Maifield closes on first Reedy Race title

Ryan Maifield is closing in on his first Reedy Race of Champions title as Round 5 saw defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri fail to take any points away from his rival.  Having topped the standings at the end of the six rounds of 2WD, Maifield came into 4WD with a 2-point advantage over his Associated team-mate Cavalieri but a broken drive shaft in the warm-up meant Maifield lost all his advantage in Round 1 of 4WD.  Since then however Maifield has managed twice to finish one position ahead of the two time Reedy Race winner which counting Round 1 as his dropped score means the Arizona driver has pulled a further two points advantage going into the last round.   Going into the final round of finals at the 20th running of one of the Worlds most famous races means the scenario is that 5th or higher, irrespective of how Cavalieri does, would give one of the sport’s most spectacular drivers the coveted title.

In terms of the Round 5 racing, in Heat 1 World Champion Steven Hartson took a tone to tone victory becoming the only driver to run 17 laps of the OCRC Raceway.  Although Cavalieri set the fastest lap of the race he couldn’t get close enough to challenge his team-mate and had to settle for second after getting by Brian Strange late in the race.

In Heat 2 former Champion Joern Neumann, who had a fraught morning, took advantage of starting from pole to take a very narrow victory ahead of Maifield, the separation at the end of 5-minutes just .072 of a second.

The third heat saw young guns Tanner Denney and Dakotah Phend battle it out.  Denney’s Associated lead from the pole with Phend on his tail but running wide on lap 10 it allowed the TLR driver to slip through for a lead he would not relinquish.

Round 5 4WD Buggy
Heat 1 Result
1.(1) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 17/5:18.510
2.(5) Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 16/5:02.517
3.(2) Brian Strange – Team Associated – 16/5:05.194
4.(6) Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 16/5:05.726
5.(8) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:08.934
6.(10)Kody Numedahl – Team Associated – 16/5:11.328
7.(3) Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho – 16/5:11.789
8.(9) Joseph Quagraine – JQ Products – 15/5:01.664
9.(7) Barry Baker – Team Reedy – 15/5:07.807
10.(4)Cody Turner – Kyosho – 14/4:33.637

Heat 2 Result
1.(1) Jörn Neumann – Team Durango – 16/5:01.644
2.(4) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 16/5:01.716
3.(5) Ty Tessmann – Hot Bodies – 16/5:02.819
4.(4) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 16/5:03.825
5.(6) Lee Martin – Team Yokomo – 16/5:07.705
6.(2) Oliver Scholz – Team C – 16/5:12.318
7.(10)Brian Kinwald – Team Associated – 16/5:18.686
8.(2) Mike Truhe – Serpent – 16/5:19.040
9.(9) Rob Gillespie – Team Associated – 16/5:21.749
10.(1)Billy Fischer – Team Novak – 12/4:11.544

Heat 3 Result
1.(2) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:00.127
2.(1) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 16/5:03.096
3.(7) Tyler Vik – Xray – 16/5:08.873
4.(4) Rick Hohwart – Team Associated – 16/5:09.289
5.(5) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:10.272
6.(3) Neil Cragg – Team Associated – 16/5:10.612
7.(6) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:10.829
8.(8) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 16/5:13.536
9.(9) Cody King – Kyosho – 16/5:18.115
10.(10)Josh Pain – Team Yokomo – 16/5:19.773

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

View our event image gallery here.

4WD Round 4 Update

The fourth round of 4WD at the Reedy Race of Champion saw wins for Lee Martin, Ty Tessmann and Ryan Lutz who benefited from a last lap clash between Tyler Vik and Dakotah Phend.  In the first of the races Team Yokomo’s Martin took advantage of his front row starting position to win with the new fastest race time but the main focus of attention was on the battle behind the British ace.  Starting from 7th on the grid defending champion Ryan Cavalieri would battle with the No.4 starting Associated of Ryan Maifield.  Posting the fastest lap of the race Cavalieri tried everything to get passed but Maifield would hold on to take a valuable point away team-mate & arch rival.

Heat 2 saw yet another strong showing from last year’s Open Class Champion Carson Wernimont. The new Schumacher signing went to the front on lap 3 and looked on target for his first invitational class heat win.  Despite having US National Champion Tessmann on his tail, the 17-year-old held his own but with three laps to go ran wide on the step down allowing the No.5 starting HB to slip through for the lead.  Wernimont would get second .712 behind the Canadian with 1992 Reedy Race Champion Rick Hohwart, who started from pole, third.

In the third of the heats, Xray’s Vik also looked on target to claim his first heat of the weekend but a hard charging Phend went for a pass at his favourite over taking spot on the step up before the double. Having pulled off some impressive passes at this spot previously unfortunately this time he made contact with Vik.  With both cars unsettled the XB4 came off worst on the landing while at the following OCRC Option Phend’s 22-4 would roll allowing Lutz through for his second 4WD heat win. Vik was clearly upset about the incident which left him crossing the line third.

Round 4 4WD Buggy
Heat 1 Result
1.(2) Lee Martin – Team Yokomo – 16/5:00.530
2.(4) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 16/5:03.685
3.(7) Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 16/5:03.845
4.(1) Billy Fischer – Team Novak – 16/5:09.398
5.(3) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 16/5:09.610
6.(9) Rob Gillespie – Team Associated – 16/5:10.346
7.(8) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:12.619
8.(5) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 16/5:13.090
9.(6) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 15/5:10.915
10.(10)Brian Kinwald – Team Associated – 4/0:46.511

Heat 2 Result
1.(5) Ty Tessmann – Hot Bodies – 16/5:02.714
2.(3) Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 16/5:03.426
3.(1) Rick Hohwart – Team Associated – 16/5:09.365
4.(6) Kody Numedahl – Team Associated – 16/5:11.586
5.(8) Neil Cragg – Team Associated – 16/5:12.512
6.(9) Jörn Neumann – Team Durango – 16/5:14.420
7.(2) Mike Truhe – Serpent – 16/5:16.711
8.(10) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 16/5:17.213
9.(7) Cody Turner – Kyosho – 15/5:01.233
10.(4)Josh Pain – Team Yokomo – 14/4:42.724

Heat 3 Result
1.(4) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 16/5:04.372
2.(3) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:04.550
3.(1) Tyler Vik – Xray – 16/5:05.502
4.(10)Cody King – Kyosho – 16/5:12.371
5.(8) Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho – 16/5:12.490
6.(7) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:12.836
7.(5) Joseph Quagraine – JQ Products – 16/5:14.277
8.(2) Oliver Scholz – Team C – 15/5:00.150
9.(6) Brian Strange – Team Associated – 15/5:01.517
10.(9)Barry Baker – Team Reedy – 15/5:06.431

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

View our event image gallery here.

Evans & Neumann out of Reedy Race hunt

It was a bad start to the final day of the Reedy Race of Champions for former winners Dustin Evans and Joern Neumann as disappointing heats put them out of contention to retake the title at the World famous event. In contrast it was a good morning at OCRC Raceway for Team Durango’s Travis Amezcua who became the first driver to take a second win in 4wd as he backed up a win in Round 2 yesterday with another straight forward win.  The other winners of Round 3 were Jared Tebo, who also had an easy win in Heat 1 while Marc Rheinard held off a late challenge from Dustin Evans that would go badly wrong for the 2011 champion.  Title favourites Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri netted themselves a third place finish each, Maifield getting lucky thanks to Evans incident.

In the first of the day’s races, Tebo took his Kyosho to the front on the opening lap as Round 1 Heat winner Ryan Lutz who started from the pole rolled his Durango after catching the curbing after the step down.  Once in front, and despite landing short at the Double Double half way through the 5-minute encounter, the 2WD World Champion would never be challenged, crossing the line 5.5 seconds clear of Associated’s Kody Numedahl who saw off pressure from Cody King and Dakotah Phend.

Heat 2 saw a similar start to Heat 1, as the pole sitter, this time Xray’s Tyler Vik, again rolled at the first corner allowing the No. 2 car of Rheinard to the front.  Out front Rheinard had Evans on his tail with Vik third and for a time Maifield fourth until the Associated driver rolled allowing Steven Hartson and Ty Tessmann through.  Further mounting pressure on the 3-time Touring Car World Champion, Evans would make contact with the Tamiya as they approached the double for the last time.  Making the run up the jump side by side the pair would glance off one another in mid air resulting in a bad landing for the TLR22 causing it to end up in the infield of the last corner.  Stuck in the corner this allowed Ty Tessmann, Maifield and Vik through but having been deemed by the race referee to have cut the track when he rejoined a clearly frustrated Evans was docked a further position promoting Hartson to 5th.   Also competing in the heat it was a terrible race for European Champion Neumann who starting from 6th eventually finished last, his Durango needing to be marshalled many times.

In the closing heat of the round, Team Associated’s Neil Cragg headed the field for two laps before rolling over at the option.  This allowed Amezcua to go to the front were he would control the race to win by 2.1 seconds.  Cragg had to see off a hard charging Cavalieri, the defending champion having started from 10th on the grid and getting to within 3/10ths by the finish.

Round 3 4WD Buggy
Heat 1 Result
1.(2) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:01.379
2.(3) Kody Numedahl – Team Associated – 16/5:06.906
3.(5) Cody King – Kyosho – 16/5:07.507
4.(7) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:10.350
5.(6) Lee Martin – Team Yokomo – 16/5:11.629
6.(6) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 16/5:14.404
7.(10)Rick Hohwart – Team Associated – 16/5:15.629
8.(8) Billy Fischer – Team Novak – 16/5:17.416
9.(9) Cody Turner – Kyosho – 15/5:01.303
10.(4)Oliver Scholz – Team C – 15/5:08.171

Heat 2 Result
1.(2) Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 16/5:07.801
2.(9) Ty Tessmann – Hot Bodies – 16/5:08.014
3.(7) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 16/5:08.647
4.(1) Tyler Vik – Xray – 16/5:08.883
5.(8) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 16/5:09.670
6.(3) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:11.901
7.(10)Joseph Quagraine – JQ Products – 16/5:16.142
8.(4) Brian Strange – Team Associated – 16/5:16.313
9.(5) Josh Pain – Team Yokomo – 16/5:17.929
10.(6)Jörn Neumann – Team Durango – 15/5:03.649

Heat 3 Result
1.(4) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:05.060
2.(1) Neil Cragg – Team Associated – 16/5:07.227
3.(10)Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 16/5:07.519
4.(7) Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 16/5:10.222
5.(6) Mike Truhe – Serpent – 16/5:14.092
6.(8) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 16/5:15.857
7.(3) Rob Gillespie – Team Associated – 16/5:16.865
8.(2) Christoffer Svensson – Kyosho – 16/5:22.212
9.(5) Brian Kinwald – Team Associated – 15/5:02.357
10.(9)Barry Baker – Team Reedy – 15/5:08.603

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

View our event image gallery here.

‘From Race Control’ – Day 4 at Reedy Race

The day to crown the winner of the 20th running of the Reedy Race of Champions has arrived with four rounds of  heads up 4WD racing on the the schedule at OCRC Raceway. With yesterday’s opening two rounds of 4WD providing plenty of action and with the title still wide open it should be an exciting climax to the world famous race.