Phend rebounds to become first double winner

After a tough second round, defending Reedy Race Champion Dakotah Phend rebounded to take a win and become the first driver to register two wins on the opening day of the event.  Starting from sixth on the grid, the TLR driver managed to get by former champions Ryan Cavalieri and Dustin Evans to win by a very comfortable 3.7-seconds.  Also in the same heavy hitters race starting from another P9, Ryan Maifield would hit problems having to nurse home a very noisy Yokomo to 7th, a result he will be hoping will become his one permitted 4WD throw out.  In the other encounters, Alex Kosciuszek had a great race from the middle of the pack to win Race 1 ahead of Mr. Consistent so far Joona Haatanen while Ty Tessmann got the job done in Race 2 ahead of Jared Tebo and Round 1 winner Tanner Denney.

‘The previous one I got a rough start and had a rough race, that’s why it is called the Reedy Race, but I got my head down and managed a good rebound’ was how Phend summed up his race.  With two wins, he continued ‘hopefully I can count the 6 as my throw out’.  In terms of his TLR22-4 , the 19-year-old was very happy with the car saying, ‘I haven’t had to make any changes between races, it really easy to drive so there is no need’.

After opening the 23rd running of the Reedy Race with a pair of 4th places, Tessmann was pleased he ‘finally got a good track and drove’.  Describing his Xray XB4 as ‘awesome’ for all his races, he said it was ‘a little frustrating when the car is working really good’ but you get caught up in other people crashing ahead of you.  Starting his first two races from the back row resulting in them being ‘really sketchy and rough’, the Canadian will take up his first pole start in the day’s closing round and is confident he has the car to add a second win.

‘I didn’t wreck at the start’ was Kosciuszek’s reaction to his popular win.  Winner of the 4WD Open class at the event last season to book his place among this year’s 30 driver Invitational class line-up, the 17-year-old Associated driver continued, ‘I waited quite a bit for a hole in Carson (Wernimont) and it came and I just went from there’.  Describing Round 1 as ‘pretty bad’ after a wreck, he said Round 2 he didn’t have the car, the steering not good, but for his third attempt, which he started 5th, it all came together.

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