Cavalieri claims the 19th Reedy Race on tie break

Ryan Cavalieri has won the 19th Reedy Race of Champions, the Team Associated driver did just enough in the final round of racing to win on tie break from Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans.  The podium after 3 days and 12 rounds of racing at West Coast RC Raceway was completed by outgoing champion Joern Neumann.

Heading into the final showdown three of the 29 invited drivers, Cavalieri, Evans and Ryan Maifield, remained in the hunt for the title of the World famous race which was created in 1986 by pioneer of the sport Mike Reedy. Race 1 of the deciding round saw the two Ryan’s up against one another with Evans watching on as he waited to compete in Race 2.  For Maifield nothing but a win would do but one of the sports most exciting drivers to watch lasted just 5 and a half laps, a bad landing causing the Arizona driver to break his B44.2.  With Maifield out all the attention was on Cavalieri, West Coast the home track of the World Champion, and starting from 10th he was already up to 5th but he needed to pass two more buggies to guarantee himself the title.   Passing Kyosho’s Cody Turner with four laps to go it looked like the gap to third would be too much for the 2009 Champion to close down but on the penultimate lap HB’s Ty Tessmann got it wrong off the wash board section in the deciding moment of the event allowing Cavalieri through for 3rd and his second Reedy Race title.

Having led the event from the first race all the way through, only sharing the points lead with Evans for 2 rounds, Cavalieri said it was a ‘super relief’ to get the job done in his last race rather than wait for the outcome of Evans’ race which the 2011 Champion ultimately won.  Becoming only the 5th driver to win the Reedy Race twice, his first win being on the races only time to be hosted outside of the United States he said this win had a lot more meaning as the best in the world were all in attendance this time round.

Having won his Reedy Race title 2-years ago on a tie break with Tebo, Evans said having done the calculations of the various scenarios that could have arisen from the first race of the deciding round he knew once Cavalieri got third the title was gone.  Still the Colorado racer drove the perfect race to take his fourth win of the event,  Cavalieri had six wins, four of which were in 2WD deciding the tie break, saying after that it was an awesome if sometimes crazy weekend and he was very happy to have been in the hunt for the title among the World class field.

The first European to win the title, the only other non-American to hold the Reedy Race crown being r/c legend & two time winner Masami Hirosaka, Neumann said he was happy with third, a podium always a great result in what is one of the world’s toughest races.  The European Champion said while he enjoyed the event he felt the standard of driving was at times a little too rough with some drivers getting away with some rather forceful driving something he hoped would be addressed for the 20th Reedy Race of Champions.

Two drivers that will get the chance to battle it out in that event will be Team Durango driver Carson Wernimont and Associated driver Rob Gillespie who as winners of supporting Open classes at this year’s event will be invited to take part in the famous race format next year.  Wernimont took the win in 2WD from Gillespie with Gillespie getting the better of Wernimont in 4WD.

With the late Mike Reedy a champion of encouraging young racers the event also included a Junior Reedy Race final which was won by promising young talent & JConcepts team driver Daimon Borkowicz.  The 12-year-old took the win of the 10-minute race ahead of Kyosho’s Zack Genova by 2.8 seconds with Associated driver Tommy Hinz from Arizona completing the podium a further 3-seconds back.

Red RC’s first time to cover the Reedy Race of Champions we would like to commend Brent Thielke on his attention to detail in putting on this great show and for ensuring the memory of Mike Reedy is not lost.  Also our first time to visit the West Coast RC Raceway, a facility we had heard so much about, we would like to thank the owner Danny Stojakovic for his hospitality.  Finally we would like to thank our sponsors Reedy, Associated, JConcepts, Proline and Upgrade RC for making our coverage over the last 4-day possible.

Overall Top 10
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 19 pts
2. Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 19
3. Jörn Neumann – Team Durango – 22
4. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 24
5. Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 27
6. Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 28
7. Lee Martin – Tamiya Racing Factory – 29
8. Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 30
9. Kody Numedahl – Team Associated – 32
10.Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 32

Round 6 4WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(5) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:07.730
2.(2) Lee Martin – Tamiya – 15/5:07.886
3.(10)Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 16/5:11.707
4.(3) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:12.364
5.(2) Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 16/5:15.242
6.(6) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 16/5:15.387
7.(4) Chad Due – Associated – 16/5:19.606
8.(9) Neil Cragg – Associated – 15/5:01.206
9.(7) Peter Pinisch – Associated – 15/5:08.857
10.(8)Ryan Maifield – Associated – 5/1:43.745

Race 2
1.(1) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:05.238
2.(2) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 16/506.999
3.(10)Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:15.653
4.(8) Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 16/5:16.747
5.(3) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 16/5:19.371
6.(5) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 15/5:02.157
7.(6) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:02.855
8.(7) Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 15/5:10.037
9.(9) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/5:10.446
10.(4)Tanner Denney – Associated – 15/5:10.712

Race 3
1.(7) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 16/5:11.311
2.(10)Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:13.037
3.(1) Josh Numan – Associated – 16/5:13.859
4.(9) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:15.078
5.(4) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:15.737
6.(5) Paul Bradby – Associated – 16/5:18.804
7.(8) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 15/5:09.630
8.(6) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 15/5:27.103
9.(3) Steven Hartson – Associated – 1/0:22.169

View the final overall invitational standings here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.

Cavalieri closes in on Reedy Race title

Ryan Cavalieri moved in on winning the Reedy Race of Champions title for a second time when in the penultimate round of racing at West Coast RC Raceway he again finished one place ahead of main title rival Dustin Evans.  The World Champion now holds a 2 point lead over the 2011 Champion with just one race standing between him and victory at one of the sport’s most famous races however Cavalieri starts his final encounter from last on the grid while Evans who runs the race after the Associated star has pole. Ryan Maifield is the only other driver in with a shout of the title.

Defending champion Joern Neumann won the opening race of the 5th round ahead of Kody Numedahl and Ryan Maifield but for the German the result of Race 2 didn’t go in his favour with Cavalieri and Evans getting a 3rd & 4th bringing an end to the challenge of the first European to ever win the Reedy Race Offroad title.  In the other races there were first 4WD wins of the event for Steven Harston and Neil Cragg.  Starting from third on the grid Hartson took his Associated to a narrow victory ahead of Jared Tebo’s Kyosho while Cragg came from 8th on the grid to win comfortably from Team Durango’s Hupo Honigl who started out 9th.

Round 5 4WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(8) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 16/5:11.814
2.(5) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 16/5:14.957
3.(3) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/5:15.587
4.(9) Chad Due – Associated – 15/5:02.844
5.(1) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 15/5:03.294
6.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/5:05.281
7.(7) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 15/5:06.735
8.(6) Peter Pinisch – Associated – 15/5:07.544
9.(10)Lee Martin – Tamiya – 15/5:08.568
10.(2)Paul Bradby – Associated – 15/5:09.200

Race 2
1.(3) Steven Hartson – Associated – 16/5:13.195
2.(2) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:13.461
3.(9) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 16/5:14.832
4.(7) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:19.256
5.(10)Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 15/5:01.094
6.(4) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:02.004
7.(5) Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 15/5:09.162
8.(6) Tanner Denney – Associated – 15/5:15.318
9.(1) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 15/5:18.867

Race 3
1.(8) Neil Cragg – Associated – 16/5:13.509
2.(9) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 16/5:16.826
3.(6) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:17.623
4.(7) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:19.470
5.(4) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:19.546
6.(2) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:19.625
7.(1) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 16/5:19.890
8.(3) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:01.250
9.(4) Josh Numan – Associated – 15/5:05.958
10.(7)Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 15/5:07.130

View the overall invitational standings after 11 rounds here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.