It’s Maifield’s title to lose with 2 to go at Reedy Race

It’s very much Ryan Maifield’s title to lose now with just two rounds of racing remaining at OCRC Raceway in California as the Yokomo driver put a P2 on the board bettering what his main points rivals could do in the 6th round of 2WD.  Starting from 5th on the grid behind both Spencer Rivkin and Dakotah Phend, Maifield would cross the line in between the duo with Rivkin taking the win by a comfortable 2.8-second margin.  Coming from the back of the grid in the 3rd of the heats, Broc Champlin would work his way through to 3rd by the finish but Rivkin’s win and a second place for Ryan Cavalieri in Heat 1 means the Team Associated teenager drops from 2nd to 4th in the standings, equal on points with 5th placed Ty Tessmann. That heat was won by Dustin Evans once again ahead of Clement Boda.  Having not featured over the first two days of racing,  Finland’s Joona Haatanen finally registered a win at the 26th running of the event, taking Heat 1 ahead of Cavalieri and Tessmann.

Holding a 6 point lead over Rivkin with the potential to drop a 4th place from Round 2, Maifield explained, ‘I wasn’t sure how it would work out with Spencer and Dakotah starting in front of me. I got a good start and battled for a while but then Dakotah had a mistake which moved me up to second.  Spencer had built up a good lead and for a second I pushed to try catch him but it’s easy to make mistakes pushing so I settled for a 2’. Needing to put just one more solid result on the board to reclaim the title five years on from when he added it to his CV, asked about the next round Maifield replied, ‘the rear hub bearings are going so I will replace them and just go again’.

Summing up his 3rd win of the event, having managed only a single win in 4WD, Rivkin said, ‘I was a little aggressive at the start to make position and once I got passed Dakotah I drove my own race’.  The World Champion continued, ‘I saw Maifield coming behind me but kept pace with him. On the last two laps he settled for second. It was a good race and its been fun out there’.  Asked about challenging for the title, one that has eluded his so far, he replied, ‘I have a strategy. You just have to go out there and drive the best you can with what you’ve got’.

‘Three out of four in 2WD, the perfect score is still on’, was Evans reaction to his win.  The 2011 & 2018 Champion, continued, ‘when you have a frustrating 4WD you have to set new goals and I’m really feeling up for the perfect 2WD score. I haven’t looked at my starts for the last two rounds but I’m going to keep trying to win and see how it works out’.  The Team Associated driver plans a small tweak to his car for the penultimate round, explaining, ‘Spencer made a little change and it was pretty good so I am going to try it the next one. It’s a small change and I know what it does but Spencer said it gave him a little more corner speed so if I can improve on a good car I’ll have it’.

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Perfect morning for Maifield as he moves in on 2nd Reedy Race title

Ryan Maifield couldn’t have scripted a more perfect morning on the concluding day of the Reedy Offroad Race of Champions, the overnight points leader securing a win as his closest rivals lost ground, in particular Jared Tebo who could only manage a 6th.  With just three rounds of 2WD action remaining at the 26th running of the famous race, Maifield now holds a 6 point advantage over Broc Champlin.  Running in the same heat as Tebo, Champlin was in contention for the win putting pressure on eventually winner Ty Tessmann before a mistake with three laps to go that dropped him behind multiple Champion Ryan Cavalieri. Despite the missed opportunity, 3rd place would move the 17-year-old ahead of Tebo in the points table.  The third round of 2WD’s other winner was former 2-time champion Dustin Evans who got the win ahead of young French driver Clement Boda, who lead for the first half of the race before traction rolling at the end of the main straight.

Reacting to his win, his first in 2WD having won 4 from 6 in 4WD, Maifield said, ‘I started mid pack so I was patient at the beginning and once I got in the lead after Yusuke’s mistake I just managed the race as best I could’.  Claiming his only Reedy title 5-years ago, the Yokomo driver added, ‘we made changes to the car for the jump section and it was better.  I was more confident today.  We need to manage the tyres because they are already starting to get low’.

Tebo took full responsibility for his disappointing start to the day.  The defending Champion said, ‘It was all on me. I made a good start and good passes and was feeling good but then I cased the jump at the rhythm section and then cased it again’.  On his car, the Tekno team driver using an Associated for 2WD, he said, ‘the car felt a little loose.  The shock were a little bound up so I will next new O-rings for the next one. I won’t change the set-up’.

Summing up his race, Tessmann said, ‘my car was a little better than yesterday.  I just drove around as fast as I could without mistakes’.  Asked what he improved on the car, the Xray driver said, ‘It was more consistent but I think we can still improve on it I think.  My next race I have an 8th place start so I am going to have work in that one’.

Unfortunately out of contention for a third Reedy Race title after lacking pace in 4WD, Evans was happy to make it 2 wins from 3 starts saying, ‘My 2WD is good so I am going to try and win as many races as I can.  I had a terrible time in 4WD which put me out of contention so my goal now is to end 2WD with a perfect score’.  Asked about his 5th place in the second 2WD encounter, the Team Associated driver said, ‘I started next to Maifield on the third row of the grid. It’s so hard to push with Maifield and you have to push really hard to gain 1/10th a lap. It’s super difficult’.

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1-point in it going into final day at Reedy Race

The 26th running of the Reedy Race of Champions will go into the final day at OCRC Raceway in California tomorrow with just a single point separating defending Champion Jared Tebo from points leader Ryan Maifield.  Ending 4WD with a comfortable 4 point advantage, 2015 Champion Maifield would end Day 2 with a 4th place while Tebo backed up his win in the opening 2WD encounter with a second behind Spencer Rivkin who holds fourth overnight.  Making a number of mistakes, Maifield was unable to make the kind of progress we witnessed in 4WD as up front in the race Rob Gillespie took a very popular first win of 2020 ahead of Europeans Lee Martin and Joona Haatanen.  Tebo found himself in the stacked heat of Round 2, going up against Rivkin, Ryan Cavalieri and Dakotah Phend.  While Rivkin took the win from the front row, Tebo found a way passed Cavalieri to secure second to take more points out of Maifield. Opening the Round with his third win of the event, Broc Champlin put himself right into podium contention with an impressive win ahead of Ty Tessmann and Alex Kosciuszek.

Summing up his race, the result only his second time outside the Top 2, Maifield explained his 4th place by saying, ‘I just had some bad crashes on my own account and it seems the guys up front had a solid run. I thought I could at least get Top 3 but even without my crashes it was going to be hard’.  Looking to the final four rounds of action tomorrow, the former double World Champion said, ‘We’ll reset. I need to get a little more comfortable with the jumps especially that triple. We’ll have a few beers tonight and come back reset tomorrow’.

On his race, Tebo said, ‘That was a really good run. My car was awesome but it’s a lot harder to move through the pack than it was in 4WD.  I was right on Cav and managed to get by but Spencer had already got a lead. I caught him a little bit’.  Looking at the overnight points table, the Tekno team driver said, ‘I’m making a little progress but I don’t really have any good starts tomorrow.  Some people are making mistakes when they have opportunities so with this race you never know.  Maifield has a couple of low starts. It’s going to be a nail biter’.

‘That was a much needed win’, was Rivkin’s reaction to what is only his second win of the event so far.  The World Champion, who is still chasing his first Reedy Race title, continued, ‘3 out of 4 drivers in contention for the Reedy Race were in the heat. I took advantage of the front row start and drove a solid race’.  Asked about his car, the Team Associated driver replied, ‘my diff is a little messed up so I’m going to rebuild it and run-in in practice in the morning.  It should be more consistent then tomorrow’.

Commenting on his Round 2 win, Champlin said, ‘I started 4th and was able to hole shot Alex (Kosciuszek) who started 3rd.  Yusuke (Sugiura) crashed and I was able to get by and reel in Ty (Tessmann). I had a few passing opportunities but waited on a mistake instead of forcing a pass.  The last lap I got really close and when Ty made his mistake I was able to slip by’.  With the win moving the 17-year-old into 3rd on the points table, on his car’s performance he said, ‘the car is working really well. It is super easy to drive and easy to drive hard. I’m going to keep it the same for the rest of the event’.

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