My first crash was in July, just over a month after my first solo. At the urging of my instructor, I entered a trainer class pylon race. I came in second in the first round, and first in the second round.
It happened in the third round. Coming out of the first turn, I found myself verry close to another plane. I tried to give myself some more space, and maintain a slight lead by dropping a bit lower. Unfortunately, I dropped quicker than I expected, and didn't have the skill or reaction speed to recover before going into the weeds.[&o] At least, at the time I was the overall leader of the trainer class.[8D]
I've just finished rebuilding my 4 * from my second crash. I was flying the pattern, nothing fancy. The wind was calm. I just turned downwind and leveled out at about 60 feet when the plane pitched straight down and powered into the ground. I just stood there dumbfounded. The fuse was completely destroyed from the cockpit forward and the wing broke into two and the leading edge on one wingtip was damaged. The carb air intake had a small dent and two cooling fins on the head were chipped. I could find no problems with the elevator, pushrods or servos to explain the abrupt dive. Weather has prevented me from getting airborne again.

Scott