Most riders turn expert at around 17-18 years old, you first turned expert in 1991 at the age of 22. Why the late start?
_I was always into the off-road scene, such as local hare scrambles and x-country races, but I would ocassional throw a leg over a bike at the local flattrack races. I remember when I was about 12 one of my first dirt track bikes was an old Yamaha RD250 twin two-stroke and that dang thing about killed me. Then I went to a Maico 490 then a KX500, which both had stock frames. I guess I learned some serious throttle control on those bikes. But I just really enjoyed racing off-road in my younger years, plus my cousins and I grew up here in Mica (WA) at the base of the mountains and trails were everywhere, so thats what we learned to ride. I always said, if they ever throw a log or some sort of obstacle in the straight at the Springfield mile, those boys are gonna get a good whoopin' . Then a few years after highschool a couple of local guys let me ride a Champion framed 250 liquid cooled Cr250 Honda at a local race and that was probably the first real flattrack framed bike I ever rode. I was like, damn, these things actually handle when you put a good chassis where they can hooke up. That year I also got my pro-am license and off we went. So yea I got a late start in flattrack, but at the same time it probably helped me out by not getting burned out at an early age. _