WELLINGTON — Ryan Mayse didn’t have the longest pull in Wednesday night’s Lorain County Fair truck pull.

But he might have had the loudest applause when it was announced that Mayse, an Army specialist home on leave from Afghanistan, was dedicating his run to two fellow servicemen who won’t be coming home.

Mayse, 22, said Staff Sgt. Ampers and Sgt. McDonald were close to his heart while he competed even though he didn’t remember their first names — he rarely used them, he explained.

McDonald was in a truck that was blown up by an improved explosive device, and Ampers was the victim of a rocket-propelled grenade when he tried to assist other soldiers who’d gotten into a firefight, Mayse said.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, you’re never ready to lose anybody over there,” Mayse said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your worst enemy or your best friend. You don’t wish that on anyone.”

Mayse, who is from central Ohio, is headed back to Afghanistan — he can’t say where specifically — on Sept. 3. But for now he’s enjoying his time home. He’s headed to another diesel event in Indiana Thursday.

“I planned my leave around this,” he said of county fair season.

While other guys were taking leave in May or June, Mayse said, “I’ll wait till August,” he said.

His fellow soldiers responded, “You’re going to go home and break the truck, aren’t you?” he said.

Mayse said he’s been watching truck and tractor pulls since he was a little kid and got involved himself following his first tour in Afghanistan a couple years ago because he finally had the money to buy his first truck.

“I don’t have a whole lot of chance to do it, so when I do, I jump all over it,” he said.

Mayse’s pull of 230.26 feet, near the bottom of the 2.6 diesel truck class, didn’t disappoint him.

“Whatever you can do is whatever you can do,” he said, admitting that he’s always nervous and his skin crawls when he’s about to pull.

He’s eager to get his truck competitive with others in his class, which he says he’ll accomplish by sinking all of his deployment money into it.

For him, it’s a way to get away from the reality he’ll be facing in under 10 days.

“To come home and do this stuff and not have to care or worry about anything — that’s the best feeling,” he said.