Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Dietrich wins Hangtown (Calif.) WORCS Race
Teammate Abbott Places 8th Ricky Dietrich well on his way to winning his 2nd consecutive championship according to his fellow Team USA ISDE competitor, Destry Abbott
CORONA, Calif., (June 18, 2008) – Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Destry Abbott just filed his report from the recent World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS) event at Prairie City SVRA, aka “Hangtown,” outside Sacramento.
Abbott, who finished 8th in the race on his Monster Energy-backed Kawasaki KX450F, had high praise for the winner – his teammate Ricky Dietrich. “Ricky D. has really been on the gas and if he keeps this up it’s looking like he might get his 2nd WORCS championship,” said Abbott.
Here’s Abbott’s words on the event held at the same off road facility that just hosted round three of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championships:
“After Saturday’s practice I knew this race was going to be a fast, hard-packed, and hot one! I felt pretty good during practice, and was actually looking forward to it. I figured my conditioning would shine in these conditions and that was a good thing for me. The start was around noon (on Sunday) and I believe it was close to 100 degrees and a little humid. I didn’t have the best jump, and got squeezed off right out of the gate. Going into the first corner, someone hit me so hard that I was just about full sideways and figured I was going down.
Somehow I saved it and missed the big pile up just to the right of me.
I came out of the first corner in around 10th or so. The first lap was a little dusty, but I felt pretty good. Then on the second lap, I started to get really tight and lost a few spots. I was really trying to focus on staying loose, but was having a tough time. On the third lap I stalled it in a corner, because I was having a tough time using the clutch and Caselli got by. I fired it up, but the same thing happened a few corners later and this time Gary Sutherlin got by. I did the best I could, the next few laps, and then started to get up to speed. I could see the leaders had checked out and were on the gas!
I believe I was around 14th at one point and had some work ahead of me. First I got by a couple guys in one lap, and then got right on Gary and he was cool enough to let me by. Then I saw Ryan Orr and was able to get by him. Things were going good and I felt I had a good pace going. The worst part was the fact that my left hand started to shred, and before the halfway point I already had blisters that opened up and started to bleed. It wasn’t that bad when I was on the gas, but when I was slowing down I had to put pressure on them. The lap before I pitted, I was able to get by Kyle Summers and get into 8th. I had a great pit stop and now I had Woods in front of me. He was around 40 seconds ahead of me, and I would close the gap one lap and then lose a little the next.
With about 30-minutes to go I really wanted to give it one last charge. I still felt good, but just had to deal with my hand issue (which I know a lot of guys did). I was making up some time, and on the last lap I was around 20-seconds back. I kept charging, but came up 10-seconds short of Nathan.
Abbott’s Overall Summary:
I was actually pretty happy with the way I rode today and still felt good towards the end. The guys on the podium are going really fast and I knew they would be tough to beat. I still feel like I have a great shot running top 5’s and I know if I can stay up front early I’ll be doing it. The next WORCS race is back up in Washington (in August) and I really like riding there.
Next up for Monster Energy’s Destry Abbott is the first round of the Maxxis Endurocross Series in Las Vegas (July 5).
