February 22, 2013

Drake takes first Truggy Qualifier at DNC

Adam Drake

Adam Drake set the pace in the opening round of qualifying at the World famous Dirt Nitro Challenge, the Team Losi Racing driver taking the first of 3 scheduled qualifiers by 3.7 seconds from defending Champion Ty Tessmann and Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz, the Top 3 being the only drivers to complete 12 laps of Joey ‘The Dirt’ Christensen’s track creation for this the 14th running of the famous track builder’s signature event. Having suffered hail & snow during yesterday’s practice day which meant drivers got just a single practice run on the track, today’s weather in Phoenix, Arizona, was much more favorable with a 2 hour delay to the start of proceedings enough to dry the track off enough to get the event underway. Eventually starting at 10am such is the size of the entry including an increased number of European’s, today’s action at the Fear Farm is not set to be completed until the early hours of Friday morning.

Adam Drake

A podium finisher in Truggy last year behind Tessmann and Ryan Cavalieri, Drake was pleased with his opening run despite a ‘rough first few laps’ due to traffic. Happy with the set-up of his 8ight T 2.0 and his choice of Proline M3 Holeshot tyres, he said his only concern was the tuning of his Novarossi engine which he said started to run a little lean by the end of the 7-minute run. Planning to stick with the same set of tyres for Q2, he added the only change he will make to his truck is a an adjustment to the front swaybar. Asked about this year’s track layout Drake said it wasn’t as crazy as previous years and while not ‘super’ technical it was fast which meant it was easy to get out of your rhythm and ’cause chaos’ but overall he said it was another great track from Joey.

Ty Tessmann

Tessmann, who started off a great 2012 season at this event last year when he did the double, the Canadian going on to become US National Champion and finish runner-up at the 1:8 Buggy World Championships in Argentina, summed up his Q1 by saying ‘it could have been better’. The HB ace said his set-up wasn’t right with the truggy difficult to drive and this lead to a number of moments including one which required him to be marshaled. Running Proline M3 Holeshot tyres he said he was happy with this choice and he will continue with them in Q2 which with a better chassis set-up should allow him to put in a better second run, 2 of the 3 heats counting towards the final qualifying order.

Ryan Lutz

A ‘Good start’ was how Lutz summed up his first run referring more to the end result of being 3rd fastest rather than the actually way the run went. With his truggy squirmy on landing, he said he needs to improve his set-up with a shock oil change his main focus. Choosing AKA Grid Iron tyres in soft compound and running in the same heat as Tessmann, Lutz was on target to top the run until an unfortunate incident on his final lap which lost him almost 4 seconds. As he came up to pass a truggy which was trying to make to the timing loop with a broken shock, the driver of that truggy tried to get out of Lutz’s way but ended up spinning into his path. With no where to go the Durango hit the truggy resulting in him suffering a broken shock shaft. Luckily with only three corners to negotiate to get to the loop Lutz was able to make the finish.

Dakotah Phend

TLR young star Dakotah Phend set the fourth fastest time, just missing out on a 12 lap run. The teenager had a costly tangle during the run with TLR team-mate Ronda Drake but having set himself the goal of a top 5 finish for the round he declared himself happy with the end result. Running Proline Holeshot tyres he said his truggy felt ‘real good’ and was ‘on pace’ so he plans to leave everything as is for his next run.

Tebo Cav

Clashing drivers was a common feature of Q1 with the most high profile one being between Associated’s Cavalieri and Kyosho’s Jared Tebo. The pair came together twice during the run the second time costing both drivers a number of seconds. Cavalieri would take 5th for the round with 2011 Double winner Tebo getting 7th. ‘Unfortunate’ was how Cavalieri summed up the incident adding it ‘should have been better’. Running soft AKA Grid Iron tyres, he plans to make a few adjustments to the rear end of the truggy and if the track continues to dry out he will also switch to Impact tyres for Q2.

Surprise of the opening qualifier was A-Main Hobbies team driver Austin Blair who set the 6th fastest time. Running an RB powered Kyosho, the 18-year-old from California said it was a good run but added hat if he can tidy up his driving a better run is possible. Running super soft AKA Grid Iron, he said he just plans to clean up his truggy for Q2 and leave everything in terms of set-up as is and instead work on his driving. Team-mate Dylan Rodriguez also made the Top 10 with the 8th fastest time driving his OS powered Kyosho despite making a wrong call on tyres. Using Proline’s Blockade the Las Vegas driver said it was ‘not amazing’ and he will switch to the Holeshot for his next run.

Cody King

Making his debut since signing for Reds Racing engines, Cody King set the ninth fastest time despite running most the the qualifier with the rear wing trailing off the back of his Kyosho. In the first group of Pro drivers to hit the track which is continually drying, King was very happy with his pace saying that being able to run 9th without a wing he should be good for the next one adding that his truggy and engines felt good in Q1. Running Proline’s Holeshot tyre he said depending on how the track changes he might switch to the Blockade for Q2. King’s team-mate Elliot Boots is making his US race debut this weekend. The World Championship Top Qualifier and British National Champion is running one of King’s spare Truggy’s, which explains the one colour yellow bodyshell, described his experience of the US so far as ‘massive’. Getting just 5-minutes of track time yesterday he said his first qualifier didn’t go great as he made a few mistakes and had some traffic issues ending up in 21st but he isn’t daunted by the track and with a bit more mileage should be in the mix especially when the racing moves onto Buggy.

Ryan Maifield

Completing the Top 10 was last year’s Top Qualifier Ryan Maifield. The Associated driver described Q1 as his ‘practice’ as he only completed one lap of the track yesterday. The first group to go out after the snow yesterday, he decided to wait for the second half of what were originally 10-minute practice runs. Going out at 5-minutes it was then announced for drivers to finish their laps, the Arizona driver not getting the message that the remaining practices groups had been reduced to 5-minutes. In terms of the qualifier Maifield said without the few crashes it was ‘OK’. Running JConcepts green compound Hybrids on his RC8T he said they felt fine and his plan for Q2 is just a few small tweaks to his set-up and to drive better.

Truggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Adam Drake – TLR/Novarossi – 12/7:31.788
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 12/7:35.524
3. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 12/7:38.260
4. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 11/7:01.362
5. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 11/7:01.749
6. Austin Blair – Kyosho/RB – 11/7:02.164
7. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 11/7:04.379
8. Dylan Rodriguez – Kyosho/OS Speed – 11/7:04.644
9. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds – 11/7:04.759
10.Ryan Maifield – Associated/LRP – 11/7:05.663

View our event image gallery here.

January 28, 2013

Cavalieri claims the 19th Reedy Race on tie break

Ryan Cavalieri

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.

Cav Car

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.

Ryan Cavalieri

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.

Inv Podium

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.

Joern Neumann

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.

Open Winners

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.

Junior Winner

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.

January 28, 2013

Cavalieri closes in on Reedy Race title

Cav

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.

Steven Hartson

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.