Video – 4wd Invitational Rd1

Neumann, Phend & Maifield win opening 4WD encounter

The opening round of 4WD at the Reedy Race of Champions would see wins for Ryan Maifield, Joern Neumann and Dakotah Phend but it was Neumann’s win from the back of the grid that would be the biggest talking point.  While Maifield’s relatively straight forward win from 10th of the grid would move the TLR driver to the top of the points table, and Phend converted pole position into a convincing win over Ty Tessmann, the action all happened in the opening race.

With David Ronnefalk starting on pole position the new HB signing would lead away Ryan Cavalieri for the first lap until a bad landing off the triple on lap 2.  Next lap however new leader Cavalieri, who started 3rd, would make a mistake at the lumps leading onto the straight handing the lead back to Ronnefalk.  All the time 2012 Champion Neumann was working his way to the front.  Closing in on the two leaders, the German got his Durango past Cavalieri after the defending champion made an error in the bowl, Neumann surviving head on contact with the Associated. Closing in on Ronnefalk, Neumann would make a move on the inside at the Esses but touching wheels the Swede would roll over.  Waiting for for his fellow European to resume position as Neumann opened the door he blocked Cavalieri and the three exited the Associated Esses in the order they entered it.  A second incident would again see Neumann and Ronnefalk again come together as the race entered the final minute.  Entering the top right corner Neumann would make contact with Ronnefalk with the D413 ending up in the piping with Neumann driving over him to take the lead, Cavalieri also able to slip through leaving Ronnefalk to finish 3rd.

‘My hardest race of 4WD starting from the back and I won so I am very happy’.  Having ‘hoped for a Top 3 finish’, the European Champion said once I saw I was faster than the leaders I tried to overtake them’.  Of the first incident he said ‘David went wide and went for the pass but hit him. I waited on him and then Cavalieri hit me, what was I supposed to do’.  His view of the second incident was that Ronnefalk was already out of shape and hit the pipe before he hit him so he didn’t need to wait.

Ronnefalk who after a tough run in 2WD, this being his first Reedy Race appearance, said ‘it was a going good as I had the lead but then Joern hit me’.  Getting the lead again he said ‘then he ran into the back of me and I end up third which sucks when you know you could have won was it not for an incident outside your control’.  Adding that ‘everyone has their own version of what happened but looking forward my car is really good and I feel really confident with it’.

Cavalieri said he made a great start and then threw it away with a crash.  Calling Neumann’s block of his car after his move on Ronnefalk a ‘bogus move’, he said the second move was a ‘bummer for Ronnefalk’.  ‘Obviously I would have liked the win but happy to get away with a second for the first round (of 4WD)’.

Commenting on his win over Drew Moller and Dustin Evans, Maifield said his ‘start was a little shakey’ but then he ‘got moving’.  With 4WD getting a practice run after the completion of 2WD, he said with his TLR22-4 needed a little more steering he made a change to the set-up but when the first race came around the track had more traction and so for the Round 2 he will go back to his previous set-up.  In the same race having started second on the grid and holding the lead after a mistake from pole sitter Chad Due, Steven Hartson race would go downhill with the World Champion ended up a distant 4th.  In Phend’s race the main battle was for second between back row start Ty Tessmann and Carson Wernimont who started 3rd with Tessmann getting second.

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Video – 2wd Invitational Rd6

Tebo, Maifield & Hartson tied at Reedy Race after 2WD

After six rounds of head to head 2WD racing the stage is set for an exciting second half of the Reedy Race of Champions as the switch is made to 4WD with Jared Tebo, Ryan Maifield and Steven Hartson tied for the points lead.  The final round of 2WD racing would produce one of the more heavily loaded title contender encounters in which Tebo would get the better of defending champion Ryan Cavalieri. That win would see the Kyosho driver, when the race time tie break is taken into account, top the final points table for the 2WD part of the event with Maifield, who drops his Round 6 4th place finish, second and Hartson third having ended off with a 2nd that allowed him to discard an earlier 9th place finish.

Starting third on the grid behind Cavalieri and 10-year-old pole sitter Daniel Kobbevik from Norway, who did an impressive job of holding the two World Champions at bay for the opening lap, Tebo said ‘that was a good race for me’.  Running second to great rival Cavalieri, the reigning 2WD World Champion would go to the front on lap 6 when the Associated driver’s B5M kissed the piping through he Associated esses causing him to run wide allowing Tebo to slip through.  This set the stage for an exciting dual for a crucial win which on lap 9 Tebo looked to give away.  At the triple his RB6 landed on the piping putting the car on its roof but such was Cavalieri’s focus on the leader he too took the exact same line which result in a carbon copy mistake. As both cars got marshalled it was Tebo who came out still in the lead.  Cavalieri would make a move a few laps later at the end of the straight but getting on the dust he would run wide causing him to have to turn his attentions to a hard charging Barry Baker, the Round 5 winner setting the fastest lap of the race.  Behind them, the order not changing for the rest of the race, from 10th in the grid Maifield would get up to fourth but the result didn’t improve his final points tally for 2WD.  While ‘Really happy to be sitting tied at the top at the end of 2WD’, Tebo added ‘there is a lot of 4WD racing to go’.  Believing he has as good 4WD car as he did in 2WD, he said he ‘can only control my own car and not anyone elses so the aim is to just try not to crash myself’.

Cavalieri, who sits fourth, 2 points off the leaders, said he found the ‘track had so much grip’ in the last round making his car edgy to drive.  Describing his contact with the piping that allowed Tebo to the front as a ‘slight error’ he said while he tried to go for the win, in the end he knew he needed to get second and he settled for that over the final laps.  Feeling the result put him back in the hunt, the three time winner able to drop a 7th but still having to count a fifth, he said the key to the rest of the event is going to be ‘about being patient’ but he thinks he can turn around his points deficit in 4WD with him starting out with a good draw of starting positions.

Starting his Round 6 encounter from 5th on the grid, Hartson said he lost too much time ‘trying to get by some jammers’ and there was nothing he could do about the gap built up by race winner Tanner Denney who had started on pole.  The 4WD World Champion said 2nd was still good as it allowed him to drop a bad Round 4 result.  Running at his home track he said he is sitting good for the second half of the event as 4WD is his better class but added the most important thing was going to be patient coming through from his back of the grid starting positions.

In the other race, Ty Tessmann claimed his first win of the event so far after a late mistake by pole starter and double race winner Kody Numedahl.  The Associated driver, who sits fifth in the standings just 1-point behind Cavalieri, said his tyres were done and once he got on the dust after the step down he couldn’t get on the power, his B5M stepping out and glancing off the pipe with Tessmann able to capitalise and go to the front.  Wishing the event could continue running 2WD, the Associated designer said he could not have expected any more in terms of his overall position so far but admitted he did ‘kind of give a way one place’ in the last one.  Asked about the switch to 4WD he said ‘4WD is going to kill tyres’ which could become a big factor to the final outcome of the event.

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Video – 2wd Invitational Rd5

New in the Pits – JConcepts

JConcepts have come to the Reedy race loaded with new products. First up is a new Silencer body for the B44.3, based off of the company’s Yokomo body shell, it has been made for the reconfigured Associated 4wd. With the car running gear diffs throughout as well as the shorty pack the racers wanted a new different handling shell, and this new Finnisher was the result. Only completed just before the event, it is currently only being run by a select few factory racers.

Also for the B44.3 is a new carbon set which includes the top deck, servo deck and battery hold down. With the Silencer body the antenna mount on the stock position is in the body’s windshield so they moved the antenna mount to the top of the servo mount. From there they removed the antenna mount from the top deck and added slots to the plates for more flex. For the B5 there are new rear CVA bones made from spring steel to replace the standard steel versions which we are told rust up in the humid Florida weather. There is also a new rear ballstud mount from aluminium with an extra middle mounting hole in blue or black, new lightweight rear wing mounts with aluminium shims and aluminium steering plate and bellcranks.

Also from JConcepts are a new line of setup tools in blue anodised aluminium for checking the car’s camber setting and a second tool for measuring the car’s ride height. Solid, nicely finished tools, they come supplied in a padded case. There is also a new Finnisher car stand, which is a gift for all racers here at the Reedy Race which features an all new shape and design and come supplied with foam pads to keep your car secure.

Finally a new brand from JConcepts, Dirt Racing Products is from team driver Brian Kinwald, and starting off will include both Dirt Refresher and Dirt Cleaner to clean the surface of your tires & makes them tacky and clean the beads of the tires respectively. There is also a large head ‘toothbrush’ for applying sauce to your tires.

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