Evans gets first win of Reedy title defence

Reedy Race Champion Dustin Evans has claimed the first win of his title defence, the Team Associated driver convincingly winning his 3rd round encounter ahead of Joe Bornhorst and Brent Thielke. Opening the event with a P2 but suffering an 8th in Round 2, Evans made the most of his first pole position start, quickly pulling clear of the field.  Behind, Bornhorst once again turned around a back of the grid starting position to get up to second by the finish and with a win and 2 second places the Tekno drivers leads the points table from Ryan Cavalieri.  Multiple champion Cavalieri became the first double winner of the event winning the second race of the round ahead of 2017 Champion Dakotah Phend.  The same race saw joint leader after two rounds Ty Tessmann end up 5th, the Xray driver getting together with Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski entering the straight for the last time with the latter winning the drag race to the finish line.  Race 3 would see the first non-American winner of this year’s race with David Ronnefalk converting a front row start alongside pole sitter Kaito Kodera into a win.  Behind, fellow European Lee Martin took 2nd ahead of Jared Tebo, the Tekno driver now on the same points as third placed Tessmann with one more round of racing on the opening day’s schedule.

Reacting to his first win, Evans said, ‘I started up front which sometimes is the hardest place because it can easily go wrong but it worked out good. I could just drive around the track. It was good’. On his car, he said, ‘It was pretty good but it is still not as good as I would like. I made a few changes and it was better but it feels like it is on top of the track. The pace is good but I don’t want to screw with it.  My 2WD is awesome so I’m just trying to keep close in 4WD’. Asked about his starting position for the fourth round, the Colorado driver replied, ‘I’m going one race at time. I don’t want to think about it so I wait till it is time to go and then see what I have to do. I don’t want to be looking ahead’.

On his race, Cavalieri said, ‘I was able to get around the first corner and make a gap.  After that I just put in my own laps’.  On his previous round P5 result, the new Yokomo signing said, ‘there was nothing wrong with my second run. I did get turned around at the start but it was a clean heat and there was no chance to make up more time. The track is difficult to pass on. You get settled into the guy ahead of you’.  Starting the fourth of the 6 rounds of 4WD from 7th on the grid, the 2017 Champion , ‘I have just got to be patient. I have nothing to complain about in terms of my car or my driving.  What ever comes comes’.

‘It’s a lot easier starting up front. I had no mess at the start’, was Ronnefalk’s reaction to putting his first win on the board. The HB Racing driver added, ‘my car is really good. I didn’t change it today, I just had the most terrible luck in the first two races.  In the first I threw away a 3rd and and the second race was just carnage and I got the shit out of it’. The Swede continued, ‘You need luck in this race and I didn’t have it in Race 1 and 2. It doesn’t help that I have a 4 and a 7 but I will keep digging and stay out of trouble’.

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Maifield most significant winner in second RROC encounter

Ryan Maifield claimed the most significant win of the second round of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions, the other wins going to fellow pole starter Joe Bornhorst and young ace CJ Jelin.  Starting from the opposite end of the grid to the opening round, the former Champion backed up his 2nd place from 10th on the grid with his first win to share the early points lead with Ty Tessmann.  Running in the 2nd race of the round, Tessmann came from the back to survive a chaotic race finishing 2nd behind former team-mate Jelin.  Bornhorst claimed an easy win in the round’s opening race ahead of Cole Tollard and Tanner Stees, the same race netting Round 1 winner Spencer Rivkin a fifth.  After claiming the first win of the 25th running of the event, Ryan Cavalieri made little progress from his P8 starting position to finish 5th in the race won by Maifield.

Summing up his race Maifield said, ‘I started first, got a good start and just drove around.  I was able to play with some different lines over the front jump. It was nice to see what you can do.’  The Yokomo driver continued, ‘the track was not really there in practice but its getting there now so it was good to run around out there on my own and try a few things’.  Looking to the next round, he said, ‘I wont make any changes to the car. It is getting better each run as the tyres are coming in’.

Bornhorst said his race went ‘just how I like it’.  The Tekno driver continued, ‘I started 1st and just logged 5-minutes of clean laps. It was actually pretty boring’.  Starting the next round 8th on the grid, he added, ‘I am going to be patient at the beginning and get through the mess.  That worked out well for me in the first one.  Patience is the name of the game here’.  On his car the American said, ‘the car is great. I have only made two very small changes from when I turned up.  The track changed a little today so I made changes between the first and the second round but I will change nothing for the next one.’

Flying the flag for Kyosho, the mature headed 14-year-old Jelins said, ‘It started off good and I was 3rd from the get go.  I knew 1st place had a spur gear going out so I knew to be patient.  It was close with Ronnefalk and Tebo but I held my line. It was a good run’.  Having had a DNF in his first race of the day, the star of the recent 1:8 Offroad World’s in Australia said, ‘to finish last in the first one because of a mechanical and then come back and win the next one was a good feeling’.

Describing his race as ‘pretty much chaos the whole time’, Tessmann said, ‘starting at the back I knew I needed to be patient and make no mistakes.  I made it up to 2nd or 3rd and then me and David (Ronnefalk) got together.  On the last lap I was 4th or 5th and then somehow, I don’t exactly know what happened, I got 2nd.  I’m sure it was exciting for everyone to watch’.  Having changed his car set-up for after Round 1, he Xray driver said, ‘the car was better that time. I just going to drive it the next one’.

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25th Reedy Race opens with wins for Cavalieri, Rivkin & Tessmann

The 25th running of the famous Reedy Race of Champion is underway with the first of the 12 rounds of heads up racing producing wins for Ryan Cavalieri, Spencer Rivkin and yesterday’s practice pace setter Ty Tessmann.  Getting the race action underway at OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, California, Cavalieri took advantage of a No.3 starting position to get by the all French front row of Broda Clements and Renaud Savoya.  It would soon become a Yokomo 1-2-3 at the front with Ryan Maifield coming through from 10th on the grid to second.  It looked for a time like the race was going to have a showdown with the ‘Ryan & Ryan Show’ but a mistake from Maifield was enough to leave Cavalieri comfortable to the finish with Lee Martin completing the Top 3.  Next up Rivkin took full advantage of pole position with a tone to tone victory ahead of Dustin Evans, the defending champion having a mistake at the front jump section that denied him challenging his Associated team-mate for the win.  The final encounter saw another predictable result as Tessmann capitalised on a front row start to win by a 3.7-seconds from Jared Tebo who saw off a last lap David Ronnefalk challenge that allowed Broc Champlin to slip through for 3rd.

Commenting on his race, new Yokomo signing Cavalieri said, ‘That was a good start. I raced it out a little bit and pushed and the car felt pretty good. We made a small change this morning in practice’.  Rejoining his old AE team-mate at Yokomo, he continued, ‘Maifield caught me a little. He was quick in some spots but I was maintaining the gap.  It was good so I could see where the pace is at. I think its good’.  The Reedy Race’s most winning driver he added, ‘the first lap was most scary part of the race with everyone jumping across the track’.

Having missed the morning practice, Maifield was pleased to open with a second.  The 2015 Champion said, ‘It was a good result. I started 10th and also didn’t get to run the practice because I plugged my speedo in the wrong way’.  The World Champion continued, ‘I got through the mille on the first lap and picked my way through to 2nd.  I caught up to Ryan and was feeling the flow but then made a error at the double double. I was still second so I settled for that. 2nd from 10th was good. It was a safe run and now the first run jitters are out of the way’.

‘The first run of the day and I start on pole and finished on pole. You have to get the win if your starting Top 4’, was Rivkin’s reaction after the first race.  The former 2WD World Champion continued, ‘Dustin and I were battling but then he hit the pipe and I had a big lead but I still pushed because I wanted a good fast run incase it comes down to time’.  He concluded, ‘I’m driving a lot better today than yesterday and I got to keep chugging along’.

Reacting to his race, Evans said, ‘2nd is a good start. Me and Spencer where fighting out front but then I cased the front jump.  A terrible mistake but I was able to make up the places again so it was crisis averted. In the end it was a decent start’.  Behind Evans, Tekno’s Joe Bornhorst would come through from last on the grid to finish 3rd.

Tessmann said, ‘It was a little nerve racking starting the first race on the front row’.  The Xray driver continued, ‘the track was a little looser today so I didn’t push too hard’.  Once in front the Canadian said he could ‘manage the gap’ but added, ‘for the next one we will adjust the car for the track conditions’.

Making his debut for Tekno, Tebo was happy with the result but less happy with his own driving.  Starting from 6th on the grid he said, ‘I was pretty patient and made a couple of good passes and then caught Broc. He was pretty hard to pass’.   The former World Champion continued, ‘I drove a little nervous. I was not happy with my driving so to get 2nd was a good result.  The car is awesome so hopefully I drive a little less nervous the next one’.

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Tessmann fastest ahead of 25th Reedy Race of Champions

Ty Tessmann goes into the 25th running of the Reedy Race of Champions having topped the official practice times in both 2WD and 4WD.  Chasing his first Reedy Race win, the Xray driver set the fastest times in the 3rd round of practice, the track finally starting to came in after the decision after the second round was made to stop misting in order to help the newly built layout dry out.  In 2WD, it was to be David Ronnefalk who was closest to matching Tessmann’s fastest 3-consecutive laps with followed by Jared Tebo and defending Champion Dustin Evans.  In 4WD, it was Tebo who was 2nd fastest with Tessmann half a second quicker.  Dakotah Phend completed the Top 3 with Ryan Maifield the fastest of the former champions with the 4th quickest time.

Summing up the practice day which for the Invitational drivers ended with a third 2WD run, Tessmann said, ‘we made a change which wasn’t as good I thought but we got a good lap out of it.  I don’t know how I got the faster lap, it didn’t feel it was fast.  We will change the car back to what we ran before’.  Asked what he didn’t like about the change, the Canadian replied, ‘It was hard to drive. It was too reactive’.  On his 4WD, he said, ‘we made a little adjustment for the last run and it was the right direction. I will leave it like that as it will be perfect if the grip comes up’.  Asked about traction levels, he said, ‘It getting better and I’m pretty confident its going to be good by halfway through tomorrow’.

Second fastest in 4WD, the class which will get this year’s Reedy Race of Champion’s heads up racing format underway, Tebo was super happy with his performance on what is his international race debut for Tekno.  With the Reedy Race a title that has so far eluded the long time former Kyosho driver, he said, ‘Practice went really good. I’m feeling awesome out there.  I made a couple of little changes over the day but the car drives really well and I think its going to be good for racing.  It is really consistent and I will be able to race really easy’.  On his P3 in 2WD, Tekno drivers using Associated as they don’t yet have their own offering, he said, ‘It’s going good. I don’t have nearly as much time on the car so I am following Dustin (Evans) on set-up. I was really happy with the last run and it was safe to drive’.  Asked how he was finding his switch to Tekno, he enthusiastically replied, ‘I couldn’t be happier honestly. It was the change I needed’.

Former champion Phend described his final 4WD run as ‘better’.  The TLR driver continued, ‘I can get around consistent and it is pretty close to where we need to be for racing so we will make a small change or two for tomorrow’.  Describing the last round as having ‘a lot better grip’, on his 2WD, which he took to the 6th fastest time, the American said, ‘I made a couple of changes and it was a lot better. I will leave it the same for Saturday when there should be a lot more grip’.

The best of the European visitors with his P2 in 2WD, Haatanen the quickest in 4WD with P8, Ronnefalk said, ‘we made changes for the last run. I had struggled in the first two to get grip in the rear end and I also made changes to the electronic settings. It was a lot better and I could do the full run with no mistakes’.  Third quickest in 4WD after the first two rounds of practice but dropping down the order after being unable to better his time in the final run, the Swede said, ‘my 4WD was good from the get go but we decided to try something in the last one and it didn’t work out’.  Asked about the changes he replied, ‘I tried to get more corner speed but ended up removing too much grip and suffered on power. It was not consistent enough.  I’ll go back to what we ran in the first two’.

Having struggled in early practice, Evans summed up his final 2WD practice saying, ‘2WD was significantly better.  It went from hurting to better’.  Chasing a third Reedy Race title, the Associated driver was a little less positive about his 4WD.  Improving his time but ending up 13th fastest in the final round, he said, ‘some of the tyres are softer than others.  We were running the same set-up as we ran last week but we are a little off.  My tyre are getting better and hopefully the track comes in more tomorrow’.

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