WORCS: Toutle, Wa.
WORCS: Toutle, Wa. |
| June 10, 2007 Pre-Race:
Race Day: Well, things didn?t quite go as planned! J On the start I had a great jump, and was second or third into the first corner. Then Ryan Hughes slid out right in front of me and I plowed into the back of him. I had to stop, and wheelie to the side so I didn?t ride over him. Now I was in the middle of the pack (around 15th). Before we got into the woods section, I made some aggressive passes and was into the top 10. I knew it was really important to get up front since it was hard to pass in the trees. I had some great battles with Ryno and Caselli on the first lap and felt like this was going to be a great day. I was a little tight early, but this is kind of normal and I knew I would loosen up and ride even better. Towards the middle of the second lap, I stalled my bike which was kind of weird for me. Then I looked down, and my bike had a lot of steam coming from it. I knew something was wrong, and I was going to have to stop at the pits to see what was going on. Kurt and some other guys passed me while I was trying to get it back to the pits. When I showed up, we realized I had poked a hole in my water-pump. I?m not sure how it happened, since I didn?t crash or anything. Jonny and the Kawasaki guys did an awesome job changing the cover, especially since it was so hot and everything. The only problem was it took a little while, and I was dead last and a long ways from anyone else. My day was pretty much done, but I wanted to try my best to get back into the top 20 so I could earn some points. To be honest, it?s really hard to go out there and give it everything you have when you know you?re dead last and your hopes at doing awesome are gone. I rode a decent pace and just tried to get back into the pro class. I had a lot of pro2 guys I had to pass and most of them were really cool and let me by easy. Some of them thought I was leading and were cheering me on when I went by; I wish! About halfway into the race, I caught the end of the pro?s and slowly started to pick them off. By the time we had 20-minutes to go, I was in 21st and needed to be top 20 to earn any points. I saw Lance Smail not too far in front of me and made it into the top 20. Then I made another pass, but on the last lap I could see Richie Owens in front of me so I gave it one more push and made it up to 18th by the time I got to the finish.
Overall Summary: As you could see the race didn?t go like I thought it would. I know I?ve said this before, but I really thought my speed was good and felt like this track suited me really well. I?ve just had some bad luck this year and all I can do is keep working hard and hopefully it?ll change here soon. It seems like I?ve said that a lot this year. I can?t remember the last time I?ve had a year like this! The bike has been great; it?s just really dumb things here and there that keep happening. Results (top 20 pro class): 1st Nathan Woods 2nd Ricky Dietrich 3rd Mike Kiedrowski 4th Kurt Caselli 5th Ryan Hughes 6th Bobby Bonds 7th Robby Bell 8th Ty Davis 9th Derek Costella 10th Justin Soule 11th Kyle Summers 12th David Kamo 13th Matt Karlsen 14th Bobby Garrison 15th Casey Johnson 16th John Beal 17th Eric Rhoten 18th Destry Abbott 19th Richie Owens 20th Rory Sullivan
Other Notes: My next race is going to be next weekend for the AMA Outdoor National. 2001 was the last time I raced an outdoor. I?m really looking forward to it and it?s going to be fun doing something new again. Josh Morros put in another great ride and won the pro2 class (and finished 8th overall). Josh had a really big crash during Friday?s mx practice and I wasn?t even sure if he was going to race. I was really happy to hear my teammates went first and second in the race. I would’ve loved to make it a Kawasaki sweep, but unfortunately things didn’t work out like I had planned. Great riding guys! It?s amazing how my last couple WORCS races have gone. Two races ago I was sitting fifth in points and right behind 4th and 3rd. Then I had a DNF and this weekend I only received 3 points. I believe I only moved back to 7th, but I was really hoping to finish top 3. It still can happen, but I need to pull off some wins now!
This was my first big race with my new Monster helmet, which I think looks really good. The guys at Monster Energy are awesome and they’ve really stepped up their support of our sport. The guys from WORCS did an awesome job this weekend. I know they’re trying to put on great events that have everything from moto to technical stuff and they did that this weekend. Great job guys! The next WORCS race is in early August and it’s back up here in Washington. It should be another great event. They had tons of spectators show up and they were really into it. The guys up here in the Northwest really get into the racing and that was awesome to see. I was in dead last, and I had a lot of guys cheering for me the whole time. Thanks! This weekend was Jason Smigel?s birthday so a lot of us had a surprise dinner for him Friday night. It was really cool and we had about 30 people show up. I attached some photos from the race and practice. Thanks to www.fastphotolab.com for letting me have them. They have photos of everyone that raced. 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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