Fred Ryland hopes to chase down Rick Diaz at Merced Speedway

A confident Rick Diaz cruised to victory in the IMCA SportMod feature March 7 at Merced Speedway. He dodged lapped cars and maintained his lead, never looking back to see who was behind him.

“I just did my thing – started on outside of the front row and took off,” Diaz, from Chowchilla, said after last week’s race.

Racing may be tougher for Diaz this week, as “Fast” Fred Ryland is out to get him.

The Antioch Speedway regular from Brentwood has targeted the Valley tracks as he compiles points for the regional and national championships. To win the national title, Ryland must also win a couple of track championships.

Diaz wants to defend his turf; he’s set on repeating as the Merced Speedway champion.

“I never had any pressure on me last Saturday,” Diaz said. “I beat Freddy (Ryland). That’s all that matters.”

In the Ryland camp, strategy to beat Diaz has been discussed all week.

The pressure will be on Diaz.

“Rick Diaz is the guy to beat. He’s fast and we couldn’t touch him last week,” Ryland said. “We’ve made some adjustments to get him this week, though.”

A big field of SportMods is expected at Merced Speedway because sister track Antioch Speedway did not schedule the division.

Garner back for more – Antioch’s Mark Garner is coming back to Merced Speedway in pursuit of another win. He won the fall challenge race between the Antioch and Merced speedways for the Northern All-Stars Limited Late Model Stock Car class.

“I can’t wait to race Saturday night,” Garner said. “I’ve dedicated the season to my dad, who is very ill. It is special for me to race and even more special to win at Merced Speedway.”

Garner’s dad, Jerry, was a regular at Merced Speedway in the late 1960s and ’70s. He was state champ in the stock car division.

“Everyone on my team is giving a 110 percent effort this season,” he said. “We plan on racing and winning for dad.”

Saturday night at Merced Speedway – The Hobby Stock, Mini-Stock and Valley Sportsman divisions will complete the five-division program Saturday night at Merced Speedway. Kristie Shearer of Los Banos will be looking for two wins in a row in the hobby stock feature after she beat Sonora’s strong-running Kevin Joaquin last week.

Last week, Dan McCabe of Merced snatched a win in the mini-stock division, with Chris Corder racing for second. They race again Saturday.

Merced Speedway is inside the Merced County Fairgrounds, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, in Merced. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and $5 for children 6-12. A family four-pack of tickets admits two children and two adults for $30. Racing begins promptly at 7 p.m. The grandstand opens at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Fred Ryland hopes to chase down Rick Diaz at Merced Speedway."