January 21, 2016

Track Focus – OCRC Raceway

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Track Name – OCRC Raceway
Country – USA
Location – Huntington Beach, California
Surface – Dirt
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Previous Reedy Races hosted – 2015 & 2014

The 22nd running of the famous Reedy Race of Champions takes place at OCRC Raceway, with this the third year the Huntington Beach, California, track has hosted the world famous race.  Run by father & son duo Robert and Nick Black, the 20,000 square feet facility has been in operation since 2008.  With visitors entering through the hobby shop, the racing takes place in an area 135ft long and 60ft wide.  With event organiser Brent Thielke having penned the track layout for the past two visits to OCRC, this year Nick Black had more input into how the final track turned out.  Switching back to an anti-clockwise direct as it was run in 2014,  this year Nick’s only limitations were a pipe layout from Thielke.

Describing the 2016 track as ‘visually different’, Black said they put a lot more elevation changes into the build adding some ‘big jumps’ to create something a ‘little different’.  In terms of the build the main work was done on Sunday with the ‘final grooming completed’ Monday. Having watched the first practice of the Invitation class drivers, Black was pleased with his track creation saying ‘I’m really happy to see (drivers) have to make decisions as to how to hit the triples and that they have different lines they can take. Its a bit of a challenge’.

Last year’s Reedy Race Champion, Ryan Maifield’s initial reaction to the track was ‘its a cool layout’.  While for the first round of practice the track was ‘super loose’, the TLR driver said ‘its really fast and flows really nice’.  The only slight fault he could find with the layout was at the end of the straight, saying it was ‘not awesome but still not bad’.

Heading the European challenge at this year’s event, the only European to ever win the event Joern Neumann not making the trip and Xray denying us the spectacle of 4WD World Champion Bruno Coelho being in the mix, Lee Martin feels the track will be ‘challenging to race on’.  The Yokomo driver said there are ‘a lot of points that might lead to contact’ highlighting the triples.  The EOS & European Champion also believe the step down lends itself to being a place where drivers are going to get into the side of each other.

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January 10, 2016

Neumann remains unbeaten DHI Cup master

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Having looked at best like a podium finish would be an achievement, Joern Neumann pulled off a surprise result to retain his unbeaten reign as the only 4WD Buggy winner at the Danish event. There was no one more surprised by the result than Neumann himself, the win marking his first international race win with Team Serpent. With World Champion Coelho winning A1 and staying out of trouble giving Neumann the A2 win, it was all to play for with three drivers in contention for the win, Martin Bayer the third of them. In the end however it was 2WD victor Michal Orlowski who would win A3 ahead of Neumann with Bayer third. The result would secure Orlowski second overall while Top Qualifier Coelho finished his DHI Cup debut on the final step of the podium.

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‘Very surprised, it was very close’, that was Neumann’s reaction to his first big race win in almost a year. Commenting on the deciding third A-Main, he said ‘I just tried to keep Coelho behind me’, the Xray driver dropping to fourth hat the start after contact with David Ronnefalk. With Coelho falling back, he said he hoped Orlowski would hold on for the win from Bayer as his other results were two thirds so he knew he could take the overall win. With one mistake on his winning A2 he said he knew if Bayer was to win it would be a faster race time and he would lose out on the tie breaker. With the Czech driver starting to close down Orlowski he had to react and push to try to close on the lead battle but once Bayer rolled on the straight with 2-laps to go he knew the win was his, Orlowski getting to do an extra victory lap. Happy that they were able to improve the SX4 for the second A-Main, he said ‘we still need to make the car faster’ and he is looking forward to seeing how it is on the higher grip EOS carpet in Germany later this month.

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‘To come away from the DHI Cup with a win (2WD) and 2nd (4WD) I am very happy’ was how European Champion Orlowski summed up things after A3. Deciding to make a camber change on his K2 for the last final he said the change ‘worked out good’. Making one small mistake he said he was still able to hold on for the win. Making a bad start off the grid, the 14-year-old said maybe that was lucky for him. With third place starter Ronnefalk making contact with Coelho, he said that could have been me but instead I had the lead’. The Worlds finalist was also happy with the progress they made with the car set-up over the event and is hopeful that they can carry the performance through to Round 3 of the EOS, the season’s opening two 4WD encounters having been tough for the Polish ace.

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Unaware of Orloswki’s bad start, a clearly frustrated Coelho said, ‘Orlowski opened completely and Ronnefalk took me out but didn’t wait’. The pair would clash again in the middle of the race, the force of the impact loosening the servo horn leading Coelho to retire. Summing up his first DHI Cup he said ‘the car was perfect but I’d couldn’t do anything against this’ a reference to Ronnefalk’s driving. Behind Coelho fourth overall would go to team-mate Bayer, last year’s runner-up losing out on the tie break for the final podium place. Starting from the back of the grid Frederik Hovgaard would complete what was a strong weekend for the 17-year-old Dane with 5th overall ahead of Ronnefalk.

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View the complete 4wd Buggy results here.

View the event image gallery here.

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January 10, 2016

Volker claims seventh DHI Cup win

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Ronald Volker has taken his tally of wins at the famous DHI Cup to seven. The 16th running of the Danish event, Volker secured what would be his third consecutive win by taking the opening two A-Mains in Odense. Top Qualifier for the race, which marks the first international touring car race of the season, the German took A1 with ease but in A2 Awesomatix driver Viljami Kutvonen. After the strong start however Kutvonen faded a little leaving Volker celebrating the start of the 2016 season with overall victory. In A3 Kutvonen would enjoy a straight forward win over Alexander Hagberg and former winner Adrian Berntsen to secure second overall. Finishing on the same points as his team-mate Bruno Coelho, the tie breaker would leave Hagberg to complete the podium.

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‘An awesome way to start the year’, was how Volker summed up his latest DHI win. First winning the event back in 2007, he said ‘In A2 Viljami was strong at the beginning and with my car a little loose in the fast corners I had to keep tight lines so as not to give him any opportunities for a pass’. With his LRP powered BD7 having the edge over the similarly powered A800 on the right side of the track, Volker said this helped him ‘break the pressure’ Kutvonen was able to apply on the left section. Thanking Yokomo and LRP, in particular his engineer Yukijiro Umino and LRP’s Ales Dobnikar, for their ongoing support the reigning ETS Champion said the win was a good boost going into Round 2 of the championship in Germany next month.

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‘I’m really happy how the new car is working but today Ronald did the better job’, was Kutvonen’s reaction to finishing 2nd overall, a result he also achieved in 2014. Struggling to match Volker’s early A1 pace, the Finn said a tyre prep change for A2 worked ‘pretty good’ and he was able to run fast laps at the start. Able to pressure Volker he said ‘he didn’t make mistakes’ so I couldn’t find a way passed. Setting the fastest lap of the race, he said towards in the final part of the race his pace dropped off due to what he suspects was his rear tyres overheating. Encouraged by the run of A-Main appearances he has been able to achieve with the new A800 and looking forward to building on those results at the next ETS, he said ‘here we were losing too much time in the slow corners so we need to work on with tight corners but overall I’m really happy things are working and its a good result to start off the 2016 season’.

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Having made the podium also last year at the DHI Cup, but second on that occassion, Hagberg said third ‘was the best I could do considering our pace’. The Swede said ‘the car was not brilliant for A3 but I managed to hold off Adrian (Berntsen)’. Enjoying a ‘good clean race’ with the Norwegian, the European Champion said ‘we didn’t have the pace to win this weekend and that is how it is sometimes’. He continued ‘I’m hoping for better at the ETS but I am more confident our car will be competitive on the Volante tyre’. Behind Hagberg, Coelho would mark his DHI Cup debut with 4th thanks to a pair of thirds in the opening A-Mains while Gizmo’s Berntsen would claim 5th for the new Danish company at their home event.

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In the Super Stock, Tim Benson would stamp his authority on the event. Taking the TQ, the Kyosho driver drove perfect in the first two Mains to give the TF7 its first international race win. With the German able to sit out A3, last year’s winner Marek Cerny held off Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky with the pair joining Benson on the podium in that order.

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View the complete touring car event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

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January 10, 2016

4WD to be decided in 3rd Main as Neumann wins A2

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Joern Neumann took a surprise win in A2 of 4WD Buggy at the DHI Cup, the 4-time reigning champion benefiting from a number of incidents involving A1 winner Bruno Coelho. Starting from the TQ, World Champion Coelho would get his landing wrong coming out of the back jump section on the first lap allowing Michal Orlowski to go to the front. The Schumacher driver would stay there for two laps but then as Coelho tried a move on the inside the pair made contact dropping both back down the order. This handed David Ronnefalk the lead but it would be brief, the HB driver making a mistake a few corners later at the table top with fourth place starter Neumann finding himself suddenly at the front. The Serpent driver would stay there despite a number of challenges, one of which came from Ronnefalk until a clearly faster Coelho tried a pass. Ronnefalk saying ‘I got taken out. I know I wasn’t fast but you don’t have to take someone out’. In the end it would be Martin Bayer who would come in second with Orlowski getting third ahead of Coelho, meaning A3 will decide the overall winner.

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Chasing a fifth 4WD DHI Cup win, Neumann said ‘my car was much better and my lap times where much closer than before’. Having changed the diffs in his SX4 the German said it now had more forward traction and was generally easier to drive. Suffering one crash over the 5-minute when he over jumped, he admitted his rivals made more mistakes than he did and he benefited from that. Going into A3 as the current leader with a 1st & a 2nd, and much happier with his car, he said ‘I hope we have clean start’.

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‘Not bad after what happened’ was how Orlowski summed up his third place referring to when Coelho made contact with him. The European Champion said his car was ‘pretty slow’ and as a result he couldn’t build up any kind of gap once he got by Coelho at the start. Planning to run new tyres in A3, the 14-year-old said he hoped this would give him better pace for the decider.

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Coelho, who clearly had the quickest car on the track again setting the fastest lap, said ‘I had a bad landing on the first lap and had to open for Orlowski’. He continued ‘I then tried to overtake him on the inside and we touched. I waited but this made it difficult to go for the win’. Commenting on his contact with Ronnefalk, the Portuguese driver said ‘I was not sure if it was my fault but I waited’. After his perfect A1 performance he will be hoping he can repeat in A3 as he tried to wrap up his DHI Cup debut with the overall win.

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View the complete 4wd Buggy results here.

View the event image gallery here.

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