January 21, 2017

Phend leads Reedy Race overnight with 3rd win

Dakotah Phend is the overnight leader at the end of the first day’s racing at the Reedy Race of Champions.  The defending champion took an impressive third win in the closing race which was to prove the most entertaining of the day’s 16 races. Starting on pole it was his former TLR team-mate Dustin Evans who lined up beside him who would get the better start.  Battling clear of the pack out front, the pair would make contact on the main straight allowing Alex Kosciuszek with Jared Tebo in toe to go to the front setting up for a thrilling showdown.  Tebo’s chances of a first win however where short lived as he made an error and it wasn’t long before Kosciuszek followed suit with Phend there to pick up the pieces for an important win ahead of Cole Tolland.  With drivers allowed one dropped score, as it stands this leaves Phend with the perfect score with two 4WD races remaining as he heads Ty Tessmann and Ryan Cavalieri who sit joint second in the points.  The fourth round would see Tessmann become the only other multiple race winner of the day as he notched up a second win ahead of Ryan Maifield and Cavalieri. Claiming the first European win, Lee Martin was the other winner of the round after getting around Malin Karlsen, the Norwegian teenager making history as the first female to compete at the Reedy Race in the Invitational class.

‘I’m pretty happy’ was how Phend summed up the first day of his title defence before adding, ‘but I already have to use my throw out’.  Targeting Top 3 runs in tomorrow’s concluding two 4WD encounters before the switch to 2WD,  Phend said the day’s final race was ‘a lot of fun’ continuing ‘me and Dustin had a blast, it was an exciting race’.  Commenting on his contact with Evans, he said, ‘I went wide coming onto the straight trying to get by Dustin but hit the wall and got sideways.  It was just a racing incident’.

Tessmann declared it ‘a good finish to the day’ adding ‘I got to keep getting low points I guess’.  Planning to ‘keep pushing forward’, the new Xray signing said his car is ‘awesome’ and referring to his opening two races, in which he got P4, he said he ‘just need(s) better luck’.  Starting the closing race on pole but losing out to Tanner Denney off the line, the former 1:8 World Champion said, ‘It was a little hairy at the start’.  Surviving a rollover once in front after Round 1 winner Denney made a mistake he was able to control the race for an easy 3.6 second win over Maifield.

The Reedy Race of Champions most successful driver, winning the unique prestigious race 3-times, Cavalieri said, ‘I’m really happy so far especially with having a new car’.  With Team Associated using the race to debut their long overdue new 4WD platform, the B64D, he continued, ‘we have been all working hard to making it a little quicker’.  Making changes for Round 4 to the diff oils and removing the front swaybar he said this gave him more corner speed and now they will try some changes in the rear to ‘try get a little more for tomorrow’.

View our event image gallery here.

January 21, 2017

Chassis Focus – Ryan Maifield

Chassis: Yokomo YZ-4 Proto
Motor: Orion VST2 Pro Lightweight 5.5T
ESC: Orion R10.1 Vortex Pro
Batteries: Orion 4000mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/MKS
Body: JConcepts S2
Tires (handout): Pro-Line Positron/Transistor
Remarks – Ryan Maifield is making his Yokomo debut at the Reedy Race of Champions in Huntington Beach. Having only tested the car for 2 days prior to this event he is using a prototype version of the YZ-4, which features a new shortened chassis plate, centrally mounted steering servo and larger outer belt pullies. In terms of set-up he is working with his team mates to find the perfect balance for the car between hard to drive and fast and has changed the front spring, rear swaybar and rear shock position.

Image Gallery

January 21, 2017

Phend rebounds to become first double winner

After a tough second round, defending Reedy Race Champion Dakotah Phend rebounded to take a win and become the first driver to register two wins on the opening day of the event.  Starting from sixth on the grid, the TLR driver managed to get by former champions Ryan Cavalieri and Dustin Evans to win by a very comfortable 3.7-seconds.  Also in the same heavy hitters race starting from another P9, Ryan Maifield would hit problems having to nurse home a very noisy Yokomo to 7th, a result he will be hoping will become his one permitted 4WD throw out.  In the other encounters, Alex Kosciuszek had a great race from the middle of the pack to win Race 1 ahead of Mr. Consistent so far Joona Haatanen while Ty Tessmann got the job done in Race 2 ahead of Jared Tebo and Round 1 winner Tanner Denney.

‘The previous one I got a rough start and had a rough race, that’s why it is called the Reedy Race, but I got my head down and managed a good rebound’ was how Phend summed up his race.  With two wins, he continued ‘hopefully I can count the 6 as my throw out’.  In terms of his TLR22-4 , the 19-year-old was very happy with the car saying, ‘I haven’t had to make any changes between races, it really easy to drive so there is no need’.

After opening the 23rd running of the Reedy Race with a pair of 4th places, Tessmann was pleased he ‘finally got a good track and drove’.  Describing his Xray XB4 as ‘awesome’ for all his races, he said it was ‘a little frustrating when the car is working really good’ but you get caught up in other people crashing ahead of you.  Starting his first two races from the back row resulting in them being ‘really sketchy and rough’, the Canadian will take up his first pole start in the day’s closing round and is confident he has the car to add a second win.

‘I didn’t wreck at the start’ was Kosciuszek’s reaction to his popular win.  Winner of the 4WD Open class at the event last season to book his place among this year’s 30 driver Invitational class line-up, the 17-year-old Associated driver continued, ‘I waited quite a bit for a hole in Carson (Wernimont) and it came and I just went from there’.  Describing Round 1 as ‘pretty bad’ after a wreck, he said Round 2 he didn’t have the car, the steering not good, but for his third attempt, which he started 5th, it all came together.

View our event image gallery here.

January 20, 2017

Maifield takes early Reedy Race lead with 1st win

Having opened with a second place from 9th on the grid, Ryan Maifield has taken an early lead at the Reedy Race of Champions after registering a win in the second round of 4WD action at OCRC Raceway.  Starting from pole, the Yokomo driver took a tone to tine win over Team Associated team-mates Dustin Evans and Spencer Rivkin despite a roll over. After making the perfect start to his title defence with a Round 1 win, Dakotah Phend had a tough race finishing 6th from 5th on the grid.  Kicking off the 2nd of the 6 scheduled rounds of 4WD action, pole sitter Kyle McBride took a relatively straight forward win over European young guns Michal Orlowski and Joona Haatanen.  In the other affair, multiple Reedy Race Champion Ryan Cavalieri would progress from 5th on the grid to win ahead of Jared Tebo after pole sitter Rob Gillespie made a mistake in the closing stages.

Commenting on his race Maifield said, ‘we made a couple of changes to get more grip but traction came up and I had all the grip I could handle.  I got a little lucky, it traction rolled but landed back onto its wheels’.  The 2015 Champion continued, ‘After that I backed it off and the car was fast without even having to push it hard’.  Looking to the next round which he starts mid pack, he said, ‘the big thing is to try keep up with how much the track is changing’.

Having ‘got bumped around more than (he) needed too’ in Round 1 when he ended up 4th, Cavalieri said while he again ‘got bumped around at the beginning’ he ‘thought it was a pretty good race’.  Describing his Muchmore powered B64D as ‘pretty good to drive’ he said his first battle of the race with Tebo was ‘good’ and while Gillespie ‘handed him the lead’ he felt it would have been ‘a decent battle’ for the win with his AE team-mate.  With Round 3 his best starting position so far, him lining up 3rd, he concluded the win ‘puts me in the right direction’.

Capitalising on his first pole position start, lining up in the same race as Phend, McBride was also a lot happier with his car for the second race.  Finishing 1.3-seconds clear of the Orlowski’s Schumacher, the Australian said ‘we tamed down the car after first one so it was easier to drive. It was a clean run apart from one roll over’.  While considering a set-up change to ‘try get more corner speed’, he said ‘otherwise the car was now pretty good’.

View our event image gallery here.