January 19, 2017

Track Focus – OCRC Raceway

Track Name – OCRC Raceway
Country – USA
Location – Huntington Beach, California
Surface – Dirt
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Previous Reedy Races hosted – 2016, 2015 & 2014

OCRC Raceway hosts its fourth Offroad Reedy Race of Champions, this number seeing the Huntington Beach location share the honour now as the venue to host the legendary race for the most consecutive number of years. Established in 1987 by RC industry pioneer, & mentor to many of the sport’s greatest drivers, Mike Reedy, this is the 23rd running of the unique race format event.  Having risen to the occasion of hosting 30 of some of the world’s best offroad drivers in 2014, the Robert & Nick Black owned track has established itself as the new home of the Reedy Race and again they have presented at track worthy of the event which is now the baby of Team Associated team-manager Brent Thielke.

Charged with creating the layout plans for the track and then working on turning it into reality in the dirt,  Nick Black said the inspiration for the 2017 layout came from ‘a little too much freight-training’ at last year’s event. Having made the layout ‘a little harder than last last year’ he said ‘we have upped the number of technical elements’. Featuring a shorter main straight, similar to that used in 2015,  he said, ‘Straight away’s are pointless and we just need them for a place to start the races’. On the race starts he said the first part of the lap intentionally has less features so as to ‘get the racing going rather than have a feature cause chaos and destroy the chances of a good heads up race’. Gauging by the ‘good’ reaction he got from drivers after their first practice run on the 135ft long and 60ft wide layout he concluded ‘so far I’m happy with how it turned out’.

Reigning RROC champion Dakotah Phend described the layout as ‘a lot of fun’.  The TLR driver continued, ‘there are a couple of spots that will make for good racing’. Describing the step down as a point where you naturally run wide he said this will present good opportunities for potential passes. The 19-year-old also thinks making the first half of the lap easier than previous years will be good for the racing, the champion set to be decided after 12 rounds of heads up racing.  One slight tweak to the scheduled this year is that 4WD will run first rather that 2WD which has traditionally been the class to kick off the event.

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January 8, 2017

Orlowski does double & ends Neumann DHI Cup reign

Michal Orlowski has pulled off the double at the DHI Cup presented by LRP. Having successfully defended his 2WD title earlier in the day, the Schumacher driver was also to bring an end to 5-time unbeaten Champion Joern Neumann’s reign by winning 4WD. Unlike his 2WD win which he took with ease, 4WD was to prove a much more exciting affair with David Ronnefalk ensuring it went to A3 when he forced an error from the Polish teenager in A2.  With Orlowski starting from the TQ, Ronnefalk and himself again ran nose to tail, the pair’s pace almost identical. Again Ronnefalk would get the mistake he needed but as Orlowski fought back he managed to push the Swede into an error and once back in front he didn’t put a wheel wrong to become only the second DHI Cup Offroad double winner. With Ronnefalk getting second, the podium would be completed by Neumann, a podium finisher for a sixth year in a row, a result many drivers would be happy to emulate even if it marked the end of his impressive streak. Having made the podium in 2WD on his first DHI Cup Offroad outing, Marc Rheinard would miss out in 4WD, finishing up fourth.

Having ended the 2016 season with a double at his home round of the Euro Offroad Series, Orlowski said, ‘I’m really happy to do the double win again’.  The former European Champion continued, ‘it was a very exciting final’.  Thanking his sponsors for their continued support into 2017, both LRP and Schumacher long time sponsors of the DHI Cup, he said the 4WD finals were tough as the ‘carpet was ruined’ making for very loose conditions.  ‘Struggling for traction’, he said after his mistake in A3 he ‘just pushed as hard as I could’.  Starting 2017 so strong he said it showed they have a good indoor carpet programme and he is ready for the next round of the EOS, which he leads in 2WD, but in the meantime is looking forward to some warmer weather when he will travel to California for the Reedy Race of Champions in 10 days time.

‘I have no excuses it was just my fault.  I went too tight and had to go short which caused the rear wheel to catch the edge of the jump. It was just a driver error’, was how Ronnefalk summed up the deciding A3.  An important development race for the HB Racing driver who was joined from America by designer Torrance Deguzman, the Swede said ‘the car was really good and me & Orlowski were equal just this time he won’.  Only his second 1:10 offroad race since finishing on the podium in Japan in 2015, the other being a Swedish race in November, he said ‘I need more 1:10 running as the racing is more intense than 1:8.  We made good progress with Torrence here and the 4WD is good with the 2WD showing great improvement too’.

Summing up his result Serpent’s Neumann said, ‘After five times in a row and still on the podium so its still ok.  You can’t win all the time, I want to, but its difficult’.  Opting for a different set-up for the final main, the factory Serpent driver said this left his Orion powered SDX4 ‘unstable in the rear’.  Overall the German said the biggest issue in the finals was ‘when the traction dropped Michal and David where faster in these conditions’.

View the complete offroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

January 8, 2017

‘Iceman’ Kutvonen takes convincing DHI Cup win

Viljami ‘Iceman’ Kutvonen has won the prestigious season opening DHI Cup.  Just scraping into the top heat for qualifying having only managed the 10th fastest time in seeding practice, the Awesomatix driver turned around what started off looking like a difficult weekend at Danish event to take a perfectly executed win. Only his second major international race win, his first being the 2014 LRP Masters, the Finn got things figured out when it was needed taking the final two qualifiers to secure the overall TQ ahead of 7-time reigning champion Ronald Volker.  From pole, he would make light work of his rivals to win A1 with conviction over Volker.  Needing to repeat that performance for the win at an event he has twice been runner-up, that is exactly what Kutvonen did to claim the top step on the podium.  Behind the popular winner, having been denied a second run of 3-consecutive DHI Cup wins, Volker would finish second with Yokomo team-mate Naoki Akiyama, 6th last year on his first visit to Odense, getting his 2017 season of to a strong start by completing the podium.

‘It was what I wanted and its the best way to start the new year’ was how Kutvonen summed up the win many would say he was overdue.  He added, ‘It feels even more special as I just made it into the top heat but for the last two heats found it when I needed too’. Having opened the current Euro Touring Series season with second place, his best result on carpet, he said today’s result ‘shows we are on top and I will fight for the win at the next ETS’.  Running his LRP powered A800 with a number of new parts from the pending A800X kit release he concluded, ‘with the new chassis it will be even better’.

Winning A3 with ease, reflecting on the weekend Volker said, ‘Once the race was gone after A2 I had the best feeling with the car in A3 but it was too late’.  The World Champion continued, ‘Obviously I am bit disappointed but Viljami did a great job in the mains and there was not much I could do better’.  Acknowledging his team-mate Akiyama’s third place, he said, ‘I am happy for Naoki made the podium, he is getting better and better every time I meet him, but from my end we have a bit to do to ensure we can finish out the winter season more competitively.  I will do two more carpet races the next two weeks with the goal of being competitive for the next ETS’.

Claiming his first European podium finish, equalling his best international result of 3rd at the IIC in Las Vegas last October, Akiyama declared himself ‘very happy’ with the result.  The Yokomo protege added his recent international races experiences are paying fruition and he hopes to continue this weekend’s form at the second round of the Euro Touring Series having made the A-Main at the season opener.

One of the longest attending drivers of the DHI Cup, enjoying numerous podium finishes, this being his 13th time to race the event that has been running for 17-years, Hagberg said ‘obviously we struggled this weekend’.  He added ‘we did improve the car for A3 and I was running second but rolled it over, 4th was not what I wanted but it could have been worse’.  Summing up why he never threatened for the win this weekend, the Xray driver replied, ‘in general the car was a little hard to drive so I was not comfortable’. Behind Hagberg, after having a good battle with the Swede, Freddy Sudhoff would finish fifth ahead of former winner Viktor Wilck, the Serpent driver struggling to feature this time round.

View the complete onroad event results here.

View the event image gallery here.