Abbott Wins Oklahoma ISDE Qualifier
| May 30, 2006
Kawasaki’s Destry Abbott won the first two-day ISDE Qualifier of the year in Stillwater, Oklahoma, May 28-29. Abbott won both days of the Stillwater 100 to take the overall win over Honda rider Jason Thomas and KTM pilot Guy Cooper, who finished just a 10th of a second behind the rider from Wales.
Record weekend temperatures of 100-plus degrees forced race organizers to shorten day two from 90 miles to 60 miles, much of which had to do with extreme dusty conditions. Abbott, who rode in the E2 class aboard a KX450F, said, “I came here wanting to just put together some good solid test scores. The tests were all shorter and you just couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. I just rode smooth and tried to stay out of trouble.
“The organizers did the right thing by cutting short day two,” Abbott said. “I’m from Arizona and this kind of heat usually doesn’t bother me, but here it just wore away at you.”
Second-place finisher, Thomas, said, “I was surprised my test times were this good. Back home we have tighter terrain tests and the grass track are mostly on side hills. The heat here was incredible.”
Thomas has been competing in the U.S. this year in preparation for next year’s British Enduro and Cross Country series.
Cooper was also surprised with his finish. “I guess I didn’t expect to do this well,” Cooper said. “I only decided to ride the event Friday and that was mostly because my brother [Chuck Cooper] wanted to ride it.”
The Stillwater 100 is the first of four two-day ISDE Qualifers used to determine who gets to go to this year’s ISDE in New Zealand.
