1993 Ohio State Dirt Track Championships at the Bellefontaine 1/2 mile, 15 years old and last year as an amateur. As soon as practice started it was clear that the battle for the win in the 500cc and Open classes would be between myself and my travel buddy Ben. We both won all of our heat races and knew that it was going to be on in the main, and boy was it ever. In the 500cc main both of us ripped great starts and immediately checked out on the rest of the field, almost like there were two entirely different races, us and them. Back and forth the whole race, never more than a few bike lengths apart, racing with the type of confidence in each other that only best friends have. One thing to note about super close racing on a pea-gravel cushion half mile is the roost, it hurts!!! Like blast the paint off of your helmet, rip your feet off the pegs, black and blue through your leathers hurts, haha! It is also great for robbing your vision and momentum. Unfortunately for me, Ben was able to use that to his advantage by putting a good slide job on me in turns three and four coming up to the white flag, the spray off of his bike killing my drive, thus giving him a gap I couldn't make up and the win a lap later. Bummed to be so close and not get the W, but stoked to have had such a rad race with my friend and to have put on an awesome show for the packed house of the Logan County Fair. Lucky for me, I was able to bounce back in the Open main, winning after yet another epic with my buddy. Forever the highlight of my racing days, Ohio State Champion.