Cavalieri closes in on Reedy Race title

Ryan Cavalieri moved in on winning the Reedy Race of Champions title for a second time when in the penultimate round of racing at West Coast RC Raceway he again finished one place ahead of main title rival Dustin Evans.  The World Champion now holds a 2 point lead over the 2011 Champion with just one race standing between him and victory at one of the sport’s most famous races however Cavalieri starts his final encounter from last on the grid while Evans who runs the race after the Associated star has pole. Ryan Maifield is the only other driver in with a shout of the title.

Defending champion Joern Neumann won the opening race of the 5th round ahead of Kody Numedahl and Ryan Maifield but for the German the result of Race 2 didn’t go in his favour with Cavalieri and Evans getting a 3rd & 4th bringing an end to the challenge of the first European to ever win the Reedy Race Offroad title.  In the other races there were first 4WD wins of the event for Steven Harston and Neil Cragg.  Starting from third on the grid Hartson took his Associated to a narrow victory ahead of Jared Tebo’s Kyosho while Cragg came from 8th on the grid to win comfortably from Team Durango’s Hupo Honigl who started out 9th.

Round 5 4WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(8) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 16/5:11.814
2.(5) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 16/5:14.957
3.(3) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/5:15.587
4.(9) Chad Due – Associated – 15/5:02.844
5.(1) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 15/5:03.294
6.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/5:05.281
7.(7) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 15/5:06.735
8.(6) Peter Pinisch – Associated – 15/5:07.544
9.(10)Lee Martin – Tamiya – 15/5:08.568
10.(2)Paul Bradby – Associated – 15/5:09.200

Race 2
1.(3) Steven Hartson – Associated – 16/5:13.195
2.(2) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:13.461
3.(9) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 16/5:14.832
4.(7) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:19.256
5.(10)Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 15/5:01.094
6.(4) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:02.004
7.(5) Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 15/5:09.162
8.(6) Tanner Denney – Associated – 15/5:15.318
9.(1) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 15/5:18.867

Race 3
1.(8) Neil Cragg – Associated – 16/5:13.509
2.(9) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 16/5:16.826
3.(6) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:17.623
4.(7) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:19.470
5.(4) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:19.546
6.(2) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:19.625
7.(1) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 16/5:19.890
8.(3) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:01.250
9.(4) Josh Numan – Associated – 15/5:05.958
10.(7)Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 15/5:07.130

View the overall invitational standings after 11 rounds here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.

Cavalieri goes 1-point ahead

With just two more rounds of racing to go at the Reedy Race of Champions it is Ryan Cavalieri who has moved into the lead of the standings, the 2009 Champion holding a 1-point advantage over Dustin Evans after a ‘stupid mistake’ on the final lap saw the TLR driver give away position to his Team Associated rival.  A race loaded with big names it was Joern Neumann who took the win ahead of Ryan Maifield with Cavalieri slipping through for third while Evans recovered to finish 4th.  In the other races of the fourth round of 4WD Travis Amezcua won Race 1 from Lee Martin and Jared Tebo, while young Tanner Denney took his first win of the event in Race 2 ahead of Mike Truhe.

Describing the incident packed race as ‘brutal’, Cavalieri who started 6th on the grid alongside Evans said he made a good start only to make a mistake which dropped him back down the field.  Following a ‘charge’ in the final minute of the race the World Champion said he was able to put pressure on the TLR driver.  Happy with his recovery and at getting by Evans on the final lap he said while he would have liked a better result he prefers to be going into the last two races with a 1 point advantage rather than being tied with another driver.

Evans described the race as ‘crazy’ as his TLR went up and down the running order.  Annoyed by his mistake the 2011 Champion said there was still two more races  to go and a lot can happen ‘so its far from over’.

Switching to big bore shocks and the same set-up that Atsushi Hara is running, the Japanese ace running a DEX410 this weekend, Neumann said his buggy was really good.  His second 4WD win, the German said while it would be very difficult to defend his title at this late stage of the event just two bad results for those ahead of him in the points could change everything so he will just give 100% and see what the outcome is.  In the final round of racing the European Champion will start alongside pole sitter and current title contender Evans.

Round 4 4WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(6) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:15.391
2.(5) Lee Martin – Tamiya – 16/5:15.728
3.(1) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 16/5:16.878
4.(9) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 16/5:18.003
5.(8) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:19.049
6.(2) Chad Due – Associated – 16/5:20.966
7.(10)Brian Kinwald – Associated – 15/5:04.444
8.(7) Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 2/0:42.220
9.(3) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 2/0:45.874

Race 2
1.(3) Tanner Denney – Associated – 16/5:15.005
2.(5) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:16.777
3.(2) Peter Pinisch – Associated – 15/5:00.939
4.(4) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:01.152
5.(8) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:02.680
6.(6) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 15/5:03.373
7.(1) Paul Bradby – Associated – 15/5:03.760
8.(4) Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 15/5:04.649
9.(9) Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 15/5:09.885
10.(7) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/5:11.312

Race 3
1.(4) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 16/5:07.179
2.(8) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/5:08.928
3.(6) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 16/5:14.584
4.(5) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:16.030
5.(7) Neil Cragg – Associated – 15/5:00.219
6.(9) Josh Numan – Associated – 15/5:01.453
7.(3) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 15/5:03.484
8.(10)Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 15/5:04.075
9.(2) Steven Hartson – Associated – 15/5:04.889
10.(1)Rick Hohwart – Associated – 15/5:06.027

View the overall invitational standings after 10 rounds here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.

Evans & Cavalieri continue to share lead

Dustin Evans and Ryan Cavalieri still share the lead of the points table at the Reedy Race of Champions as the pair got the final day of the event underway with a win a piece this morning at West Coast RC Raceway in California.  The other win in Round 3 of 4WD went to Ryan Maifield who yesterday had a terrible start to the 4WD section of the competition when he had 9th place finish in the first round.

The first race of the day saw Dakotah Phend on the pole with defending champion Joern Neumann alongside and Cavalieri on the fourth spot.  15-year-old Phend lead away doing a great job with his aging TLR buggy to see off Nuemann’s Durango.  The turning point of the race and event for Neumann came on lap 6 when Phend had a moment at the wash board allowing the German down his inside but on the double leading onto the main straight the new leader got the landing wrong and was collected by Phend allowing Cavalieri through to the lead which he would extend to 4-seconds over the remaining 10 laps.  Recovering to run 2nd, Neumann desperately wanted the win to keep his title defense hopes alive but pushed a little too hard and got it all wrong at the wash board allowing Phend through along with Associated’s Steven Harston.  Finishing fourth for the round the result all but assures that the 19th Reedy Race title will return to an American driver.

In the second race Dustin Evans got passed pole sitter & last year’s open class champion Chad Due on the second lap and was never headed again although he did have to see off a challenge from former World Champion Neil Cragg until the British driver rolled on the landing off the table top.  Dropping back to fourth Cragg worked his way back to second by the finish with Durango’s Travis Amezcua, who started 10th on the grid, completing the Top 3.

Race 3 saw pole starter Kody Numedahl lead for 14 laps until Ryan Maifield pounced on his Associated team-mate.  Starting from 4th on the grid Maifield’s challenge took rather longer than usual to materialize.  Closing in on Numedahl after a number of wild laps that saw his B44.2 catch the piping a number of times, Maifield was ready to make his move with three laps to go.  Running right on Numedahl’s rear a slow exit by the leader meant Maifield ran into him spinning him out.  Maifield waited but caught up in the pipe Numedahl told his star team-mate to continue.  Maifield went on to take the win by over 4 seconds from Numedahl with HB’s Atsushi Hara completing the Top 3 having comes from last on the grid.

Round 3 4WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(4) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 16/5:08.653
2.(1) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:12.923
3.(7) Steven Hartson – Associated – 16/5:14.031
4.(2) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 16/5:14.667
5.(6) Lee Martin – Tamiya – 16/5:17.690
6.(3) Peter Pinisch – Associated – 15/5:02.634
7.(8) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:02.878
8.(5) Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 15/5:06.739
9.(10)Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 15/5:11.591
10.(9)Paul Bradby – Associated – 15/5:12.387

Race 2
1.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/5:08.925
2.(3) Neil Cragg – Associated – 16/5:11.689
3.(10)Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 16/5:12.113
4.(5) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 16/5:18.441
5.(7) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:00.057
6.(8) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 15/5:05.074
7.(9) Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 15/5:09.429
8.(4) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 15/5:13.002
9.(6) Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 15/5:15.791
10.(1)Chad Due – Associated – 7/2:23.918

Race 3
1.(4) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/5:08.395
2.(1) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 16/5:12.716
3.(10)Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 16/5:18.281
4.(2) Josh Numan – Associated – 15/5:01.822
5.(3) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 15/5:06.124
6.(5) Tanner Denney – Associated – 15/5:09.773
7.(7) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:13.371
8.(9) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 15/5:16.801
9.(8) Brent Thielke – Associated – 2/0:46.410

View the overall invitational standings after 9 rounds here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.