Advantage Maifield going into Reedy Race decider

Just as he did last year, only to lose out on the coveted title to arch rival Ryan Cavalieri, Ryan Maifield heads into the final round of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions holding the advantage, albeit just by a single point.  The penultimate round witnessed the first race where title contenders Maifield and Tebo went up against one another in 4WD with the former coming out on top.  While the win would go to HB’s Drew Moller, Maifield, having started two rows ahead of Tebo, would come out with a second with Tebo third 4.3-seconds back.  With defending Champion Cavalieri finishing his encounter of the round 2nd behind Travis Amezcua, it means the 21st running of the event will crown an all new champion with that to be decided between Maifield and Tebo.

The race between the potential champions saw Moller, who started on the front row behind pole sitter Atsushi Hara, take an early lead he would finally see through to the finish.  While the D413 headed the field all the attention was on the progress of Maifield’s TLR, which started 4th, and Tebo’s Kyosho which was coming through from 8th on the grid. Chasing David Ronnefalk for 3rd over the opening laps, that battle became 2nd when Hara had a moment and then on lap-5 he found a way passed the Swede.   Such was the gap to, and the pace of, Moller he couldn’t make any further progress and with Tebo having worked his way to third with three laps to go he would turn his attention to maintaining the beneficial position rather than take any unnecessary risks chasing a win.  The result means that for Tebo to have any chance of the title he needs to finish his 12th & final race, in which he will goes up against Cavalieri, in the Top 2 as anything lower irrespective of Maifield’s last race result would not be good enough.

In the other two races, 10-year-old Daniel Kobbevik came close to pulling off the race of his young promising career. After a mistake from early leader Billy Easton, the Associated driver was leading the race and went into the final lap with World Champion Steven Hartson, 1:8 World Champion Ty Tessmann and former Reedy Open Class Champion Carson Wernimont behind him. The Norwegian who had the full support of an enthusiastic crowd behind him unfortunately caught the piping coming up to the triple scrambling the race order. It was Tessmann who came out best to win from 13-year-old Polish Team Schumacher driver Michal Orlowski and Associated’s Spencer Rivkin with Kobbevik recovering for fifth ahead of Hartson. The final race of Round 11 went to Amezcua after he went to the front on lap 4 with Cavalieri second, ahead of former champions Dustin Evans and Joern Neumann.

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Video – 4wd Invitational Rd4

Reedy title hots up as Tebo & Maifield win again

With just two of the 12 rounds of heads up racing remaining, the battle for the 21st running of the Reedy Race of Champions at OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach is hotting up into a duel between Jared Tebo and Ryan Maifield.  Round 4 of 4WD would see both drivers bring their tally’s to 3 wins which when dropped scores are taken into account puts the pair equal at the top of the points although now it is Maifield who holds the tie-break advantage due to him having the fastest combined 2WD & 4WD race times.  For defending champion Ryan Cavalieri the round saw him lose further ground, while impressive from 9th on the grid, he could only finish 2nd with his hopes of a hat trick of consecutive Reedy titles starting to fade. Interestingly the penultimate round will be the first time in 4WD that Maifield and Tebo start in the same race, with the grid draw putting the TLR driver 4th and the Kyosho 8th.

Starting Race 1 from pole, Maifield converted that into a easy win over the Durango of Travis Amezcua the gap at the end of the 5-minutes being 2.7 seconds.  The entertainment for the large crowd of onlookers would be provided by Ty Tessmann and Carson Wernimont, the HB and Associated drivers switching back and fort as they fought over third place.  With the outcome decided on the last lap it was Tessmann’s D413 which completed the Top 3.

In Race 2, pole sitter Joona Haatanen crossed the loop for the first time in the lead from Tebo and Steven Hartson but next time round it was the two World Champion who took up the lead battle. Despite a closing Hartson, Tebo stayed in control taking the win by 0.355 seconds. Former champion Dustin Evans would get a third, his TLR22-4 having started from the 6th spot.  Another former champion in the race was Joern Neumann but it was a tough encounter for the German as he finished 5th effectively ending his slight outside chance of a second title.

The round was completed by a win for TLR’s Dakotah Phend.  The 17-year-old, starting from 6th, went to the front on lap 3 and cruised to a convincing 6.4 second lead from Cavalieri who having come from 9th on the grid was unable to do anything about the 2WD US National Champion’s lead once he got by Cody King and Billy Easton.  King, who had started on pole, would take his Kyosho to 3rd for his best result of 4WD.

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Video – 4wd Invitational Rd3

Tebo opens final day at Reedy Race with important win

Jared Tebo opened the final day at the Reedy Race of Champions with an important win that when dropped scores are taken into account puts the Kyosho driver in the lead from overnight leader Ryan Maifield on the tie breaker. Both chasing their first title at the 21st running of the event, they each started their respective third round of 4WD action from 7th on the grid with Maifield up first and getting a third while in the next encounter Tebo despite giving away his lead in the race with a mistake got lucky in the final lap to claim his second win of 4WD.  In the third race defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri, starting from the front row of the grid, would cruise to an easy victory to register his first 4WD win.  Moving the Associated driver up to third in the standings back ahead of Joern Neumann, with dropped scores the Californian sits 3-points adrift. Former champion Neumann is a further 2-back, both drivers needing both good results and bad rounds for Maifield and Tebo to get back in the hunt for adding another Reedy Race title to their CVs.

Race 1 had an all HB front row with David Ronnefalk on pole with Ty Tessmann along side.  Tessmann took the lead on the opening lap and pulled clear while Ronnefalk came under pressure from Maifield with Neumann also joining the fight.  Coming out of the Associated Esses, the Swede would get his D413 out of shape at the double delaying Maifield and allowing the Durango of Neumann to pass them both with 4-laps to go.  Behind the German the battle was now for third and on the last lap a mistake on the landing off the triple from Ronnefalk would allow Maifield through to complete the Top 3.

The second encounter, which was delayed when Karri Salmela broke during a false start caused by Dustin Evans, it was front row starter Atsushi Hara who lead for the opening 6-laps.  With Tebo on his rear wing, the S-Workz driver would get the landing at the triple wrong with Tebo not needing an extra invitation to move to the front.  Looking in control of things but with a hard charging Drew Moller having also got passed Hara, a mistake from the 2WD World Champion at the right hand double on lap 10 would let the HB driver go to the front.  The 18-year-old looked as if he had enough to see off the Zx6 but again the triple would change the order as Moller rolled and Tebo went by for the win.

Race 3 was to be only a formality of Cavalieri as he started from the front row. Cruising to a 5.4 second win the only drama for the multiple World Champion was when he collected the upside down car of Hupo Honigl on his last lap after the triple but no damage was done. Behind, Dakotah Phend who started third took second ahead of Kody Numedahl.

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New in the Pits – Serpent

Serpent are debuting a pre release version of their all new SRX-4 1/10th 4wd buggy here at the Reedy Race. Being run by the car’s designer Billy Easton it features a 2-belt configuration with a long centre belt and short side belt, which helps keep the centre of gravity low and the weight centralised. Positioning of the motor was a priority when designing the car, keeping it centralised and to the rear to help with rear traction which in turn allows you to run a more aggressive steering setup.

Utilising a saddle pack configuration, it still manages to be a very narrow and neat setup, similar in appearance to a 2wd buggy, something the car’s designer was aiming for. Sporting a carbon fibre chassis plate, and shock towers, the steering uses a double bellcrank system which is actuated by the lay down servo and sports fully adjust ackermann on both the steering system and the steering arms.

Adjustable diff heights front and rear allow you to take away or create grip, while belt replacement is a breeze both for the short side belt and the main front belt, with the front belt needing 6 screws to remove the cover, the same process needed to change the front differential. Expect the car to be released in mid March.

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