Important win for Maifield in Round 5

Ryan Maifield secured an important win this morning at the Reedy Race of Champions to pull clear at the top of the points standings as his chief rival Ryan Cavalieri had his worst result of the event.  With the Team Associated duo lining up side by side on the front row of the grid for the most anticipated of the 2WD encounters, it was the pole position starting Maifield who got the best start to lead away.  With Cavalieri right on his rear wing, the race looked to be a rather straight forward 1-2 points haul for the American pairing however on lap 9 a mistake by Maifield spiced things up.  Turning too early for the corner after the Double Double the No.1 Reedy powered Centro B4.2 hooked the piping rolling over back out into the line of Cavalieri.  With the two cars briefly stuck together, separating after doing a number of pirouettes, this allowed the field to catch back up.  While Maifield got away first, Cavalieri had a number of cars on his tail.  Making it down the straight in second a roll over after the step down was enough to allow Dustin Evans, Brian Strange and Kody Numedahl to slip through.  Only able to find a way back passed Numedahl a clearly frustrated Cavalieri would only finish 4th.

Maifield said he also felt a bit nervous for his first run of the day adding it doesn’t help to have Cavalieri right behind you.  A combination of nerves and a dustier than normal track, he said he just turned too early for the corner resulting in his roll over.  Admitting to having a ‘little luck on his side’ he continued ‘sometimes you got to take it’.  Finishing the race second Evans said, ‘starting from sixth on the grid with those two guys up front its a great result’.  The Team Losi Racing driver said he just made the most of it but with the event ‘not even half way through yet’ he believes he is ‘right there’ in the title hunt.

In the other two heats of the fifth round of racing we got two new winners as TLR’s Dakotah Phend and Team Durango’s Travis Amezcua claimed their first victory of the event.  Starting third US 2WD National Champion Phend took the Heat 1 lead early on for an untroubled victory over HB’s Ty Tessmann and double heat winner Lee Martin. Heat 2 saw young Associated driver Tanner Denney, who started from the pole, control the race for 10 laps but donkey flipping his Centro B4.2 at the Double Double this allowed Amezcua to the front.  Tanner came back at Amezcua having pulled a great pass on Kyosho’s Jared Tebo to get back up to second but a second mistake again at the Double Double meant he had to settle for second.

Round 5 2WD Buggy
Heat 1 Result
1.(3) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:17.408
2.(4) Ty Tessmann – Hot Bodies – 15/5:01.642
3.(8) Lee Martin – Team Yokomo – 15/5:06.475
4.(2) Cody King – Kyosho – 15/5:07.244
5.(7) Neil Cragg – Team Associated – 15/5:08.228
6.(5) Tyler Vik – Xray – 15/5:08.318
7.(1) Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 15/5:12.845
8.(9) Rob Gillespie – Team Associated – 15/5:14.923
9.(6) Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho – 15/5:15.809
10.(10)Oliver Scholz – Team C – 14/5:02.406

Heat 2 Result
1.(2) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:18.597
2.(1) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 16/5:21.521
3.(3) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:00.417
4.(5) Jörn Neumann – Team Durango – 15/5:03.955
5.(4) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 15/5:04.284
6.(7) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 15/5:05.461
7.(10)Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 15/5:05.956
8.(9) Brian Kinwald – Team Associated – 15/5:11.113
9.(8) Rick Hohwart – Team Associated – 15/5:11.555
10.(6)Barry Baker – Team Reedy – 15/5:14.448

Heat 3 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 16/5:17.807
2.(6) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:18.325
3.(3) Brian Strange – Team Associated – 15/5:03.523
4.(2) Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 15/5:05.343
5.(5) Kody Numedahl – Team Associated – 15/5:05.924
6.(8) Cody Turner – Kyosho – 15/5:06.467
7.(7) Mike Truhe – Serpent – 15/5:07.150
8.(10)Josh Pain – Team Yokomo – 15/5:11.490
9.(9)Joseph Quagraine – JQ Products – 15/5:12.421
10.(4) Billy Fischer – Team Novak – 15/5:16.082

View the complete Reedy Race of Champions event heat listing here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.

‘From Race Control’ – Day 3 at Reedy Race

It’s the second day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions with drivers set for four more rounds of heads up racing at OCRC Raceway.  Starting off  the day with the final two rounds of 2WD action, drivers will switch over to 4WD for the first two of the six rounds of 4WD.  One interesting race mixed into the schedule, which also includes the final round of qualifying for the Open class competitors, is the RC10 Classic Demo Race which will feature Brian Kimwald, Jason Ruona, Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield.  Red RC will be videoing the demo race.

Cavalieri & Maifield tied at Reedy Race

At the end of the first day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions it is Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield who lead the way, the Team Associated stars tied on points at the top of the points standings with 1/3 of the scheduled races that make up the 20th running of world famous event completed.  Bringing Day 2 of the event to a close, round 4 of the 6 rounds of 2WD action saw Cavalieri claim a relatively easy third victory while Maifield starting from 10th on the grid and Yokomo’s Lee Martin, who posted the fastest race time of the day, notched up their second wins.  Behind the two Ryan’s it is the only European to have ever won the Reedy Race title Joern Neumann who completes the Top 3 overnight in California.

Starting his final race of the day from pole position, Cavalieri said he just took advantage of the No.1 starting position.  Unchallenged in the 5-minute encounter,  the defending champion said with the track at it fastest and the handout JConcept tyre really starting to come good he used the clear track ahead to push for a quick time so as to have it in reserve should the event come down to a tie break situation.  Running his fastest 16-lap run of the day it would be faster than Maifield’s, who he sees as the biggest challenger to denying him a 3rd Reedy Race, but overall it was Martin who would claim the honour of running the fastest race time by just 6/100th of a second.  ‘Happy with (his) days results’,  posting 3 wins and a third, the second day of racing will start with a head to head dual with Maifield.  Drawn to start side by side on the front row of the grid in the morning’s Heat 3 of Round 5, Maifield on pole, he said having being able to respond to and see off a challenge from his team-mate in Round 2 he is confident for what is the most anticipated race of all the 2WD encounters.

Always spectacular to watch, Maifield was happy to be tied for the lead at the end of the first days racing as it means he has ‘got a good shot at it’, it being his first ever Reedy Race title.  Commenting on his Round 4 race he said it is ‘always nice when starting last to be able to get the win’.  The Worlds Podium finisher admitted he benefited from a first lap pile up but still had to race 2WD World Champion Jared Tebo for the win.  Taking over the lead of the race on lap 2 having started 4th on the grid, the Kyosho driver would head the field for 11 laps before running wide into the corner after the double double allowing Maifield to get down his inside.  Giving Tebo a ‘love tap’ which sent the RB6 rolling over landing back on its wheels, Maifield would take by far the most popular win of the day by .730 of a second from Tebo with Round 1 heat winner Marc Rheinard’s Tamiya coming home 3rd.

In the other encounter of the round, Heat 1, Martin was handed the lead on the first lap when the front row starters Joseph Quagraine and Brian Kinwald clashed.  With the World Championship runner-up headed off into the distance posting the fastest lap time of the day on the way, the attention of the race focused on the battle for fourth which involved Neil Cragg, Tanner Denney and TLR’s Dakotah Phend.  Having started ahead of the Associated duo but lost two places early in the race Phend pulled off probably the best two passes of the day his move of jumping across the nose of fellow teenager Denney’s B4.2 particularly impressive.  Finishing second, the race would be the US National Champion’s best result of the day.

Round 4 2WD Buggy
Heat 1 Result
1.(3) Lee Martin – Team Yokomo – 16/5:16.481
2.(4) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:02.996
3.(5) Neil Cragg – Team Associated – 15/5:05.714
4.(8) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 15/5:05.800
5.(10)Ty Tessmann – Hot Bodies – 15/5:06.332
6.(2) Brian Kinwald – Team Associated – 15/5:12.916
7.(1) Joseph Quagraine – JQ Products – 15/5:17.095
8.(6) Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 15/5:18.401
9.(7) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 15/5:20.483
10.(9)Brian Strange – Team Associated – 6/2:08.331

Heat 2 Result
1.(10)Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 16/5:18.501
2.(4) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:19.231
3.(7) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 15/5:05.878
4.(2) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 15/5:09.448
5.(5) Mike Truhe – Serpent – 15/5:12.000
6.(3) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 15/5:12.171
7.(6) Cody King – Kyosho – 15/5:12.187
8.(9) Josh Pain – Team Yokomo – 15/5:14.239
9.(8) Tyler Vik – Xray – 15/5:16.587
10.(1)Oliver Scholz – Team C – 14/5:00.061

Heat 3 Result
1.(1) Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 16/5:16.548
2.(4) Jörn Neumann – Team Durango – 15/5:01.847
3.(7) Kody Numedahl – Team Associated – 15/5:02.060
4.(9) Billy Fischer – Team Novak – 15/5:05.166
5.(8) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:06.522
6.(2) Cody Turner – Kyosho – 15/5:06.987
7.(10)Rob Gillespie – Team Associated – 15/5:07.787
8.(6) Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho – 15/5:15.245
9.(3) Barry Baker – Team Reedy – 12/4:15.154
10.(5)Rick Hohwart – Team Associated – 1/0:24.009

View the complete Reedy Race of Champions event heat listing here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.