Cavalieri doubles up in Round 2

Ryan Cavalieri has made it 2 wins from 2 races at the Reedy Race of Champions in California, the Associated driver again converting his second pole position start into a victory to put himself in an early lead of the standings.  In the other two races that made up the second round of 2WD Buggy at the famous event HB’s Atsushi Hara and Tamiya’s Lee Martin secured the wins.  The drive of the second round came in Race 2 from Ryan Maifield who starting 10th on the grid came through to finish second just a second behind Martin.  Afterwards the Team Associated ace said it was a ‘good result’ but he wished he had been able to get through the pack a little faster, his fastest lap almost 6/10th faster than that of European Champion Martin.

‘Step by step getting better’ was how Hara summed up his win from second on the grid behind former World Champion Neil Cragg.  Moving the wing forward on the mid motored Kyosho he is running this weekend, the Japanese ace said the RB6 had better traction but for his next race, his mos competitive group so far, he will need to find a little more steering if he is to run with the likes of Joern Neumann, Maifield and Jared Tebo.

Cragg who led the race for the opening few laps said he drove a better race than his opening run keeping his B4.2 on its wheels more the second time of asking.  Unfortunately the British driver hit trouble with his slipper clutch four laps in to the 5-minute race which made the jumps more difficult.  Feeling he had pace to take the win, he said once the slipper starting acting up he just tried to get what he could from the race declaring himself happy to come away with second ahead of Neumann.  Starting 8th on the grid it was another strong performance from Neumann who is on pole for his next race.

The third race saw a tone to tone win for Cavalieri although the World Champion did have a number of moments one of which allowed team-mate Steven Hartson to get right on his rear, literally.  TLR’s young star Dakotah Phend looked on target to take second but got it wrong putting his TLR 22 on its roof which dropped him back down the order, eventually crossing the finish line in 5th.  Team-mate Dustin Evans completed the Top 3 behind Hartson and ahead of Japan’s Kohta Akimoto.

Round 2 2WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(2) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:12.384
2.(1) Neil Cragg – Associated – 15/5:15.158
3.(8) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 15/5:16.115
4.(7) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 15/5:16.849
5.(3) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 14/5:04.441
6.(5) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 14/5:04.696
7.(6) Brent Thielke – Associated – 14/5:08.498
8.(9) Paul Bradby – Associated – 14/5:14.056
9.(4) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 14/5:21.646

Race 2
1.(4) Lee Martin – Tamiya – 15/5:10.515
2.(10)Ryan Maifield – Associated – 15/5:11.528
3.(3) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 15/5:13.511
4.(6) Josh Numan – Associated – 15/5:19.109
5.(2) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:19.530
6.(7) Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 15/5:01.113
7.(8) Chad Due – Associated – 15/5:03.420
8.(1) Peter Pinisch – Associated – 15/5:07.880
9.(9) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 14/5:08.676
10.(5)Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 14/5:12.430

Race 3
1.(1) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 15/5:05.350
2.(2) Steven Hartson – Associated – 15/5:11.129
3.(7) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:13.313
4.(5) Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 15/5:15.996
5.(4) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:16.746
6.(6) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:16.884
7.(8) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:20.107
8.(3) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 15/5:28.613
9.(10)Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 14/5:09.394
10.(9)Tanner Denney – Associated – 14/5:14.049

View the overall invitational standings after 2 rounds here (PDF).

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Cavalieri biggest winner of opening Reedy Race encounter

Ryan Cavalieri, Brent Thielke and Travis Amezcua have opened their Reedy Offroad Race of Champions with victories of their respective races with former champion Cavalieri taking the biggest win in a race that featured three electric offroad World Champions.  The opening race of the 19th running of the famous event, the current World Champion cruised to a 7-second win over Jared Tebo with Ty Tessmann coming from 8th on the grid to complete the Top 3.

After the race Cavalieri said his Associated B4.1 was really good but added he expected more of a battle.  Starting from pole, the American said the woop section played out bad’ for the rest of the pack giving him enough of a break that he could focus on his own race and open up a comfortable gap.  Set to start on pole for the 2nd of the six 2WD races before the drivers switch to their 4WD buggies, Cavalieri said he hopes for a similar result then.

Tebo who started from 6th on the grid, described his 2nd place finish as ‘awesome’.  Making big changes to his RB6’s set-up after yesterday’s practice he said his buggy was not too good but added he now knows what set-up he needs to run and his is very confident about the rest of the races.

In the second race Brent Thielke, the man responsible for putting on the Reedy Race ‘show’, took the win but only after a battle with the pole starting TLR of Matt Castellano which saw the pair swap the lead of a number of times.  While the front row of the grid battled up front, reigning champion Joern Neumann, who arrived at the track this morning to a reserved ‘VIP Champion’ parking spot right at the front door of the West Coast R/C Raceway, came through from 9th on the grid up to third looking like a serious treat for the win.  Unfortunately for the German a mistake at the end of the straight in which his buggy flipped dropped him back but a late mistake by Castellano would let him through to finish 2nd, a result he said was ‘really good especially for 2WD on dirt’.

The final race of the opening round produced the closest finish with Amezcua just holding off Atsushi Hara by .149 of a second.  Hara who started second behind Amezcua managed to find a way passed the Durango driver but then lost it on the double jump on the entry to the main straight.  One lap later Amezcua made the exact same mistake but unfortunately for Hara he could capitalise as he collected the foot of Joern Neumann who was marshalling Amezcua’s DEX210. Amezcua said he went a ‘little too much’ with the set-up changes he made last night and will go back to a lighter spring for his next race.  Happy with the win Amezcua said ‘it was a little lucky but this race is all about luck’.

Hara, who is running a Kyosho in mid motor configuration, said he just tried to manage the race as best he could and so starting & finishing second was a decent result. Having managed to make his buggy more stable for the opening race he said the mid motor has some good points on the track where he is much faster than his rivals running rear motor set-ups but one spot he has a disadvantage is the double coming on to the straight but every run with the car he gets more confident with it and so he has a good feeling for the rest of the event.

Round 1 2WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(1) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 15/5:08.294
2.(6) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 15/5:15.048
3.(8) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:17.019
4.(10)Lee Martin – Tamiya – 14/5:00.462
5.(2) Neil Cragg – Associated – 14/5:03.149
6.(3) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:03.149
7.(7) Chad Due – Associated – 14/5:10.161
8.(9) Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 14/5:11.627
9.(5) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 14/5:12.937
10.(4)Peter Pinisch – Associated – 14/5:17.957

Race 2
1.(2) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/5:13.475
2.(9) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 15/5:15.561
3.(1) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:18.116
4.(10)Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:18.996
5.(5) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:03.873
6.(3) Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 14/5:06.717
7.(6) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 14/5:09.629
8.(7) Tanner Denney – Associated – 14/5:17.421
9.(8) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 14/5:19.593
10.(4)Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 14/5:20.883

Race 3
1.(1) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 15/5:17.174
2.(2) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:17.323
3.(4) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 14/5:01.816
4.(8) Steven Hartson – Associated – 14/5:02.186
5.(3) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 14/5:08.419
6.(7) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:10.334
7.(6) Paul Bradby – Associated – 14/5:10.694
8.(10)Josh Numan – Associated – 14/5:13.660
9.(5) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 14/5:14.524

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Tebo tops practice at Reedy Race

Kyosho’s Jared Tebo set the pace in practice for the Reedy Race of Champions, the America topping the times sheets at West Coast RC Raceway in California in both 2WD & 4WD.  Although times have no meaning due to the head to head race format of the world famous race, they do give an indication of each drivers form with Tebo declaring himself happy to end Day 1 as the fastest of the 29 invited drivers who will battle for the 19th Reedy Race title over the next three days.  In 2WD it was defending Champion Joern Neumann who was 2nd fastest, with his Durango team-mate Travis Amezcua the closest on pace to Tebo in 4WD.

Over the three round of practice the drivers got today for each class, Tebo said he used each of the 5-minute runs to try different shock settings with a piston change on his 4WD for the final practice giving the buggy a really good feeling allowing him to post the fastest run of the day by almost 4-seconds from Amezcua.  Commenting on his 2WD he said he feels he would like to try a few more options as the rear is a little loose but added that he is not sure that he should ‘go messing with set-up’ for the first race tomorrow as overall his RB6 is comfortable to drive.  Unlike normal races where outright speed is what you look for in practice, he said its a fine line between speed and drivability for this type of racing.

Suffering with a cold Neumann also felt his DEX210 was a little loose on the rear, the German putting this down to his rear tyres, which after three runs still look like the they just came out of their packaging. With little he can do about the tyres, hoping they will come in soon, he will reduce the anti-squat in the hope of improving the car.  Although he didn’t post a Top 10 practice time in 4WD, the European Champion said his DEX410 felt good and being easy to drive he planned to leave it as is for the first of his races in the morning.

Amezcua was also happy with his 4WD Durango, the American making only a number of small adjustments over the day.  Easy to drive he said he can push hard if needs to and is pretty confident going into the racing.  On his 2WD he said that he plans to look over his buggy tonight and make a few more small adjustments for tomorrow.  Easy and safe to drive, allowing him to set the 9th fastest time, he said he could do with finding a small bit of speed but thinks with the planned changes he should be ready to go racing.

Setting the third fastest time in 4WD Hupo Honigl said he was on target for a faster run in P3 until he crashed with another buggy twice on the main straight.  The Austrian, who felt conditions were ‘surprisingly slippery’, said while his DEX410 was good his 2WD needs work if he is to be any way competitive tomorrow.

Team Losi Racing claimed the 4th fastest time in both classes with 2011 Champion Dustin Evans their top man in 2WD while the race’s youngest driver Dakotah Phend took the oldest buggy on the market to within 6 seconds of fastest 4WD time.  Evans said both his buggies felt ‘awesome’ with his TLR22 needing no changes over the day. On his XXX-4 he said a switch to a hand made steering rack, which in testing made the buggy oversteer, improved the steering a lot especially through the sweeper at the end of the straight and it now feels ‘good to go racing with’.  Phend said he was really happy with his 4WD and while his 2WD was also good he needed to drive it a bit better in the beginning of the runs and cut out the small errors he has been making.

Tamiya Racing Factory’s Lee Martin, who has been over in the US for the past week for some testing as well as some vacation time with his family, took his TRF201 to the third fastest time and in 4WD managed 5th ahead of Associated’s Cody Numedahl and HB’s Atsushi Hara who was also 7th fastest in 2WD.  With HB not having an electric offroad chassis, Hara who put on one of the best races of last year’s Reedy Race when he had a great battle with Ryan Cavalieri in one of the heats, is running a Durango in 4WD and a mid motored Kyosho in 2WD.  In his final 4WD practice the Japanese ace who hasn’t raced electric offroad competitively for a number of years, lost what he jokingly described as a ‘very fast’ rear wheel which over took his buggy down the main straight.  HB team-mate Ty Tessmann, the reigning US 1:8 Offroad National Champion is running Associated in both classes for the event.

Fastest Associated at the end of practice in 2WD was the name who has taken over the running of the Reedy Race of Champions in recent years, Brent Thielke.  Behind the AE team-manager, taking his B4.2 to the 6th fastest time was his star driver Ryan Maifield while in 4WD Numedahl was the quickest of the team’s drivers with Neil Cragg the next quickest with the 8th fastest time.

2WD Practice Times
1. Jared Tebo – 15/5:03.537
2. Joern Neumann – 15/5:06.774
3. Lee Martin – 15/5:07.046
4. Dustin Evans – 15/5:07.556
5. Brent Thielke – 15/5:11.885
6. Ryan Maifield – 15/5:17.040
7. Atsushi Hara – 15/5:17.531
8. Matt Castellano – 15/5:17.851
9. Travis Amezcua – 15/5:19.467
10.Josh Numan – 15/5:20.301

4WD Practice Times
1. Jared Tebo – 16/5:10.943
2. Travis Amezcua – 16/5:14.720
3. Hupo Honigl – 16/5:15.871
4. Dakotah Phend – 16/5:16.698
5. Lee Martin – 16/5:17.127
6. Kody Numedahl – 16/5:19.885
7. Atsushi Hara – 16/5:21.005
8. Neil Cragg – 15/5:01.005
9. Steven Hartson – 15/5:02.863
10.Chad Due – 15/5:03.968

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