Perfect start to 2WD for Tebo

Jared Tebo made the perfect start to 2WD at the Reedy Race of Champions being the only one of the four joint leaders after 4WD to register a win.  Running in the final race of the opening round, the Tekno driver took a hard fought win over Joona Haatanen, the Finn led the race for 7-laps before a mistake, but came back at Tebo in the dying stages of the race.  Of the other points leaders, Ty Tessmann would get a second from his race after running out of time to mount a challenge on winner Christopher Sturdy while Spencer Rivkin and Dustin Evans ran in the same race as Tebo and only came away with 5th and 8th respectively.  The 3rd winner of the round would be Ryan Maifield, the former champion taking the win ahead of Dakotah Phend and Brent Thielke.

Reacting to his win, Tebo said, ‘that was a great race. I got a good start and then me and Joona had an awesome race’.  He continued, ‘we were close on pace and it was super intense out there. I’m glad to get the win. I needed it’.  On his car, the Tekno driver running an Associated in 2WD, said, ‘the car was awesome but the diff kind of blew out so I need to take it apart and check it’.

Commenting on his race, Tessmann said, ‘It was going good but I had bad luck at the triple. I got going again and made my way up to 2nd and tried to catch Chris (Study) but I ran out of time about’.  Getting to within 4/10ths of the Australian, the Xray driver concluded, ‘My car was good’.

‘That was a trouble race’, was how defending Champion Evans summed up opening 2WD encounter.  The Associated driver, who was looking forward to 2WD explained, ‘I didn’t have enough brake on my car so at the start I didn’t want to run into the back of anyone and tried to go around the outside but I clipped a wing and flipped over. Nothing went right and it was all out of my control’.  Team-mate Rivkin said, ‘it started off not that well with people crashing. I did the best I could and 5th place was all I had but I’m not worried about. Everyone is going to be carrying at least a 5th with this track’.

Summing up his win, Maifield said, ‘we made some minor changes to the car after practice and it was the best the car has been. It jumped a little better but the front jump is still difficult’.  The Yokomo driver continued, ‘I battled with my team-mate (JP Richards) for a while until he hit trouble. Then I had a battle with Dakotah before he had a mistake. After that I drove my own race’.  The World Champion added, ‘it going to be an interesting 2WD. Like 4WD its tough and the points are going to be really high. Everyone could at least end up with a fifth’.

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4-way tie at conclusion of 4WD at Reedy Race

This year’s Reedy Race of Champions is living up to the legendary race celebrating its 25th running with 4WD concluding at OCRC Raceway in a four way tie.  After the six rounds of racing and the single throwout taken into account, Ty Tessmann, Spencer Rivkin, Dustin Evans and Jared Tebo have all ended up on 11 points with Michal Orlowski and Day 1 points leader Joe Bornhorst 1-point behind as the event now switches to 2WD.  The final round of 4WD, this year’s track layout producing one of the closest Reedy battles at the World famous Huntington Beach track, produced all repeat winners.  Opening the round, Rivkin added his second win ahead of defending champion and Associated team-mate Evans.  Next up Orlowski backed up his first ever win at the Reedy Race with a second ahead of Tebo who came through from the back.  The big encounter of the round, Race 3 pitted Ryan Cavalieri, Ryan Maifield and Tessmann up against one another at the front of the grid.  Maifield would lead the way for 5-laps until he had trouble at the front jump which balked Yokomo team-mate Cavalieri but the multiple champion managed to get going ahead of Tessmann as Maifield dropped to third and that is how they would finish.

‘I can’t believe I am tied for the lead’, was defending Champion Evans’ reaction upon seeing the final 4WD points.  He continued, ‘For how bad my 4WD was I got out of that not too bad. I was not confident in 4WD at all and was just trying to get around’.  Finishing his final race 2nd from 4th on the grid, the two time Reedy champion said, ‘I knew I needed to get rid of an 8th’.  Looking to the second half of the event and the switch to 2WD he concluded, ‘Hopefully my 2WD will be as good as it was before so I can race for good positions’.

Pitting next to him, team-mate Rivkin responded to sharing the points lead by saying, ‘There is still a lot more racing. I am just going to keep fighting and give everything I can’.  On his final race, the 21-year-old said, ‘Obviously I got a front row start which helped. That’s the luck of the draw but I had a good battle with my team-mates and that was an important win’.  The former 2WD World Champion continued, ‘I am pumped to run 2WD. I have been driving that class better at other races I have been to so I’m excited’.

Officially top of the points table, having more second places than Rivkin, Tessmann said his final 4WD race was, ‘just as tough as I thought it would be’.  The Xray driver added, ‘It was pretty sketchy with the tyre thread being so low but the car was the same as before and I just had to deal what was left on the tyres’.  Chasing his first Reedy Race title, the Canadian said, ‘Now on to 2WD. I think it will be very good’.

Tebo was very happy his final 4WD performance with second place allowing him to drop the P4 from the previous round. The Tekno driver said, ‘That was a great run. My car is so good. I started 10th and got through the pack pretty quick’. He continued, ‘I tried really hard to catch Orlowski. I was pushing really hard. He was driving really well’.  Asked about going into 2WD with a shot at his first Reedy Race title, he replied, ‘I can’t be happier. My 4WD starts were sub par but for 2WD my starts are awesome.I can’t wait to get going’.

Ending 4WD with two wins in a row, Orlowski said, ‘I used the same set of tyres all my races so I was worried the pace wouldn’t be there for the last one so I didn’t push it’.  The reigning double EOS Champion went on, ‘Tebo did a great job to get to second so quickly and I had to respond to that but I eased off for the last few laps to get the points’.  The Polish teenager added, ‘This is my first time fighting for the win at the Reedy Race.  I am feeling confident about 2WD after practice on Thursday.  I just got to keep my head down and go for it, send it’.

On the same points as Orlowski and 1 point ahead of Reedy Race legends Cavalieri and Maifield, Bornhorst summed up the 4WD part of the event with, ‘I had a little bit of a rough start today but it has been pretty good so far’.  Looking to 2WD, the Tekno team driver said, ‘I was holding on for dear life and kind of struggled in practice but I matched wht the AE guys were doing. My confidence is not as high in 2WD but now the grip is coming up.  We are half way through and I’m in the hunt and that’s all I can ask for’.

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Orlowski wins loaded heat to move into contention at RROC

The results of the penultimate round of 4WD action at the Reedy Race of Champions has mixed things up on the leader board with Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski claiming victory in a loaded race to move into contention as 2nd place through 5th all sit on 15 points, two off new points leader Jared Tebo.  Lining up on the front row alongside CJ Jelin for the last race of the 5th round, Orlowski came out on top with a late pass on his fellow teenager but it was the result of the drivers behind that really mixed things up.  With the back row made up Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri, Tebo starting 7th and David Ronnefalk 6th, the stage was set for the first big showdown of this year’s event.  Racing for third, Maifield and Ronnefalk would go at it with the Swede holding strong to any challenge from the American.  With just over a minute to go it looked like Maifield had found a way passed after Ronnefalk went slightly too hard into the raised corner and went wide but the HB Racing driver came back full punch leading to the contact that saw Maifield come off worse.  While Ronnefalk got third, Maifield dropped to 6th behind Cavalieri and 4th placed Tebo with the two exchanging words over the incident.  Ty Tessmann opened his day in the best way possible with a win in Race 1 over Lee Martin, Dakotah Phend and defending Champion Dustin Evans.  For overnight leader Joe Bornhorst it was a contrasting start to Day 2 as he ended up 9th, his race going downhill after an early mistake while running third.  The win would go to JP Richards who saw off Spencer Rivkin.

Claiming his first win at the Reedy Race, this his fifth time taking part in the legendary race, a very happy Orlowski said, ‘Tanner (Denney) got me on the start so I dropped to fourth. I was lucky to get through the crash and came out second behind CJ and then had David behind me.  Then I could see the battle between David, Maifield and Tebo and slowly started catching CJ.  We had a good battle the last few laps and I was able to pass him when he had a small mistake and finally get a win’.  He continued, ‘the car has always been there but I was just not delivering the results.  We are there now in the points and my next one I have a good starting position so I hope to finish off 4WD strongly’.

Becoming only the third driver to double his winning tally so far, this year’s track layout preventing any clear early points leaders, Tessmann who managed only a 6th in yesterday’s closing race, said, ‘Everything went to plan that time’.  The Xray driver continued, ‘My tyres are getting low so its getting a bit uncomfortable but Cavalieri and Maifield have similar thread left. I hope I can get good points from the next one. I am starting on the 2nd row behind Cav and Maifeld so it is going to be pretty high pace I think’.

Sitting 8th in the points, four down on leader Tebo, Evans summed up his fourth place with, ‘I done as good as I could have from there’.  Starting 7th, the Associated driver continued, ‘I still don’t have the speed I need but I don’t think even with more speed it would have made much difference that time’.  Looking forward to the switch to 2WD, he said, ‘I am going to change quite a bit of stuff again.  I can’t make it worse but the way it is now is not comfortable for me’.

The surprise star of Day 1, summing up his race Bornhorst said, ‘I made a good start but then I cased the the double double and dropped back to 6th or 7th and then I wasn’t driving good.  That’s the reason they have throw outs’.  He concluded, ‘the car is fine. That one was on me’.

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