2 out of 2 for Cavalieri
Round 2 of action at the Reedy Race of Champions saw Ryan Cavalieri pull off another win, this time the reigning champion taking a more straight forward victory over Lee Martin and Dakotah Phend. For the other two winners of the opening round, the second encounter wouldn’t go as well. Running in the same heat as Cavalieri, Spencer Rivkin would end up finishing as he started with fourth while Dustin Evans, running in the opening race, lost ground dropping two places to finish 5th. The winner of that race would be Ty Tessmann who led home Ryan Maifield while the round was completed by reigning Open Class Champion Broc Champlin who took the win from Rob Gillespie when the latter got it wrong coming onto the main straight.
‘I got a good start that time’, was how Cavalieri summed up the race. He added, ‘starting on the inside you lose a little traction and Spencer got around me but then a few people made mistakes and I took advantage. When I got in front I got into my groove and it was all good’. He concluded, ‘it was a lot different race to the first one’, his gap over pole starter Martin 3.3 seconds at the finish. Commenting on his race Rivkin said, ‘Me and Lee tapped. I messed up my own race. He landed up in sea world (blue infield) and came back out quicker than I expected and we touched. It was my fault’.
Asked about his race, the Canadian’s heat opening the second round, Tessmann said, ‘It went good. I started 4th and had no issue. My car was just as good as the first round, easy and consistent to drive’. Getting a P2 from the back of the grid in Round 1, the Xray driver said, ‘I landed inside the triple one lap but it didn’t cost me too much and once I got by Cole (Tollard) I didn’t push too hard. I didn’t want to risk breaking anything and wanted to get good points’.
Summing up Round 2, Evans said, ‘That was a bad run. The car doesn’t feel quite as good as yesterday now that the grip came up but I have a set-up I will go back to that is better for the higher grip’. The 2011 Champion added, ‘hopefully thats my throw out so I keep pulling away’.
In a heat void of any invitational clash champions it was a battle of Open Class Champions in the final encounter of the round. Former Champion Gillespie started on pole and led the way for 6-laps but was chased down by Champlin, he gave up that lead with a mistake coming onto the straight. Making an attempt to retake his Associated team-mate after the whoops section they would make contact but Gillespie waited and gave back position with Champlin holding on for the win with Joseph Quagraine completing the Top 3.
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