AMA Nat H&H round 4

[robertaccio 412]

Norman/Honda again pulls off a win.

[Spaugh 1]

Destry Abbott Race Report - Round #4

By: Destry Abbott

Race Day:

Coming into this race was a lot different than most! I dislocated my shoulder on Wednesday, and I really didn't think I was going to be able to race this one. Jonny, Gary and I were supposed to leave on Thursday, but I told them to go without me so I had more time to see a doctor and hopefully get my shoulder stronger. As of Friday I still didn't think I was going to be able to race, but I wasn't willing to give up so I booked a flight up to Boise for Saturday. I had a lot of people help me out and they made it possible to race on Sunday, but it wasn't easy by any means. I could still barely lift my arm up, however I was actually more worried about it popping out during the race and not being able to put it back in. Fortunately I had a really good brace that I wore, and it helped keep it in the right position most of the time.

The race was a little over 100-miles and I heard there were going to be quite a few whoops (which I wasn't looking forward to). My goal was to try and get a top 10, and as many points as I could. I came into the race with the series points lead (by 7 points), but knew I wasn't going to be leaving with it. When the banner dropped I had a first kick start and was off, but by the time I got to the end of the banner I was in 4th (which was way better than I thought I would've been). I was ok sitting down and could actually ride a decent pace, but as soon as I started hitting bumps my shoulder hated it and I would have to slow way down. A couple riders passed me, but I was still sitting in 6th at the alternate gas (25-miles in). Justin Imhof passed me, while I was getting some gas, so now I was in 7th. I stayed here for the rest of the first loop, and didn't see anyone behind me so I was pretty happy. The first 46-mile loop was over and now I just had the second 59-mile loop left. I definitely wasn't on the tired side, but my shoulder was aching and hurting more then you could imagine. Not too far in I lost my front end and went down! Luckily it was a slow speed crash so everything was good. Once I got going again, I was staying just a little ways behind Justin and figured if it wasn't rough I might make a little push to see if I could get by. Well over halfway into the loop he slid into a barb wire fence and got his bike stuck. I asked if he was ok and he gave me the thumbs up. I was really happy to be in 6th and honestly never thought I would be that far up front. Then as we got closer to the finish Justin was back on me fighting for 6th place. We ended up going back and forth a few times, and this was by far the hardest I had to ride all day. I hit one drop off that scared me really bad and I'm not sure how I held onto that one. I ended up getting back into 6th and holding him off until the finish.

Overall Summary:

I'm super bummed to lose my points lead, but at the same time I'm only 8 points down and pretty pumped to be able to pull off a 6th today! This was by far the hardest thing I had to do in a long time, but it was all worth it. Now it's time to get things taken care of and try to finish the rest of the H&H series strong.

Results (top 10 overall):

1st Kendall Norman

2nd David Kamo

3rd Gary Sutherlin

4th Jacob Argubright

5th Underwood

6th Destry Abbott

7th Justin Imhof

8th Bobby Prochnau

9th Nick Burson

10th Josh Mott

[robertaccio 412]

and for the Husky fans.

http://www.nickburson.com/Nick_Burson_Raci...ce_Reports.html