Volker wins from the back in fourth round

Ronald Volker has added a second win to his tally on the opening day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions, the Yokomo driver coming from the 12th on the grid to win ahead of pole sitter Eric Albano and Randy Caster.  The win puts the three time champion equal on points with Viktor Wilck, the Infinity driver having his worst run of the day with a P3 after suffering a body tuck. For Yokomo it was their second double for a round as Nicholas Lee held defending champion Marc Rheinard at bay from previous round winners Wilck and JJ Wang.

Reacting to his impressive drive through the field, Volker said, ‘I started last and nobody was crashing so I had to get by everyone which eventually worked out perfect’.  Last winning the Reedy title in 2016, he continued, ‘We improved the car from the last round and I was able to drive more confident which is important for heads up racing.  We will still make a small change for the last run of the day but it’s hard to think about the set-up too much as there is minimal time between runs’.  With rain stopping yesterday’s practice day and more rain showing for Sunday, the schedule has been condensed to get in at least 5 rounds of racing each day which means quick turnarounds between rounds.

Lee was pleased to register his first win saying, ‘we improved the car and were closer to the rest of the guys. At the beginning of the run I was under a little pressure but then I pulled away but towards the end I made a mistake and was under pressure again from Marc so it was good to get the win’.  Looking to the final round of racing for today, the Singapore driver said he hopes he can get more front grip into the car so it will be even better for racing.

Starting 11th on the grid and making up four places by the second lap but dropping back to last on lap 4, explaining his up & down race Wilck said, ‘I got a body tuck after a few laps and dropped to last’.  Touching off Ryan Cavalieri as he put a pass on the Yokomo driver, it was enough to result in a bodyshell tuck.  Again with the fastest lap of the round,  he was able to put in a strong recovery saying, ‘the car worked good so I was able to come back to 3rd’.

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Wilck first double winner at Reedy Race

Viktor Wilck is the first driver to double up on wins at this year’s Reedy Race of Champions, the former champion benefiting from a last lap contact between race leader Lucas Urbain and Marc Rheinard who finished 2nd & 3rd.  Going into the round sharing the points lead with Meen Vejrak, Wilck has now pulled two points clear with Vejrak claiming a third from 7th on the grid in the second of the Round 3 encounters.  That race was won by JJ Wang, the Xray driver becoming the first US driver to register a win at the 22nd running of the legendary touring car race after he held off immense pressure from Ronald Volker.

Commenting on his strong start to this year’s event, which has seen it move to the new Steel City RC Speedway, Wilck said, ‘that was a lucky round. They touched on the last lap and I could get by’.  He continued, ‘It took me some time to get by Cav and that lost me time to Marc but my car was not too bad actually and I could close up’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race once he got by Cavalieri, the Swede was not reading too much into his early lead saying, ‘there are so many runs left I just have to wait and see what happens’.

‘That was super fun for me’, was Wang’s reaction after his race.  The college student added, ‘it’s Volker so I had to defend everywhere.  I was happy to get that done and it was entertaining for everyone to watch’.  Volker said, ‘I took a lot of opportunities to pass JJ but he defended well.  We made a change to the car but it made it way too stable.  I pushed really hard but I had understeer so I couldn’t get by. We will try to get more steering for the next one’.

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Rheinard & Wilck put wins on the board at RROC

Defending Champion Marc Rheinard and his Infinity team-mate Viktor Wilck put wins on the board at the Reedy Race of Champions with Rheinard winning the more interesting of the Round 2 encounters at Steel City RC Speedway.  Starting third on the grid, Rheinard took almost the entire race to get by pole man Jan Ratheisky, the pass coming with two laps to go.  With contact during the pass hampering Round 1 winner Ronald Volker who was running third, it would be the the other of the Round 1 winners Meen Vejrak who would finish second with Ratheisky third and Volker 4th.  Wilck would take his win from fifth on the grid ahead of Akio Sobue and Ryan Cavalieri.  Starting on pole, Cavalieri built up an early gap helped by Wilck making contact with team-mate Sobue and having to wait while the battled over second.  The offroad star soon had the touring car Pros back on his case with them each going through on separate occasions when the Yokomo driver ran wide.

Summing up his comfortable win over Sobue, 2012 Champion Wilck said, ‘It was an easy heat this time.  I got together a little with Akio and had to wait for him but I could then make a clean pass and and when Cav had a slide I could pass him.’  Second in the opening round behind Vejrak, Wilck now shares the early points leads.  Asked about the traction, the Swede replied, ‘It was a lot better this time but I think the second heat is helped by heat 1 because they cleaned the track for us after the wait before invite (class) starts’.

‘It’s a win’, was Rheinard’s reaction after his second round encounter, the 7 time winner still unhappy with the feeling of his car. He continued, ‘Jan did a good job. He is a hard fighter.  The whole field was closing so I couldn’t do anything stupid to pass him. Finally I could make a pass down his inside’.  Having changed his set-up between rounds, the German said, ‘It still feels like driving on ice’, adding it was ‘hard to say if car was any better or it the traction that is strange’.

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