Destry Abbot H&H Race Story - Pro Diary - ATV Rider Magazine

Race Day:
I was up nice and early to go practice the bomb run a few more times. Then it was back to the motor home to get something to eat and get ready for the start. At 9:30 the banner went up, and we all shut our motors off waiting for it to drop. When it fell I was off and wide-open until I got to the banner (about 1 miles). I felt I had a pretty good start until I saw Russ, David and Brown to the left of me. They all got by me before we jumped into the first sand-wash. I was in fourth, but I got around Brian right away since I took the inside of one of the corners. The dust was so bad, and I knew before the race that whoever got the start was going to have a great chance at winning. I had to back off from David and he was doing the same thing from Russ. I was cruising along in third gear, until I saw Nick Burson pinning it to the right of me. It was a little too hairball since they had a lot of hidden rocks, so I stayed on the trail and Nick got by me. I spent the whole first loop pretty much riding in Nick's dust. It was around 40-miles and all fast stuff. Going out on the second loop, we had a long valley to go across (6-miles) before we got into some good single-track trails. I could see that Russ and David had started to check out, and I knew I had to get by Nick as fast as I could before it was to late. I got right on Nick, around 10-miles into this loop, and he was really cool and waved me by (thanks Nick:). This was my first clean air all day, and it was nice, but the leaders were a long ways ahead of me. I really liked the second loop, and pushed it pretty hard to see if I could make up any time. Before the second loop was over, we had another 6-miles back to the pits. I could see Russ and David's dust, but I knew it was still going to be hard to catch them. About 2-miles from the end of this loop, I saw David standing next to his bike cheering me on. I think he had a stick go into the radiator and lost all his fluid. Now I was in second, and getting ready for the last pit. They told me I was about 2:30 to 3:00 back going out on the last loop. I was happy with my second loop, but it was tough losing time when I was back in the dust. I knew the last loop would be really hard to make up all the time I lost early, so I decided to play it safe. I rode a good pace and finished a comfortable 2nd place.Overall Summary:
Around 5-miles into the race, I knew it was going to be a long day fighting through the dust. I wasn't comfortable hanging it out with the dust being as bad as it was (with no breeze). Once I got into the second loop, I felt like I was riding really well and the bike was working great. I was really hoping to win today, but I'm looking forward to next year and starting all over again. I know I'll be ready!Results (top 10 overall)
1st Russ Pearson
2nd Destry Abbott
3rd David Kamo
4th Carl Massaberg
5th Nick Burson
6th Brian Brown
7th Quinn Cody
8th Brett Saunders
9th Nick Blais
10th Chance WyllieOther Notes:
My next race is this weekend at the final WORCS round (Taft, Ca.)I heard Chris Blais showed up on race day. I was really hoping to stop by and see him, but I never did find out where he was. It's great to see him come out to the races!The 100's did a great job with the course markings and I enjoyed the tighter stuff in the second and third loop. It was awesome they put on a race that was around 110-miles too. I definitely like the longer races, but wasn't a big fan of racing through the valleys.Best Wishes,
Destry
www.destryabbott.com
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