With the first part of the 22nd running of the Reedy Race of Champions is complete and it is former Champion Dustin Evans who leads at OCRC Raceway in California. The Team Losi Racing driver, who came into the second day of the event leading the points, finished up the 2WD action with a win in the 6th round allowing the Colorado driver to drop a third place from Round 3. One of only three triple winners, Evans goes into the 6 rounds of heads up 4WD racing with a 1-point lead over TLR team-mate Dakotah Phend. It was a great start to Day 2 for Phend, the 18-year-old winning both his encounters with a 10th from Round 2 when he broke becoming his throw out round. Behind the two TLR drivers, it is Team Associated’s Kody Numedahl who completes the Top 3.
Changing to a stiffer front suspension on his Orion powered 22, Evans said it was ‘awesome’. With a 1st or 2nd required to better his points, he said he ‘had nothing to loose’ starting from 8th on the grid adding to ‘get the win was huge’. Having ‘a good battle’ with pole starter Ty Tessman, getting by the Canadian on lap 12 of 17, he said 2WD had been a good start to the event. Feeling he had a good draw in terms of his 2WD starting position he expects 4WD to involve some tougher grids. With his TLR22-4 having been good in practice he said while the track is going to be very different his plan is to go out ‘have fun and do what (he) can’.
Also winning his final encounter off the back of the grid having started 9th, Phend said he got a really good start and other than one mistake kept things smooth allowing him to benefit from a mistake by race leader Tebo who got the landing off the second triple, which has been christened the widow maker’, completely wrong four laps from the finish. Phend said his 22 has been getting better as the traction comes up and he was particularly happy that he could ‘Drop a 10 with a 1’ thanks to his Round 6 win. Looking to 4WD, two of the six rounds taking place today, the Michigan driver said he is ‘really comfortable’ with his 22-4 and ‘looking forward to it’.
With three wins to his credit, Numedahl would fail to improve his points tally of 10-points. After a rough 2nd lap he could only manage 4th in his final race behind Phend, Tebo and Cavalieri. Also on 10 points, but with one less win, are former Champions Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield, as are 2WD World Champion Spencer Rivkin and Jared Tebo with 1 win each. Rivkin would loose out on claiming a second win that would have left him 3rd overall at the end of 2WD with a late mistake that let AE team mate Steven Hartson through for the win in the final round.
Admitting he ‘got lucky at the end’ when Rivkin got the second triple wrong on the last lap, Hartson said getting to drop a 6th ‘helped a lot’. Sitting 8th at the end of 2WD with 13 points, the former 4WD World Champion believes 4WD will be better for him at his home track and said ‘its still all to play for’. With this year’s track layout popular with racers to drive on in terms of racing they have found it a challenge with many predicting 4WD is going to be hectic.
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Chassis – Schumacher KF2 SE
Motor – LRP 7.5T
ESC – LRP
Battery – LRP LCG 2900mAh
Radio/Servos – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Kit Body
Remarks – Reigning 4wd European Champion Michal Orlowski is running the KF2 SE from Schumacher. Looking for extra rear traction while trying to maintain steering, they have been playing with anti squat and increased rear toe to 4 degrees. Other changes include narrower rear hexes as well as using an MIP puck diff which they believe helps in their search for more traction.
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Kody Numedahl opened Day 2 of the Reedy Race of Champions with a thrilling victory over overnight points leader Dustin Evans, the Associated driver snatching the win through the last corner to become the first triple winner at the 22nd running of the race that carries on the legacy of RC pioneer Mike Reedy. Having described his Round 4 performance yesterday as ‘A trademark Reedy Race blowout’, from pole Numedahl would get the holeshot only to throw it away when he caught the piping coming onto the straight for the first time. Dropping to fourth in the well loaded race, which in addition to Evans also had World Champion Spencer Rivkin and Steven Hartson, Numedahl would benefit from errors by long time leader Chad Due and Hartson to move to second behind Evans. Coming on the last lap Numedahl was on the rear wing of the TLR driver’s rear wing and looking to defend his position on the dash to the finish Evans took a tight line but with less traction on the inside Numedahl got the run to take a win that was well appreciated by the OCRC crowd. In the previous two encounters of the penultimate round of 2WD action reigning champion Ryan Maifield would take win No.2 while Jared Tebo finally registered his first win of the event.
‘That was crazy’ was Numedahl’s reaction to the race, the AE designer adding, ‘that was the closest race so far with so many drivers that close together’. His first front row start, the unassuming racer said, ‘I wanted to get the holeshot so went full throttle. It was a good start but then I got caught on the same pipe that cost a result in Round 4’. Commenting on today’s track conditions he said ‘most drivers don’t look as comfortable today cause the grip is up in a weird way with the cars snapping loose’. Starting his final 2WD encounter from 4th on the grid he hopes to be able to convert that into a result that allows him drop his P4 from the fourth round with him just 1-point of standings leader Evans.
Giving his reaction to the entertaining race, Evans said ‘the last lap I protected my lines but went too tight coming onto the straight and there was no grip’. Having spent a few weeks in California as part of his preparation for the race, the 2011 Champion said ‘I have been racing with Kody since I came out to California and there is no one I am more comfortable racing with. The former US Champion continued, ‘I am still happy with a 2nd and with Top 3 finishes in all my races with only one (2WD) round to go its all good’.
Commenting on his win over an impressive Rob Gillespie, Maifield said, ‘I made changes to my car to try calm it down a little and it was an improvement’. Starting from 7th on the grid, the TLR driver said having got through some ‘carnage’ at the start he drove a patient race. Following behind leader Gillespie, saying ‘Robbie was going really good’, he said with Dakotah Phend behind he didn’t want to risk a mistake that would let his team-mate passed. With Gillespie having a rollover entering the straight this let Maifield through for his second win.
Taking three laps to get to the front ahead of early leader Joseph Quagraine and JP Richards, Tebo said it was a ‘great start’ to Day 2. ‘I drove a little better’ said the Kyosho driver adding ‘my car was good yesterday I just drove bad’. Despite the ‘nervous’ driving the former World Champion goes into the final 2WD with a run of Top 3 finishes. Also in the same race was Ryan Cavalieri. Starting from last on the grid the 3-time Reedy Race Champion would tangle with Cody King on the first lap. Recovering from that to join the battle for second, the Associated driver then made a mistake at the second triple with four laps to go. Dropping to fourth he could only recover to 3rd after a late mistake by Serpent’s Billy Easton.
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Chassis – Durango DEX210 V3
Motor – Maclan MRR 6.5T
ESC – Maclan
Battery – Trakpower 4200mAh
Radio/Servos – Futaba / Xpert
Bodyshell – Kit Body
Remarks – Durango driver Travis Amezcua is using a slightly modified version of the DEX210 V3. Moving the battery to the transverse position instead of the standard inline position, he has had to cut the chassis side guards and so he needs to use turnbuckles to re stiffen the chassis. The result is that the weight is now more centralised and more to the rear so it helps give the car more traction. Up front there is a new lower mounted JConcepts front wing, the new position giving the car more steering than mounted behind the shock tower. In terms of setup, compared to pre race testing Travis has made the car softer up front to get more steering and added more rear toe in.
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