DESTRY’S GLEN HELEN WORCS REPORT

September 20, 2009, Race Day:

This is the first WORCS race at Glen Helen in quite a few years. I was actually looking forward to this race, even though I knew it was going to be more on the mx side then most of them. We had almost a full 40 man pro gate and the location brought in a lot of really good moto guys too (since outdoors is over). When the gate dropped I had a pretty good jump, but spun a little bit and went into Ritzman. Fortunately, I was still able to get myself into the top 10 after we got off the mx track. Not to much further, I was in this tight ravine and I saw some guys in front of me all stopped. It was too tight to try and pass, so we all just had to sit there until the bottleneck cleared. It really wasn’t that bad of a section, but a few riders were trying to make passes up this rocky hill while others were stuck on it. I know we sat there for over a minute (which felt a lot longer in a race). Finally it cleared up, and I was on my way! Unfortunately the top 7 guys made it through, with no problems, and were long gone. After the first lap I was in 13th and was in a big pack of riders. The next few laps were pretty uneventful (besides a few close calls with the ground) J . The course was really rough and there were a ton of squareedge bumps. Then I had the scariest moment of the day. I had Kyle Summers and Nick Brozovich right in front of me and we were going down this fast whooped out hill. Suddenly, at the last second, I see Nick’s bike laying in the middle of the course while I was in 4th gear pinning it (it was dusty too). I barely missed his bike, and almost went flying off the side of the hill when I swerved to miss it. I don’t think Kyle was as lucky, because he was laying on the ground (in pain) right after Nick’s bike. There were already people running up the hill so I just kept going. A couple laps later, I stopped for a quick splash and was off. I had Soule about 20-seconds in front of me (I was in 7th now). I kept closing in and felt good about my pace. Then the next two laps I made some dumb mistakes, and went over the bars in the Endurocross section. I did the exact same thing both times and couldn’t believe it! I lost quite a bit of time and had a lot of guys behind me catch back up. With about three laps to go, I was really starting to feel the heat and realized I didn’t hydrate as well as I should’ve. I know my fitness is really good, but I was starting to hurt due to the lack of water in my body! With a lap to go Taylor Robert got by me, but I was closing in on Bobby Garrison (who was right in front of me). I looked back and saw Huffy and Strang not far behind me too. I just had to dig down and give it one last effort. With about four corners to go I made the pass on Bobby, but he made the pass on me in the last corner as I lost some traction coming out of the corner. I ended up finishing 8th and was happy the race was over J

Overall Summary:

I came into this race wanting to do well, but most importantly stay safe for the next few weeks (2 H&H’s and ISDE in Portugal). I probably could’ve pushed it harder at times, but I still would’ve been hurting at the end with the dehydration. From 5th to 10th we were all within 30-seconds of each other. It was a brutal race and I’m just looking forward to the H&H’s now. That’s the title I want to win!!!

Top 20 Results (Pro):

1st Kurt Caselli

2nd Mike Brown

3rd Tim Weigand

4th Brenden Ritzman

5th Justin Soule

6th Taylor Robert

7th Bobby Garrison

8th Destry Abbott

9th Damon Huffman

10th Josh Strang

11th Robby Bell

12th Colton Udall

13th Jamie Lanza

14th Tommy Weeck

15th Tyler Sjorberg

16th Brian Garrahan

17th Brian Gainey

18th Austin Howell

19th Jimmy Albertson

20th Ryan Orr

Other Notes:

Ricky Dietrich went into this race with the points lead (I think 12 point lead), but had a tough day. He was still dealing with the broken foot, but the worst part was the big bottleneck. He had a ton of Pro2 guys in front of him, since they bypassed that section. I heard he was around 30th something after the first lap. Then later he had a big get off in the pro section and had to pull off. He’s now sitting second to Brown, and around 12 points back going into the last round.

Here’s the fastest 5 minute video from the race https://www.worcstv.com/videos-motorcycle.php#id=album-1&num=1.

I attached some photos from the race. Thanks to Mike and Amber Farmer for helping me out with them!

I also attached some photos Joe Colombero took of my crash! Thanks Joe!

Here’s a link to a youtube video I saw on the internet today (the Pro Endurocross section from the race). As you can see it wasn’t to easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TR1ug_gE94

The next 5 weeks are packed for me. I have two H&H the next two weeks (Nevada and then Utah). Right when I get back from Utah, I fly out to Portugal for a little over two weeks (ISDE). Then as soon as I fly back, it’s off to California for the last H&H. I’ve been working hard to make sure I’m ready and feel like I am!!! Should be fun!!!

It was really cool to see so many industry people at the race. I think the location was a huge factor and hopefully they all enjoyed the show.

The WORCS turnout for the weekend was really big even though the temperatures were close to the 100’s.

This was my last WORCS race of the year, because the final round is the same day as the last H&H. Since I’m trying to win my 6th H&H title I figured I better go to that one 🙂

Best Wishes,
Destry