Haatanen & Tessman set early Reedy Race practice pace
Joona Haatanen and Ty Tessman set the early pace at the 25th running of the Reedy Race of Champions. In 2WD, it was Haatanen who posted the fastest 3-consecutive laps with his Team Associated fastest from former team-mate Ryan Cavalieri and Tessmann. Tessmann’s Xray was quickest in 4WD from the Tekno of Joe Bornhorst with HB Racing’s David Ronnefalk completing the Top 3. For reigning champion Dustin Evans it was a rather slow start to his title defence as he managed only the 19th fastest time in 2WD and P10 in 4WD. The sixth year the legendary heads up race has been hosted by OCRC in Huntington Beach, it is this year’s track layout and its front jump that is the big talking point. With the section featuring a table top, it is the lip off this that is causing the drivers most trouble challenging the 2WD driving talents of all 30 racers in the Invitational class with the problem exaggerated by the current lower than normal levels of traction.
Summing up his runs Haatanen said, ‘It felt pretty good, a bit loose, but when the grip comes up it will be good’. Commenting on the low grip, the Finnish teenager said, ‘It is normal for me, the grip back home is the same’. On the front jump section he was also unfazed saying, ‘I think everything is fine. A track needs to have one place that is hard. I’m happy with how things are going so far’.
Cavalieri described his pace as ‘pretty solid’. Sporting a brand new wardrobe having made a somewhat surprise departure from Associated and move to Yokomo for 2019, the Reedy Race’s most winning driver added, ‘I’m just trying to get the tyres to come in and didn’t change the car between runs. They (the tyres) are slowly getting there but it is taking a lot longer than normal’. Asked if he was finding the track challenging he replied, ‘Its not challenging, we just don’t have the grip right now to do what you want so the laps are inconsistent’.
Commenting on his two rounds of practice, Tessmann, who is still seeking his first Reedy title having finished 2nd last year and 3rd the year before, said, ‘everything is good’. The Xray driver continued, ‘I think the tyre feels a little different to last year and it is not breaking in as fast’. On the front jump section, the Canadian said, ‘It is very difficult to know how the car is going to take off. I think it’s going to be chaos when everyone is jumping it together in racing. There is not a lot of grip and with the most grip in the middle where the lip is at its steepest. Every lap you are coming off (the jump) different’. Asked if he planned to change his cars for the final practice he replied, ‘we did a couple of weeks testing here so we know when the grip comes up we have good cars so we will wait for the track to come in’.
The only other driver along with Tessmann to run his 3-consecutive laps sub 1-minute, Bornhorst was very happy with his performance saying, ‘My car is super easy to drive. I’m doing laps and throwing whips’. In terms of his car, the Tekno driver said, ‘I haven’t changed it since I showed up. I’m not going to change it for the last one. I’ll just keep washing the tyres and throwing it back out there’. Asked his thoughts on the track layout he replied, ‘Everything is pretty cool except maybe the front jump’.
Fourth fastest in 4WD behind Ronnefalk, Maifield said, ‘there are a couple of the sections in the layout that could be adjusted. The front jump in 2WD is really hard. There is too much angle on the lip and its just sending cars up into the air. The surface is also taking a lot longer to come in which is adding to the difficulty’. He added, ‘I think my cars are good and I don’t want to adjust them because the track is going to be substantially different when 2WD comes around’ – this year’s 3 days of heads up racing starting with 4WD and concluding with 2WD. The Yokomo driver concluded, ‘I’ll just keep trying to break the tyres in but its hard because the track is so greasy’.
Targeting his third Reedy Race title this weekend, his first win in 2011 launching his career as an International Pro driver, Evans continued, ‘practice conditions are a little more slippery than expected and I need to make a few changes’. Asked about the track layout, the Colorado driver said, ‘Its OK but the front jump while ok in 4WD it just shoots the car off in 2WD. I hope they do some maintenance work on the lip’. On the set-up change he planned to his 2WD car he said, ‘It will be a pretty big change. I was running a set-up that I have been working on that is really good in pretty high grip and which I thought was also good on low grip too. That set-up is pretty exposed now but I know where to go with it’.
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