On The Pegs July 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 7 | Page 92

On The Pegs 92
2FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP
My second key win has got to be my first championship
year. I had been runner-up to Ryan for several years. So ’91,
’92, ’93 I was second place. I had some more wins mixed in
there, but never enough to put it all together until 1994. It
came down to the last round of the series in Nebraska. I just
remember it being really intense pressure for me. Whoever
won that day was going to win the championship between
me and Ryan Young.
I can just remember kind of trying to get in the zone. So
before the event I can remember being in my rental car with the tunes cranked all
the way up. Just trying to block out, just trying to get myself psyched up. I went
out and I had a pretty dominating ride that day. I had a pretty good margin over
everybody else. I just remember sealing the deal and just being kind of relieved
because I had three seasons of runner-up position. So it was cool to finally put it
together.
3SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP
I would say ’95 was probably the hairiest championship I
had because - and you probably remember this too - the last
four rounds of the championship were two events in Colorado
and then two events in Oregon. I was kind of swapping
wins with Ryan going into those rounds, but Ryan had a lead
on me. He was ahead of me. Basically I needed to win three
out of the four rounds in order to win the championship. So
we came into Colorado going, “Man, if I lose in Colorado,
we’re not even going to go to Oregon,” kind of a deal. The
very first day I lost to Olivier Clamagirand. So Olivier won the day and I lost. So it
turned into a mega pressure situation for me. I ended up winning the second day.
Then we went onto Oregon and Ryan Young and I had a battle to the death, right
down to the last loop of the last day. I ended up winning again. That was probably
the most pressure and probably my hardest championship to win.
In Oregon, I can’t remember if it was the first day or the second day, but there
was a lot of slippery creek sections there. That was back when you could roll
backwards and do all that kind of stuff. I can remember one spot where Ryan was
there and Dale Malasek was minding for him. It was the slippery creek and it had