Making a name for yourself in the highly-competive NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class is not easy.

Yet, that’s exactly what Ryan Oehler is trying to do. Oehler, who is competing on a Buell with an EBR body, arrived in Denver tied for sixth in the points with Angie Smith, but left in seventh.

“It’s definitely been a fast-paced year for us,” Oehler said. “We’ve increased our development program, we’re working on a new engine design. Brad (Ryan’s father) has been stationed back home and he builds our engines.”

Oehler switched to the EBR body as the end of the 2018 season and saw dividends.

“It showed a direct performance increase just as Arana had advertised it,” Oehler said. “It had something there.”

Oehler’s goal for this season is simple.

“The mission from the beginning of the year was to make the Top 10 and we’ve been holding right in the middle there at five and six,” Oehler said. “The last few races we’ve actually had some bad luck. Joliet we had a good shot to run well there and the bike misfired going down the track in E1. Norwalk, we got our act together for round one and had a .008 light and it wouldn’t shift out of second. Now we’ve got all that behind us."  

Denver is now behind him; unfortunately, with a first round loss to Hector Arana Jr. 

"I consider Denver to be the “MacGyver race,” Oehler said. "Anything that’s going to go wrong will go wrong just because of the altitude.”

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— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) January 4, 2019