Rivkin in with a shout of 1st Reedy title with 1 remaining

World Champion Spencer Rivkin is in with a shout of a first Reedy Race title, the Team Associated driver adding another win to close the gap on long time points leader Ryan Maifield with just one round of racing to go at OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, California.  Rivkin opened the penultimate round of 2WD with an easy win from pole over Alex Kosciuszek and last year’s 4WD Open Champion Ron Devoll meaning he would have to wait to see the outcome of Heat 2 to see what Maifield could do and if things would go down to the final.  Starting from last on the grid,  Maifield worked his way up to third before dropping back to fourth after an error but a mistake by Yokomo team-mate & race leader Lee Martin which would promote him back to third and make Rivkin’s quest a little harder.  Rivkin needs to win his last race to take the title to a tie breaker. 

Heat 2 would be won by Ryan Cavalieri from Dakotah Phend putting him on equal points with Rivkin, but the multiple champion can only drop a 3 with an improved result so is unable to deny Maifield the overall win.  In the other Heat, Joe Bornhorst ended Dustin Evan’s quest for the perfect 2WD score taking the win after the closing Evans made a mistake on the final lap as it looked like it was going to be shootout to the finish line.

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It’s Maifield’s title to lose with 2 to go at Reedy Race

It’s very much Ryan Maifield’s title to lose now with just two rounds of racing remaining at OCRC Raceway in California as the Yokomo driver put a P2 on the board bettering what his main points rivals could do in the 6th round of 2WD.  Starting from 5th on the grid behind both Spencer Rivkin and Dakotah Phend, Maifield would cross the line in between the duo with Rivkin taking the win by a comfortable 2.8-second margin.  Coming from the back of the grid in the 3rd of the heats, Broc Champlin would work his way through to 3rd by the finish but Rivkin’s win and a second place for Ryan Cavalieri in Heat 1 means the Team Associated teenager drops from 2nd to 4th in the standings, equal on points with 5th placed Ty Tessmann. That heat was won by Dustin Evans once again ahead of Clement Boda.  Having not featured over the first two days of racing,  Finland’s Joona Haatanen finally registered a win at the 26th running of the event, taking Heat 1 ahead of Cavalieri and Tessmann.

Holding a 6 point lead over Rivkin with the potential to drop a 4th place from Round 2, Maifield explained, ‘I wasn’t sure how it would work out with Spencer and Dakotah starting in front of me. I got a good start and battled for a while but then Dakotah had a mistake which moved me up to second.  Spencer had built up a good lead and for a second I pushed to try catch him but it’s easy to make mistakes pushing so I settled for a 2’. Needing to put just one more solid result on the board to reclaim the title five years on from when he added it to his CV, asked about the next round Maifield replied, ‘the rear hub bearings are going so I will replace them and just go again’.

Summing up his 3rd win of the event, having managed only a single win in 4WD, Rivkin said, ‘I was a little aggressive at the start to make position and once I got passed Dakotah I drove my own race’.  The World Champion continued, ‘I saw Maifield coming behind me but kept pace with him. On the last two laps he settled for second. It was a good race and its been fun out there’.  Asked about challenging for the title, one that has eluded his so far, he replied, ‘I have a strategy. You just have to go out there and drive the best you can with what you’ve got’.

‘Three out of four in 2WD, the perfect score is still on’, was Evans reaction to his win.  The 2011 & 2018 Champion, continued, ‘when you have a frustrating 4WD you have to set new goals and I’m really feeling up for the perfect 2WD score. I haven’t looked at my starts for the last two rounds but I’m going to keep trying to win and see how it works out’.  The Team Associated driver plans a small tweak to his car for the penultimate round, explaining, ‘Spencer made a little change and it was pretty good so I am going to try it the next one. It’s a small change and I know what it does but Spencer said it gave him a little more corner speed so if I can improve on a good car I’ll have it’.

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Perfect morning for Maifield as he moves in on 2nd Reedy Race title

Ryan Maifield couldn’t have scripted a more perfect morning on the concluding day of the Reedy Offroad Race of Champions, the overnight points leader securing a win as his closest rivals lost ground, in particular Jared Tebo who could only manage a 6th.  With just three rounds of 2WD action remaining at the 26th running of the famous race, Maifield now holds a 6 point advantage over Broc Champlin.  Running in the same heat as Tebo, Champlin was in contention for the win putting pressure on eventually winner Ty Tessmann before a mistake with three laps to go that dropped him behind multiple Champion Ryan Cavalieri. Despite the missed opportunity, 3rd place would move the 17-year-old ahead of Tebo in the points table.  The third round of 2WD’s other winner was former 2-time champion Dustin Evans who got the win ahead of young French driver Clement Boda, who lead for the first half of the race before traction rolling at the end of the main straight.

Reacting to his win, his first in 2WD having won 4 from 6 in 4WD, Maifield said, ‘I started mid pack so I was patient at the beginning and once I got in the lead after Yusuke’s mistake I just managed the race as best I could’.  Claiming his only Reedy title 5-years ago, the Yokomo driver added, ‘we made changes to the car for the jump section and it was better.  I was more confident today.  We need to manage the tyres because they are already starting to get low’.

Tebo took full responsibility for his disappointing start to the day.  The defending Champion said, ‘It was all on me. I made a good start and good passes and was feeling good but then I cased the jump at the rhythm section and then cased it again’.  On his car, the Tekno team driver using an Associated for 2WD, he said, ‘the car felt a little loose.  The shock were a little bound up so I will next new O-rings for the next one. I won’t change the set-up’.

Summing up his race, Tessmann said, ‘my car was a little better than yesterday.  I just drove around as fast as I could without mistakes’.  Asked what he improved on the car, the Xray driver said, ‘It was more consistent but I think we can still improve on it I think.  My next race I have an 8th place start so I am going to have work in that one’.

Unfortunately out of contention for a third Reedy Race title after lacking pace in 4WD, Evans was happy to make it 2 wins from 3 starts saying, ‘My 2WD is good so I am going to try and win as many races as I can.  I had a terrible time in 4WD which put me out of contention so my goal now is to end 2WD with a perfect score’.  Asked about his 5th place in the second 2WD encounter, the Team Associated driver said, ‘I started next to Maifield on the third row of the grid. It’s so hard to push with Maifield and you have to push really hard to gain 1/10th a lap. It’s super difficult’.

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