On The Pegs July 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 7 | Page 90

On The Pegs 90
1FIRST NATIONAL WIN
I would say my first win was probably one of the most
memorable, and then also my last win was really important
because it was the end. I kind of book-ended my list with my
first and my last. The first win was all the way back in 1990.
I was a second-year championship or pro rider. It happened
to be my first ride on Tommi Ahvala’s Aprilia, so at the time I
was riding for Trials Shop. My first national win was in Wyoming
and it was cool because the world championship had
been in Arizona that year, in Globe, Arizona. After the trial was over, Aprilia and
Beta had made some kind of a deal to keep Diego Bosis’s and Tommi Ahvala’s
bikes. So Ryan Young got Diego’s Beta and I got Ahvala’s Aprilia. It was a really
special bike. It looked stock when you just glanced at it, but it had a different
frame. It had titanium bolts all the way around it. It had aluminum rotors. It had a
special carburetor. It had a ton of stuff. It was way lighter and everything worked
better on it. I just remember going for my first ride on it. Didn’t really change
anything on it. I just showed up at the event. It was my first ride on this bike and I
won my first national.
This was kind of during Ryan’s heyday. He was really the best guy at that point.
I think Mark Manniko was in there too. They were both good at that time. They
were kind of the top three guys. I think that year I ended up third in the championship.
My first year as a pro I was eighth in the championship. That was the year
that Jonny Anderson was there. Then the following year it was just the Americans.
That was my first win. Then I ended up third for the championship.
The bike had pros and cons. The thing had pretty good suspension for its day. It
felt like when you hit a step it would really pop you up on the thing. It had kind of
a laid-down shock position in the rear. It kind of had a different feel than the other
bikes. Whether it was better or not, I don’t know. I remember thinking when I first
started riding that thing up obstacles, I felt like it just flew up big stuff. But it was
kind of heavy. It had a lot of power. It had good suspension in the rear. Those two
things I think are what made that bike good. It was kind of a cool time because
that was the first or second year of upside-down forks, water cooled, all that kind
of stuff. So prior to that, they were still air cooled and all that stuff. It was more
modern.
It was definitely cool to win because I had been kind of nipping at their heels a
little bit. I had a few rides with loop scores that were kind of close, but that was
the first time I put it all together.