MEDFORD, Ore. (Aug. 20, 2022) – His off-track training regimen had Fred Ryland in shape for Saturday’s Dwayne Melvin Clash.
Ryland started on the pole and led the distance in the 69-lap marathon for Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods at Southern Oregon Speedway.
“Luckily I hike and run a little bit. That really helped a lot,” the Brentwood, Calif., speedster said following the career-topping $3,000 payday. “It was hot and we spent a lot of time in the car on Saturday. We drank a lot of water when we could.”
The Clash, stopped at lap 30 for a fuel-only break, was the longest on Ryland’s career by 19 laps.
“The cautions were spread out just right and kept us from getting into too much lapped traffic, and I was able to pull away some on the restarts,” he said. “Ryan Peery challenged on the outside. I just did my thing and kept hugging the bottom.”
Fellow Californians Peery, Tyler Rodgers and Kenny Shrader finished two, three, four. Hard charger and hometown hotshoe Mike Medel was fifth after starting 15th.
Runner-up in Friday’s Bruce Rayburn Classic at Medford, Ryland also collected $300 for his dash win on Saturday, making his weekend take $3,900.
“We’ve been here maybe five times before and won two or three of them,” he said following win number seven on the season and career win 77 in the class. “We’ve been a regular here for a lot of the big races. Southern Oregon has been good to me.”
Nick Trenchard, already Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible, was the $1,500 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified winner.