January 26, 2020

1-point in it going into final day at Reedy Race

The 26th running of the Reedy Race of Champions will go into the final day at OCRC Raceway in California tomorrow with just a single point separating defending Champion Jared Tebo from points leader Ryan Maifield.  Ending 4WD with a comfortable 4 point advantage, 2015 Champion Maifield would end Day 2 with a 4th place while Tebo backed up his win in the opening 2WD encounter with a second behind Spencer Rivkin who holds fourth overnight.  Making a number of mistakes, Maifield was unable to make the kind of progress we witnessed in 4WD as up front in the race Rob Gillespie took a very popular first win of 2020 ahead of Europeans Lee Martin and Joona Haatanen.  Tebo found himself in the stacked heat of Round 2, going up against Rivkin, Ryan Cavalieri and Dakotah Phend.  While Rivkin took the win from the front row, Tebo found a way passed Cavalieri to secure second to take more points out of Maifield. Opening the Round with his third win of the event, Broc Champlin put himself right into podium contention with an impressive win ahead of Ty Tessmann and Alex Kosciuszek.

Summing up his race, the result only his second time outside the Top 2, Maifield explained his 4th place by saying, ‘I just had some bad crashes on my own account and it seems the guys up front had a solid run. I thought I could at least get Top 3 but even without my crashes it was going to be hard’.  Looking to the final four rounds of action tomorrow, the former double World Champion said, ‘We’ll reset. I need to get a little more comfortable with the jumps especially that triple. We’ll have a few beers tonight and come back reset tomorrow’.

On his race, Tebo said, ‘That was a really good run. My car was awesome but it’s a lot harder to move through the pack than it was in 4WD.  I was right on Cav and managed to get by but Spencer had already got a lead. I caught him a little bit’.  Looking at the overnight points table, the Tekno team driver said, ‘I’m making a little progress but I don’t really have any good starts tomorrow.  Some people are making mistakes when they have opportunities so with this race you never know.  Maifield has a couple of low starts. It’s going to be a nail biter’.

‘That was a much needed win’, was Rivkin’s reaction to what is only his second win of the event so far.  The World Champion, who is still chasing his first Reedy Race title, continued, ‘3 out of 4 drivers in contention for the Reedy Race were in the heat. I took advantage of the front row start and drove a solid race’.  Asked about his car, the Team Associated driver replied, ‘my diff is a little messed up so I’m going to rebuild it and run-in in practice in the morning.  It should be more consistent then tomorrow’.

Commenting on his Round 2 win, Champlin said, ‘I started 4th and was able to hole shot Alex (Kosciuszek) who started 3rd.  Yusuke (Sugiura) crashed and I was able to get by and reel in Ty (Tessmann). I had a few passing opportunities but waited on a mistake instead of forcing a pass.  The last lap I got really close and when Ty made his mistake I was able to slip by’.  With the win moving the 17-year-old into 3rd on the points table, on his car’s performance he said, ‘the car is working really well. It is super easy to drive and easy to drive hard. I’m going to keep it the same for the rest of the event’.

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January 26, 2020

Tebo opens 2WD with win over Maifield

Defending Reedy Race Champion Jared Tebo has opened the 2WD action at OCRC Raceway with a win over 4WD points leader Ryan Maifield.  Starting from third on the grid the Tekno factory driver took his Associated to a 4-seconds win over the Yokomo driver who had come through from last on the grid.  Having endured a very tough time in 4WD, ending up 18th in the points, former two time champion Dustin Evans would come to the fore in 2WD taking the Heat 3 win over the races other multiple champion Ryan Cavalieri.  The same race wouldn’t net the start Dakotah Phend was in search of as the TLR driver finished 5th meaning he loses further ground to Maifield in the points table.  One of only two non North American drivers to win in 4WD, multiple European Champion Lee Martin open his 2WD account with a win heading home Yokomo team-mate Yusuke Sugiura and Ron DeVoll in an encounter that would see both Ty Tessmann, who led for a time, and Spencer Rivkin drop points to their rivals as they finished 4th and 5th respectively.

‘That was a good one’, was how Tebo summed up the first round of 2WD.  He continued, ‘I had a good start and got into second. I drove a little nervous. I thought I would catch Alex (Kosciuszek) quicker but he actually pulled away.  Eventually I settled down and could catch him. Then I had a bobble and dropped back but I got there in the end’.  Looking to the second round, which will bring Day 2’s action to a close, he said, ‘I drove a little nervous so I’m going to work on that but the car was good and I’ll leave it same for the next one’.

Summing up his race, Maifield said, ‘Any time you can get a Top 2 off the back row is good but it started off tough. I got tossed around a bit at the beginning’.  He continued, ‘Myself and Cole (Tollard) had a good race but I got into him.  It was pretty obvious it was my fault so I waited.  Alex (Kosciuszek) then made his mistake but I decided to wait.  I don’t want officials to make weird calls so I police myself.  Once I got by Alex, Tebo was gone but a second place, I’ll take that’.

Bouncing back into the event with the switch to 2WD, Team Associated’s Evans said, ‘I couldn’t figure out 4WD.  I also started from the back in the stacked heats but with no speed I wasn’t able to do anything. It was super frustrating’.  Happy to open 2WD with a win, he said, ‘I am out of contention (for the overall win) but I’m going to try and win as many 2WD races as I can’.

Commenting on his race, Matin said, ‘I had a front row start with Shin (Adachi) next to me so I knew if I didn’t crash in the first few laps I wasn’t going to be hustled too much’.  He continued, ‘Ty (Tessmann) got up the inside of me when I understeer but I had a stroke of luck at the triple and retook the lead.  I tried to keep good pace but safe enough not to scare myself and it seemed to work out well’.  He concluded, ‘my car is good, I just hope the tyres hold out’.

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January 26, 2020

4WD complete, advantage Maifield at Reedy Race

The first half of the 2020 Reedy Offroad Race of Champions is in the books with the concluding round of 4WD proving a tough encounter for the main title contenders however with 4 wins from the 6 races so far Ryan Maifield holds a comfortable advantage as things switch to 2WD at OCRC Raceway in California. The six round of racing would see the Open Champions all step up to the mark and register their first wins among the invite regulars. Kicking off the final 4WD battles, 2WD Open Champion Tommy Hinz took his Xray to the win ahead of Joona Haatanen and defending Invitational Champion Jared Tebo.  That was followed by one of the most stacked heats of this the 26th running of the Reedy Race – Maifield, Dakotah Phend, Spencer Rivkin and Ryan Cavalieri sharing the grid. Having shown impressive speed against Maifield a round earlier, Broc Champlin would lead from start to finish to move into 5th in the final 4WD standings as the main title contenders fought hard behind but made mistakes under the pressure. Starting from the pole, Phend, who was second in the points, didn’t get the start he wanted and that was compounded at the first triple when Maifield landed on the TLR dropping him back to third.  The battles continued with the four heavy hitters bunching together but all having bobbles.  In the end, Rivkin would come out top snatching a second from Cavalieri as he flipped his Sworkz on the final dash to the loop.  Ron Devoll completed the round with a win over young Japanese driver Kouki Kato to bring the tally of 4WD race winners to 11 from the 18 races.

Ending 4WD with his worst result, a 5th, Maifield explained, ‘I landed on Dakotah in the first triple.  We both got going and I tried to catch Broc.  He had a good race and didn’t make any mistakes so I tried to hold of Dakotah, Spencer and Ryan. I had a mistake and took Dakotah with me and we dropped back. After that I was just trying to take a point off him’. Going into the second half of the event with a four point advantage over Phend who holds second with Rivkin and Tebo on the same points, the Yokomo driver said, ‘I’m looking forward to moving on to 2WD and to keep the momentum going’.

‘It was not the best start, I was too cautious at the start’, was how Phend described his race adding, ‘this is how it goes sometimes’.  Unable to drop the 4 he got from the second round, asked about 2WD, the former Champion said, ‘the plan is to keeping plugging away. I know the car is good’.

Commenting on his second place, which allowed him to drop the 3 from the previous round, Rivkin said, ‘that as definitely an insane race.  My start was not that great, Maifield got the holeshot on me.  Then he landed on me which screwed me but the race turned out good when I go by Cav at the end.  It was a good second for me. The Top 3 had bad races, more so Dakotah as he has to count a 4 now, Maifeld not so much’.  Asked about the switch to 2WD, the World Champion replied, ‘I am really looking forward to 2WD. It was my strong suit last year. This is when the big boys come out to play’.

Summing up his race, the 3rd allowing him to drop a 4th from yesterday evening, Tebo said, ‘It was a really good and a really bad race’. He continued, ‘I felt I was driving better and worked my way through the pack but unfortunately JP (Richards) crashed on the straight away. I thought I had the room to get around him but I hit him.  That’s just part of the race’.  Heading into the first of the 6 rounds of 2WD, the Tekno team driver said, ‘I am really looking forward to 2WD. I enjoy driving 2WD more than 4WD.  I am not going to over think the points. Sure Maifield has a good gap but I am just going to go out and do the best I can do and see how the points work themselves out’.

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