NATHAN BYRD WINS TONY FERNANDEZ MEMORIAL FOR SPEED TOUR SUPER MODIFIEDS AT SHASTA SPEEDWAY

ANDERSON, CALIFORNIA (July 28, 2024) – Arizona’s Nathan Byrd won the 40-lap return of Speed Tour Super Modifieds to Shasta Speedway in Saturday’s “Tony Fernandez Memorial”, prevailing over a 15-car turnout from all over the western United States. Photo by Don Thompson

Byrd led qualifying in the Jim Birges-owned Hyder Chassis powered by a 410 with a sizzling 13.675 second lap at over 98 miles per hour average on the .375-mile oval. Fresno’s Tim Skoglund and Washington’s TJ Sneva then won the six-lap fully inverted heat races.

Sneva led the field to green and the nephew of the Indy 500 winning Tom Sneva paced a tight pack of competitors. After a lap four caution for Kyle Vanderpool of Madera spinning through the infield in turn one, Sneva immediately escaped the action to the pits with an apparent mechanical problem as well.

That thrust Tacoma, Washington’s Randy Anderson into the top spot in the No. 2A Belfiore Chassis with Morgan Hills’ Bobby Dalton driving for car owner Dave Twyman and Byrd all over him. Dalton then got sideways on the backstretch to surrender second to Byrd.

Byrd finally completed the pass on Anderson on lap 21 and never surrendered for the win. Byrd grabbed the victory in the Anderson, Dalton, Skoglund and Oakley’s Rick Brophy rounded out the top-five finishers.

“It means a lot to me. First of all I got to thank God for the awesome opportunity to race race cars for a living,” Byrd said. “This car was really fast. It was awesome trying to get around those guys at the start of the race. It was really really fun. I was a little concerned at the end if I was potentially running out of fuel. Overall did an awesome job and can’t thank this team enough.”