Rheinard gains as Vejrak has tough start to Day 2 of Reedy Race

Marc Rheinard made the biggest gain as Day 2 of the Reedy Race of Champions got underway with Round 5 of racing at Tamiya Raceway, a third place moving the Infinity driver to within 2 points of overnight leader Meen Vejrak and Akio Sobue.   The opening heat of the day’s four rounds of racing would see Eric Albano capitalise on his pole position, the Yokomo driver winning by over 3-seconds from fellow American Ryan Cavalieri as Bruno Coelho snatched 3rd from Juho Levanan in a drag race to the finish line.  The second encounter was the most heavily stacked heat of the round, Rheinard joined by reigning champion Ronald Volker and points leader Vejrak with Nicolas Lee on pole.   Lee would take the win with all eyes on the battle behind for second.  Starting second Naoki Akiyama drove a great race as Rheinard overshadowed him, the German eventually getting by with a forceful move only to be called to give it back by the referee.  Getting by the young Japanese driver for a second time, the 5-time Champion would then make a mistake entering the kink with Akiyama there to take back second and hold it to the end ahead of Rheinard, Volker and Vejrak.  Heat 3 would see a great battle between Viktor Wilck and Sobue with Wilck going to the front after a questionable move on the Infinity driver in the kink.  Sending Sobue flying of the track, Sobue with drop to 5th as the Serpent driver registered his second win of the event.  While no call came from the referees the general opinion of the invitation class drivers watching was the Swede was at fault for the incident.

‘Overall I made some points I guess compared the leading driver in the points’, was Rheinard’s reaction to his P3.  With a DNF & 8 points, in his tally, he added, ‘2nd would have been good but 3rd is ok given the result of the others’. Commenting on his race, he said, ‘I was in a Yokomo sandwich, I was faster than both of them but had to be careful not to touch them and Naoki was driving really well’.  On his first pass on Akiyama, he said, ‘We touched but I didn’t hit him so I don’t think the call was fair, there have been worse crashes and no penalties’.  Explaining his error in the kink he said, ‘I was pushing trying to catch Nicholas but ran too much inside and slid up the curb on the green and got dirty tyres and that’s how Naoki got back by’.

The only triple winner so far along with Rheinard, Vejrak summed up his P5 with, ‘not a good start this morning’.  The Thai driver said, ‘Marc opened in the sweeper and I went for the pass but we touched and my tyres got dirty so I lost a few positions’.  The 2015 podium finishers continued, ‘the car feeling changes every round so it really difficult to know how it will react in the race’.  Vejrak’s worst round so far, if taken as one of the two rounds drivers will drop, the former nitro touring car World Champion sits 1-point behind Rheinard in the points.

Giving his view of his incident with Sobue, Wilck said, ‘It was a tough battle with Akio.  It is way different when you go defensive driving.  I tried to pull away but hit the kink. Then we went into the kink side by side, I lifted a little but we touched. It was side by side’. Asking Sobue for his view of things, the friendly Japanese driver was ultra PC describing it as ‘unlucky’.  Commenting on his heat win Lee said, ‘That was the most difficult heat so far in terms of the level of drivers in it.  My car was a little difficult in the beginning but the others fighting helped me get away’.

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Vejrak leads Reedy Race after Day 1

Meen Vejrak leads the points at the end of the opening day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions, the Yokomo driver notching up his third win in the day’s fourth & final round of racing.  Having started out with a fourth place from 6th on the grid, the Thai driver would mark himself as one to watch in Round 2 with victory from the second row before taking easy wins in Rounds 3 & 4 from front row starts.  Ending the day on the same points as Meen but having one less win, Akio Sobue came to within one corner of holding the overnight lead.  Heading into the final corner of the race with his Infinity team-mate Marc Rheinard on his rear bumper, he would roll allowing Rheinard through for a third win however a DNF in Round 3 leaves the 5-time champion fourth going into Day 2 behind Reedy rookie Bruno Coelho.  For defending Champion Ronald Volker a frustrating day for the Yokomo driver would end on somewhat better as he finally registered his first win of the 20th running of the legendary race with victory in the closing race of the day.

‘A good day for me’ was how Vejrak summed up Day 1’s action.  The 2015 podium finisher continued, ‘in the last race my car felt like it had good grip in the warm-up so I decided to try to pass Jan (Rathesky) in the first corner and it worked’.  Once out front he would pull clear as Ratheisky came under attack from Viktor Wilck, the Swede getting by in a last lap dash to the finish line.  Feeling his Scorpion powered BD8 is better on used tyres, he said ‘the track cold is completely different than when its warm and for my car the cold is better’.  With another pole position among his grid positions along with last for Round 6, he said, ‘I hope tomorrow is a good day for me too’.

The day’s only other triple winner, Rheinard was happy with his performance saying, ‘having the one DNF is shit but otherwise it was a really good day’.  On his Round 4 win the Reedy Race’s most celebrated winner said, ‘This was a hard one. I started 5th behind Bruno and could see he was not so fast but waited and when he made a mistake in the chicane I got on his inside.  Just after I got by Cavalieri and was running with Akio’.  He continued, ‘My car was really good but I knew Akio would make no mistake normally and that 2nd would be good.  Luckily for me and bad for him he rolled at the last corner but I’ll take it’.  Explaining his error, Sobue said, ‘Marc make much pressure but it was all going good until the last corner, I just took it too tight’.

‘Finally a clean run and also a front row start, it was a badly needed win’, was Volker’s reaction to his Round 4 win.  The World Champion continued, ‘I benefited from Christopher’s mechanical failure and from lap 2 had a clean track so I went flat out for the rest of the race to secure a fast run if needed (as a tie breaker)’.  Winning two of his three Reedy Race titles at Tamiya Raceway, the German said, ‘my car is on pace ad I hope we have more luck tomorrow’.

With very high expectation from his huge following, while Coelho didn’t manage to win on Day 1, the infamous kink blocking that, the Xray driver finished all his races in the Top 3.  With the unique format of the historic event requiring a different mindset to regular racing, the Portuguese ace will have learned a lot from Day 1 and while not completely comfortable with his car around the small track he is sure to  have a better handle on things for Day 2.  Only 3 points off leader Vejrak, with eight rounds of racing still to run the ETS Champion is still a contender to win what is the most competitive Invitation entry in a decade.

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Rheinard DNFs Round 3 as Vejrak & Sobue add 2nd wins

Having had the perfect morning at the Reedy Race of Champions, Marc Rheinard’s fortune’s changed in Round 3 as Tamiya Raceway’s infamous kink put an end to the German’s race after just 4-laps.  Running in Heat 3, Rheinard lined up 5th for the start with Infinity team-mate Thomas Pumpler on pole.  With the field bunching up behind Pumpler making it anyone’s race, it was Round 1 & 2 race winner Rheinard who was to be the first fall out of the high speed train.  On the landing from his contact with the kink curbing he would break a mounting screw on his car’s ARS, the race done for the 5-time Champion.  Explaining his off, Rheinard said, ‘I was just being patient but then had one shitty lap and it left the car loose. Then I hit the kerb in the kink and the ARS screw broke’.  With Pumpler managing to hold on to his lead for a number of laps his race would also come undone in the kink as the Austrian got out of shape and collected second place Juho Levanen.  This allowed Bruno Coelho and Viktor Wilck, the back row starters, to go to the front and battle for the win but the kink wasn’t done yet, with it tripping up Coelho for the second time in three races.  While Coelho would hang onto his Xray he went wide which was enough for Wilck’s Serpent to slip through to register his first win of the 2oth running of the Reedy Race.

The two encounters would see pole sitters Meen Vejrak and Akio Sobue, points leader after three rounds, take rather straight forward wins but the first encounter wasn’t with out its dramas.  With Meen pulling clear up front, it was the battle for second that provided the entertainment with reigning champion Ronald Volker trying to make a similar last lap pass as he successfully did in Round 1.  Looking like he had snatched second from the Awesomatix of Freddy Sudhoff on the exit of the final corner there would be contact.  Reversing the order as Sudhoff would cross the line in second, Volker clearly wasn’t happy no action was taken for the incident.

Commenting afterwards, Volker said, ‘I have totally no luck today.  I was after getting by JJ (Wang) for second but off the racing line there is no grip so I had dirty tyres for a few laps.  This allowed Freddy to go by.  I made a move on him then on the last lap and went ahead of him at the exit but then I got hit by him in the rear’.  The World Champion continued, ‘ I’m not blaming Freddy for hitting me but they should have given me P2.  Having the second referee from the invite drivers didn’t help and that’s something I can’t understand’.  New for this year’s event, race referee Fred Medel is joined by one of the 24 invite class drivers for a second opinion on any race incidents which in the case of Heat 3 was Coelho.

Summing up his second win, which puts him second in the points behind Sobue and ahead of Coelho,  Vejrak said, ‘now the conditions are not easy.  I changed my car to get more overall traction but it wasn’t any better.  Many cars are on the limit now.  Something is different to yesterday. Maybe now it because its hot and windy’.  Aiming to try to make his car more stable for the days final round which he starts again from pole,  the Thai driver said, ‘2 wins from 3 races is not a bad start and I hope I can end the day with another good result’.

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