Maifield leads at Reedy Race going into final day

Reigning Champion Ryan Maifield leads the way going into the final day of the Reedy Race of Champions tomorrow, the TLR driver ending Day 2’s action at OCRC Raceway with a second win in 4WD.  Starting Round 2 of 4WD from the front row of the grid alongside pole sitter Dakotah Phend, Maifield’s win gives him a 1-point advantage over his protege Spencer Rivkin.  Having won his opening race Rivkin backed that up with a second place behind Associated team-mate Kody Numedahl, Numedahl sitting 3rd in the points overnight.  In the other encounter, Steven Hartson took the win ahead of Ryan Cavalieri and Jared Tebo, Cavalieri sitting 4th tied with Tebo on 15 points.

‘Still doing my thing’, was Maifield’s reaction to ending the day at the top of the points.  Commenting on his latest win he said, ‘starting 2nd that time I tried to get Dakotah off the line but it didn’t happen.  Then I followed him around. I wasn’t really pushing as I was happy to settle for second as Dakotah was hauling ass.  I was just cruising to the finish and then he made a mistake and I was able to capitalise’.  Describing his TLR22-4 as ‘very predictable’ he said the handout Pro-Line tyres were getting ‘gummy’ adding ‘this was going to play into what everyone is doing’.  Having been the overnight leader en-route to his first Reedy Race win last year, Maifield wasn’t reading anything into it saying, ‘I’m just going keep doing what I’m doing’.

Starting from 6th on the grid, Rivkin said, ‘I had a bad start because someone wrecked in front of me and I lost ground’.  Setting the fastest lap of the round, the 17-year-old would work his way back up to third which then became second when Travis Amezcua had a bobble at the end of race. Going into the final four races just a point off Maifield, Rivkin said he was ‘pretty happy’ adding the plan for tomorrow was to change nothing and continue to ‘control what I can at my end’.

Getting a third having started Round 1 from 8th on the grid, Numedahl said he was determined to make the most of his front row start in Round 2.  Starting alongside poleman Brian Strange he ‘went for it, (and) timed it just right’ adding he ‘wouldn’t have been surprised if a jump start had been called’. With the field getting stacked up behind 2nd, he ‘backed it down a little’ which he said was a ‘weird driving style’. He said while he gave up 1-point in the first round, it was ‘a good start to the day’.  Looking to tomorrow he said ‘the car is awesome and doing everything like it should so hopefully we can keep things going, although it gets a little crazy in 4WD’.

The most crowned Reedy Race Champion, Cavalieri summed up his day with ‘I’m right there. I just need to get a win here & there tomorrow’.  The multiple World Champion continued, ‘We were all tied on points (for 3rd) at the end of 2WD and now the guys (Maifield & Rivkin) are leading’.  Happy with 8th to 3rd in the first one and 9th to 2nd in Round 2, the 3-time Reedy Race Champion said ‘I need to sneak in a win in tomorrow’.

For Dustin Evans, who led at the end of 2WD, it was a tough start to 4WD as he is ‘struggling with the car today’.  The former champion said while changes made it better for the second race, in which he finished 4th, its ‘not comfortable’.  He added having had good 2WD starting position 4WD are tougher, a 7th and a 9th being his starting spots in the first two.  The Colorado driver starts out the final day 6th, 5-points of team-mate Maifield.

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Maifield, Rivkin & Martin win opening 4WD encounter

The opening round of 4WD at the Reedy Race of Champions would produce wins for Ryan Maifield, Spencer Rivkin and Lee Martin but the big news of the round was the bad results for TLR’s Dustin Evans and Dakotah Phend.  First and second in the points at the end of 2WD and lining up in the same first 4WD encounter, Evans would struggle from 7th on the grid ending up only 6th while Phend, who was chasing down Rivkin for the race lead, who break on lap 6 at the same piece of track where he had a break in 2WD yesterday.  Opening the first of the six rounds of 4WD, Martin would take a tone to tone win over Ty Tessmann, both having started off the front row.  In the second race Maifield would somehow survive a roll on the straight to win ahead of Jared Tebo and long time race leader Brian Kinwald.  In Race 3 Rivkin had a good battle with Kyle McBride with Ryan Cavalieri looking to be getting into the mix from 8th on the grid until a mistake on the penultimate lap meant he had to settle for third.

The race which had most people talking and trying to figure out how he survived his clash with Kevin Motter on the straight, Maifield describing his first 4WD encounter as ‘Kind of F**king Nuts’.  The TLR driver said he ‘was trying to creep his way through the field’.  Coming up on second placed Motter, Maifield said last year’s Open class champion ‘got into (him)’ as he tried to make a pass down the straight.  Sending his 22-4 into a tumble the reigning Reedy Race Champion said he ‘kept it full throttle and prayed it would stay on its wheels’, something it did.  With the airshow allowing Tebo to catch him, the pair would touch coming off the sweeper in an incident Tebo would make clear with the referees after the race he wasn’t happy with.  In second behind offroad legend & 2-time Reedy Race Champion Kinwald, Maifield said he didn’t push the issue adding it worked out when the Associated driver made a mistake.

‘First off I had a good spot on the grid but I was just running my own race’, was how Rivkin who started 2nd summed up his race.  Following pole sitter Billy Easton for the first lap he would go to the front when the Serpent driver got it wrong coming onto the straight on lap 2.  A mistake on lap 11 of 17 at the first triple would loose him the lead to McBride but it was short lived as the Australian had an error.  On his mistake while leading, Rivkin said ‘I didn’t panic and McBride did the work for me when he crashed’. Double singling the second triple on the last lap he said having lost a win their yesterday on the last lap he took the ‘conservative’ approach to avoid a repeat.  While his B44.4 was ‘good’ he said his driving was only ‘ok’ but the important thing from the race was that he took points off Evans, Phend and Cavalieri who were all in his race.

Summing up his first win of the 22nd running of the Reedy Race, the first win of the event by a non-American, Martin said ‘It was ok’.  The Yokomo driver said he ‘need(s) a little more from the car’ and for the race he ‘just kept his nose clean’.  Looking to get his YZ-4 easier to drive, the Euro Offroad Series Champion said having got a win he at least ‘can now go home satisfied’. The result moves him into the Top 10 (9th) in the latest points standings.  Behind Martin, the big battle of the race was between Tessmann and Kody Numedahl until the 2WD triple winner rolled onto the straight allowing the Canadian, whose D413 set the fastest lap of the first round, open his stronger discipline with a P2.

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