was really cool coming up to the top and seeing how far we had to go to get to the bottom. I felt really good and just tried not to make any mistakes, since there were spectators watching:). The second loop had a lot of great single track trails and some good rocky terrain. Everything went pretty smooth (besides one small crash) and then it was back into the pits before the final loop. This time they told me I had a 4-minute lead and that felt pretty nice going out for the final loop. Once I left the pits we had a pretty long valley (not my favorite stuff), but after that it was back into some cool single track sections. Before I knew it I could see I was heading back into the valley towards the pits. This time it wasn’t a fast valley, but a lot of rocky stuff with some drop offs. I would rather ride this stuff then the fast sections. I just rode smart and kept it on two wheels to the finish.

Overall Summary:
This was a really fun weekend and it was definitely a low key race for us. I really felt good and the bike was perfect all day. I just need to try and bottle this stuff up and bring it to more races:)! This was really a great way to end the year!

Overall Results:
1st Destry Abbott Monster Kawasaki
2nd David Kamo
3rd Gary Sutherlin
4th Nick Burson
5th Jared Buoy
6th Jacob Argubright
7th Paul Krause
8th Nick Blais
9th Justin Imhof
10th Steve Hengeveld
Five of the top six riders were on Kawasaki’s!

Other Notes:
Here’s a link to Beau’s video clip of the race. https://promoto.tv/hundreds.html. Beau also did a video premier (Saturday night) of his new off-road video that will be coming out here soon. He really did a great job with his footage and music. It’s going to be a must have!

This really was a successful year for me. Winning the H&H championship, and then being part of the US team to get on the podium in Greece made it a great year! My family is such a huge part of everything I do, along with Jonny Weisman who knows how to build great race bikes. I can’t forget about Kawasaki, because I know I would’ve never been in this position without them. I also want to thank all my other major sponsors (Monster, GPR, Thor, Pro Circuit, Dunlop, Stephen Gall training, Shoei, SIDI, IMS, and the list goes on). Thanks for everyone’s support!!! I’m going to do everything I can to get my own record for the most championships next year!

On Friday night Kawasaki hosted a championship party that everyone was invited to. Mark Abbotoye did an awesome job with the food and everything turned out awesome! It was really cool to see everyone hanging out at the BBQ.

This was Josh Morros first race at a H&H since his crash in Nevada. I know I keep saying he’s progressing so much, but it just amazes me to see how far he’s come just from last weekend when I saw him. He said it was tough sitting there and watching us race, and wants to be out there so bad. He ended up being my goggle guy in the pits and did a heck of a job giving me my goggles:). He also gave me the checkered flag at the end of the race.

I was planning on racing my 2009 KX450, but the tank didn’t finish in time so I ended up racing the 2008 again. I did do some testing on the new bike (Friday) and I have no doubt it’s going to be even better then this years bike. I did bring out my KX500, but couldn’t get the ok to race it:)

This was Gary Sutherlin’s first H&H and he did awesome. Gary is someone I ride with in AZ and I knew he was going to do great if he kept it on two wheels:). He came over with us and I pretty much gave him all the advice I could (which isn’t always good advice:)

If you’re in the Phoenix area on November 8, we’re throwing a championship party at the house. I figured since I tied the record for the most championship, we better do something. I’ll have more info on my message board.

I had my new championship shirts out at the race that we were selling. I only had 100 of them made and will be selling them on my site here soon. They’re by far the best shirts I’ve had and they have printing on both sides, as well as the front and back. You can check my site out for more info.

The club (100’s) did an awesome job on the course. I enjoyed the second and third loop (in the tighter stuff). On the second loop they brought us down a really cool hill, that had a lot of spectators on it. The 100’s always do a great job and it was even better that they made it a three loop race. They had some really cool trophies too!

This was my last big race of the year, besides the Endurocross in Vegas (November) which is more for fun. I’m actually debating driving over to Glen Helen this week to race the World vet MX championship. I can go race the 09 there!

Best Wishes,
Destry
www.destryabbott.com
2008 Sponsors: Kawasaki Racing, Monster Energy, Thor, GPR Stabilizers, Dunlop, Pro Circuit, Stephen Gall Training, Scott Goggles, SIDI, HoyFox.com, Motion Pro, BRP, Braking, Works Connection, Shoei, CTI2, Red Baron, Maxima, Kicker, OGIO, Acerbis, Steahly, Trick Fuel, RK/Excel, Renthal, Bent, Hinson, AP Designs, IMS, Jonre Multimedia, Cyto Sport, N-Style, Zip-Ty, UNI, Parkway Chiropractic, Tire-Balls, and ZLT.