Video – 2wd Invitational Rd2

Hartson doubles up in Round 2

Steven Hartson made it two out of two at the Reedy Race of Champions however the second win for the Associated driver came after a much more fraught & chaotic second encounter.  Also running in the same race defending champion Ryan Cavalieri would fall fowl of the chaos ending the race 7th having at one stage looked like a contender for a second win of the day.  In the other two races Jared Tebo, who got a third in Round 1, and Dustin Evans, who having started his opening race on pole ended up only 5th, would register their first wins.

‘Crashed a couple of times but it ended out a good result’ was how Hartson summed up what was by far the most action packed encounter of the 21st running of the Reedy Race.  Again starting from the front row, Cody King on pole, Hartson went to the front when King’s Kyosho made contact with the piping on lap two but mistakes on the next two laps would see him drop to 5th. The second mistake at the Associated Esses would drastically change the race spinning out and facing the pack Hartson’s B5M would send Cavalieri’s example into a roll with Ty Tessmann also making contact with Hartson’s car with the HB ending up on its roof.  Hartson said having dropped to the middle of the pack after the incident ‘it was pretty easy to give up but I kept it going and in the end got the win’.  The win would come late however after a last lap error from King would allow Hartson, who had to wait on the Kyosho driver 4 laps earlier after they tangled, to go to front.  For King the same corner at which he tangled with Hartson would again strike as Chad Due also tangled with him allowing Tessmann through to take second with King crossing the line 3rd.

Evans’ win would come courtesy of mistakes from the two drivers who converted back row starts in Round 1 into significant 2nd place finishes.  Starting from pole position Spencer Rivkin would lead the field for four laps. Intially leading from Evans, the former champion would open up for TLR team-mate Maifield who would go to the front after a mistake from the 16-year-old that dropped him to third.  6 laps later it was the turn of Maifield to make a mistake as he entered the section leading on to the main straight dropping him to third behind his young protege, the order remaining unchanged for the remaining 4 laps with Evans winning by a 2.1 second margin.  Evans said with Maifield pushing hard at the start he let him passed as he let him go at Rivkin.  Less nervous than in Round 1, he said just drove his own race and ended up benefiting from the leaders mistakes describing the race as ‘a good confidence maker’.

In the opening race of the round, starting from pole position, Tebo led away the field and looked in control building up over 2-seconds of a lead over Neumann up until half way into the race.  Clipping the piping in the Associated Esses, the 2WD World Champion would put his RB6 on its roof allowing Neumann to the front.  However Tebo wasn’t letting the 2012 Champion have the win that easy and fought back hard.  4-laps later, at the triple Tebo would land in the rear wing of Neumann’s Yokomo putting the German out of shape leading him to hit the piping and roll.  While Tebo initially waited on Neumann, with Carson Wernimont coming he resumed racing to take the win from Neumann by 2.8 seconds with Wernimont third. Afterwards Neumann said while the win would have been nicer he couldn’t be unhappy with a 1st and a 2nd from the opening two rounds.

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Video – 2wd Invitational Rd1

Champion Cavalieri opens Reedy Race with win

Defending back to back champion Ryan Cavalieri got his quest for a fourth Reedy Race of Champions title off to the perfect start as he opened the 21st running of the event this morning at OCRC Raceway with a win in the first round of heads up racing.  The first of 12 rounds of racing also saw wins for former Champion Joern Neumann and 4WD World Champion Steven Hartson. One significant result for Round 1 was that of Ryan Maifield, the TLR driver & 2014 runner-up, having been drawn to start 9th, managed to work his way through the field to finish 2nd behind Neumann.

Starting his race from 4th, the first of the event, behind a number of key contenders, namely former Champion Dustin Evans and Jared Tebo, Cavalieri said the start was a little confusing and for much of the first lap he expected a restart to be called.  Just as the computer announced 1-minute to the start the start tone went with a number of drivers including Cavalieri not making the best of starts.  Once he ‘settled in’ Cavalieri said he was fortunate enough to benefit from a few people hitting the piping adding this meant he never had to ‘force the issue, which was nice’.  Cavalieri utlimately went to the front when Evans made a mistake on lap 6 of 14 taking the win from Durango’s Travis Amezcua, Tebo & Tessmann with Evans falling to 5th.  Other than one scary moment when Cody King got it wrong at the triple sending his Kyosho across the path of his B5M he summed up the race as ‘a conservative run but got what I wanted’.

Winning the second race of the round Neumann said switching from an 8.5 to a 7.5 Orion motor in his Yokomo had made the YZ-2 much better than in practice.  The German, who became the first European driver to win the Reedy Race in 2012, said he knew Maifield would push but he just drove a ‘smooth and controlled race’.  Having opened up an early gap he said even though Maifield did close him down, the final gap being 1.2 seconds, he never really had any cause for concern from the American.

‘Not bad to get up to the Top 3 starting from the back’ was how Maifield summed up his opening race.  Having built up a gap over 3rd placed Carson Wernimont he said for the last couple of laps he decided to go for it but after a mistake at the triple on his penultimate lap he said he settled for the second.  Describing his TLR22 as predictable he said it could do with a little more steering but ultimate performance is not what this race is about.

Hartson took the most convincing win of the first round, leading home an impressive drive from Spencer Rivkin by 7.9 seconds.  With OCRC his home track, the Associated driver said the win was ‘a lot easier starting from the front row’ but it was important to capitalise on his draws to start up front.

Starting from 10th on the grid, Rivkin said he ran ‘really patient at the start’ and as those ahead of him crashed he just picked his way through and ‘kept it going’.  The winner of the Open class in 4WD last year, which booked him his place in this year’s 30 driver Invitational class, Team Associated’s 16-year-old future prospect said it was a really positive start to the event considering his starting position and he hopes to carry that through the remainder of the day.

Having started his race from the pole position, 2011 Champion Evans said nerves got the better of him adding his mistake at the chicane was at one of the easiest parts of the track.  Happy with the pace of his TLR22 he said he just didn’t drive it well.

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Chassis Focus – Ryan Maifield

Chassis – TLR 22 2.0
Motor – Orion VST2 7.5
ESC – Orion R10.1 Pro
Battery – Orion 4500mAh Shorty
Tyres – JConcepts Gold Dirt Webs
Radio/Servos – Airtronics/Spektrum
Body – JConcepts Silencer
Remarks – TLR team driver Ryan Maifield is running the TLR22 2.0 with the same setup as Surf City but has gone down 2.5 weight on the front shocks to get the car to turn more on the OCRC Raceway track. Choosing to run the JConcepts Silencer bodyshell he says it gives good low speed steering compared to other options available to him.

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Maifield & Moller top practice at Reedy Race

Ryan Maifield and Drew Moller topped practice for the 21st running of the Reedy Race of Champions at OCRC Raceway today in California.  Last year’s runner-up, Maifield took his TLR22 to the fastest lap time in the third and final round of 2WD practice ahead of team-mate & last year’s 2WD Open class winner JP Richards.  In 4WD it was new HB signing Moller who set the pace from defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri and Maifield, the Ryans best lap time separated by 0.001 of a second.

Maifield declared himself happy with how he ended out practice.  Managing to find more steering, something he said everyone was struggling with today, he described his 2WD as having a good combination of speed and consistency.  Having had some issues with the triple, Maifield said moving to a different position on the drivers stand helped him get that figured out.  In 4WD he said he left his TLR22-4 unchanged other than a new set of tyres and like his 2WD he said it felt both fast and comfortable to drive.

Describing his D413 as ‘awesome’, Moller felt he got used to the track in the final practice.  Having missed the opening practices due to a school exam this morning but allowed to run with the open class so as to not be at a disadvantage in terms of breaking in tyres, the 18-year-old said he is very happy with both his cars. Running a Kyosho in 2WD, Moller would post the 6th fastest lap time in the final practice despite popping a dog bone after running too much droop.

Running for the first time in the invitation class, having booked his place in the 30-driver line-up with his win in 2WD Open last year, Richards was very happy with his day, in particular his 2WD pace.  With the real action set to get underway tomorrow with four rounds of heads up 2WD racing, he said his TLR22 is super easy to drive as well as being consistent.  In 4WD he said ‘some drastic’ set-up changes for the final practice had improved his TLR22-4 considerably.

Chasing a third consecutive Reedy Race title this weekend, having become its most winning driver when he took his third win last year, Cavalieri said it was just a case of driving his cars from here on in.  Happy with his 2WD, he said on his B44.3 a change to the rear pistons was ‘not as a good’ and he will revert to the set-up he ran in the opening two practices.  Also running a new set of tyres in his final practice, he said they came in good towards the end which was good should he need a second set later in the event.

Having set the pace in early 2WD practice, another of this year’s invitation class debutants Spencer Rivkin said a change to his B5M left him a loose car in the final practice.  Changing the car’s gearing so as to move the motor more forward the 16-year factory Associated driver will revert back to the set-up he started out with.  Having left his 4WD unchanged over the day, the said both cars are good for racing with them comfortable to drive but still having a lot of speed.

Having endured a tough Reedy Race last year when the race moved to his home track, Steven Hartson will be hoping for a better run at OCRC this time round. Claiming the fastest time over three consecutive laps in 2WD buggy today, the 4WD World Champion said now that his tyres are broken in everything is good and ready to go racing. In 4WD he said the car is good but he has ‘just got to stop breaking it’ and ‘calm down’ so as to be more consistent.

Completing the podium last year, Ty Tessmann was happy with both his cars.  Using the last 2WD practice to run in new tyres, the Canadian said while he expects to run just the same set of tyres for the event it was good to have a second set broken in should they be needed. In 4WD he said the anti squat and kick-up changes worked well and he is happy to leave it unchanged for the racing.  With drivers getting to practice a start in the final round of practice, the 1:8 World Champion said it is hard to pass and you have to force way through so he said the front row starts are going to be important.

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