Maifield leads at RROC as Cavalieri has rough 3rd round
With racing now half way through the 4WD rounds at the Reedy Race of Champions, it is Ryan Maifield who leads the points after becoming only the second driver to record a repeat win in the third round of action. Starting from third on the grid, the Yokomo driver quickly got to the front from where he controlled the race while behind him the rest of Offroad racings well know trio fought for the consolation placings. In the end, Jared Tebo would come through from 5th on the grid to claim another second place while from the back row Ryan Cavalieri had a rough round to finish as he started to put a 7 on the board which he will be hoping becomes his dropped 4WD result. The other two races of the round produced first time winners of the 26th running of the event with Dakotah Phend taking a dominant win in Heat 2 over Cole Tollard. Breaking the US domination of the event, Lee Martin took the first visitor’s victory with the win in Heat 1 ahead of Alex Kosciuszek, who had led the first half of the race, and Spencer Rivkin who came through from the back of the starting grid.
Starting on row 2 behind pole sitter Kouki Kato and Ron DeVoll, summing up his race Maifield said, ‘I was kind of nervous about the front row but it was a clean start and after the rhythm section I was took the lead when I got down the inside. After that I tried to run clean. I cased the jump one time’. Looking to the final round of the opening day of racing, the 2015 Champion said, ‘I’m just going to reset and think what to do with tyres for tomorrow. The tyres are kind of wearing out now and start to balloon out’.
‘I kind of had a crappy start’, was Tebo’s reaction to his race, the defending champion saying, ‘I jumped on Ty in the first triple and dropped down to fourth. Then I made a really good pace on Dustin and another good pass on Yusuke but made a mistake and he got by me again. On the last lap then he had a mistake and I got the 2nd back’. On his car, the Tekno driver said, ‘That was the best I felt out there so far. My speed is really good’.
The points leader after two rounds but dropping to 5th after Round 3, Cavalieri said, ‘It didn’t really go that good that one. I should have been more aggressive at the start when I am starting so far back. I made a mistake at the triple and I could make it back up as no one made mistakes I could capitalise on. I was stuck were I was’.
‘I got a good start and put in clean laps’, was how Phend summed up his win, the TLR driver finishing almost 7-seconds clear of Tollard. The former champion continued, ‘the car was awesome so I made no mistakes out there. I was just consistent from the start where as I made mistakes on my own part in the previous ones that made things more difficult for myself’. Asked about tyres, the 2016 Champions said, ‘definitely the tyres are wearing a bit so I’ll keep an eye on that and what the track is doing’.
Asked about his first win having had two 5th places finishing in the opening two rounds, Martin, who started 4th, said, ‘the first few laps I just kept my nose clean and when the people in front made mistakes I picked up the places. Once in front I switch to survival mode and made sure I left no opportunities to pass. I had one scary moment when I landed in the triple but no one got passed. Spencer’s mistake on the last lap gave me breathing room. It is always nice to win one’. On his car, the Yokomo driver said, ‘It was a little bit loose because one of my tyres is a slick and one isn’t’. Suffering more excessive wear than others the British driver said he hopes he can adjust his set up to balance out the difference in tyres.
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