Volker pulls epic pass on Rheinard to win from the back

Ronald Volker has moved in to the early lead at the 19th running of the Reedy Race of Champions in California after pulling an epic pass on defending champion Marc Rheinard in the 3rd round of racing.  Starting from the back of the grid with Rheinard on pole,  Volker would work his way up to second and then set about closing down a 2-second lead held by his arch rival.  With the race into the final minute, the Yokomo driver was all over the Tamiya and, with three laps to go, as they came out of the first corner sweeper Volker set-up the pass. Going to the outside before switching back to the inside, the ETS Champion would get down the inside into the hairpin immediately pulling clear of his long time arch rival.  In the other two encounters of the round, both pole sitters would lead tone to tone, with four time Reedy Race Champion Barry Baker taking a popular win as Ralph Burch came of best from a three way battle for second that also involved European’s Viljami Kutvonen and Loic Jasmin.  In Race 2, Tamiya’s Akio Sobue would be come the first double winner of the event, joined later by Volker, as he saw off the close attentions of Ryan Cavalieri with Rick Hohwart completing the Top 3 having started P7.

‘There is definitely a smile on my face after that one’, was Volker’s reaction to his memorable pass on Rheinard.  Starting from last on the grid, the 2-time RROC Champion said he ‘didn’t expect to have the chance to win starting last and with Marc first (on the grid)’.  Describing the track as ‘still tricky’, he said his LRP powered BD7 ‘felt really good’ allowing him ‘come from over 2-seconds back and be able to pass’.  To convert a P8 starting position into a win is one thing but to beat Rheinard at the same time the round is a significant one for Volker but he is ‘not looking too much into it’.  Starting Round 4 from the back row, his third of the day, alongside Rheinard he concluded it was going to be ‘another interesting finish to the day’.

‘I was too slow, there was nothing I could do’, was Rheinard’s reaction to the race.  Having not been happy with his car in the opening two races despite taking a win in Round 2, he added ‘it looks like we went backwards that time’.  Commenting on Volker’s pace and how he was able to close such a substantial gap, the 4-time World Champion said ‘its just Ronald’s car. The others in the team are slower so obviously they have found something special (on Volker’s car)’.

With his last RROC title achieved 13-years ago, commenting on his win Baker said ‘I had zero expectations’ adding ‘but I still have the competitive spirit’. Declaring the weekend was for him about ‘just having fun’ he continued ‘that is how Mike Reedy always wanted it’.  His first touring car race in 3-years and choosing a Yokomo for his Reedy Race return, he said ‘watching what Ronald did is what the Reedy Race is all about and to see two of the best going at it was awesome’.

Making a diff oil change to his Tamiya for his third race, Sobue was happy to get the win as his car was only ‘so, so’ for the race.  With the change leaving the TRF419X suffering from understeer, he will go in the opposite direction with his set-up for the days final encounter hoping to it will give him a car good enough to challenge for a third win of the day from P4 on the grid.  Winning by 1.5 seconds from Cavalieri, he admitted ‘having a World Champion right behind you adds a little pressure’.

A driver tipped to do well despite his offroad background, Cavalieri is living up those predictions.  Starting alongside Sobue, the multiple Offroad Reedy Race Champion said, ‘I let him take the lead into the first corner and just followed him’.  He continued, ‘after a few laps I felt I was quicker in a few spots but could make a pass’.  After suffering a ‘few bobbles’ that dropped him back a little he ‘was able to catch back up but then over cooked it at the kink and had to settle for second’.   Commenting on his TC7, he said ‘my car is really good, its just a matter of me putting it in the right line’.  Setting a faster lap than Sobue, he said ‘I think if I had been leading I probably would have been able to run faster lap times as the car has real pace’.

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Rheinard posts 1st win as Tamiya sweeps Round 2

Reigning Champion Marc Rheinard has registered the first win in his quest for a 6th Reedy Race of Champions title.  Second in the opening round ahead of early title favourite Ronald Volker, Rheinard would take an easy win in the second encounter which would be dominated by Tamiya.  In the opening race of the round Christopher Krapp went one better than Round 1 to take the win ahead of first round winner Ryan Cavalieri.  TRF team-mate Akio Sobue claimed the Race 2 win having withstood a challenge from Volker.  In contrast to his first race, a good start would allow Rheinard to go to the front as he got around the outside of pole sitter Antoni Caretti through the first corner.  From there he cruised to a victory by almost half a lap as Meen Vejrak and Viljami Kutvonen provided the entertainment battling over second, Round 1 retiree Vejrak holding off the Finn for 2nd.  Opening the event with a win and running Round 2 in the same race as Rheinard, World Champion Naoto Matsukura would finish only 6th after a mistake but struggling with his TRF419X he is set to join his team-mates in running a carbon chassis for Round 3.

‘A good Tamiya round’ was Rheinard’s reaction to Round 2.  The German continued, ‘I just made a good pass around the outside, had one rough lap when I got out on the dust but then was able to pull away from the others’.  With drivers having to run used tyres for Round 2, the race rules stipulating when new or used tyres must be run to stop tyre games being played,  Rheinard said this was his first time to run his TRF419X on a second run set of the handout Sweep tyre and he found it had ‘a little more grip’.  With the sun having come out following a cloudy start to the day, he said the track was also slight better but added, ‘I still think Ronald is a little quicker’.

Having had bad luck on the opening lap of his first race, the second time round Krapp ‘was lucky at the start’.  With Xray’s Ralph Burch on pole with Associated’s Randy Caster alongside, the pair would touch entering the first corner allowing Krapp’s P3 starting TRF419X a move to the front. From there it was ‘actually an easy race’ for last year’s star rookie but in terms of his car the German said it was ‘not perfect’.  He said there was a ‘huge difference to this morning’ and feeling his car could be better for the warmer condition of Round 2 he will change his set-up for the next one.  Finishing 1.8-seconds behind Krapp and 4-seconds ahead of team-mate Juho Levanen, Cavalieri was happy to get the result from a P7 starting position which leaves the multiple offroad World Champion sharing the early lead with the stars of touring cars.

Finishing 6th overall at last year’s RROC, Sobue said while the result was ‘good’ he found conditions difficult as a result of running 2nd run tyres.  With Volker closing down his early advantage, the 21-year-old said while he had ‘pressure from Ronald’ he had it ‘under control’.  For his third race which he will start from pole, he will made a diff oil change to try improve his TRF419X.

Again posting the fastest lap of all three races, Volker would start 7th on the grid describing it as ‘a tough start’ adding ‘there were cars everywhere’.  Forced to back off, he said he could eventually come through to 2nd.  With a 3-second deficit to leader Akio, he was to catch up to the Japanese driver but as a pass looked on the cards he would spun out just before the track’s famous kink after getting on the power too early.  Surviving a trip over the kink but not losing position the German ‘then had to settle for second’, the Xray of Kyle Bergstrom a long way back in third.

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Cavalieri, Matsukura & Volker win opening RROC encounters

The opening round of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions produced pretty straight forward wins for Ryan Cavalieri, Naoto Matsukura and Ronald Volker, with only World Champion Matsukura forced to work for his win.  Starting the opening race of the 19th running of the iconic event from 3rd on the grid, early patience from Cavalieri would pay with mistakes from pole sitter Rick Hohwart and early leader Eric Albano on the same lap handed the Associated driver the lead.  Hohwart would get second followed by Reedy Race debutant Viljami Kutvonen who came through from 6th on the grid.  Race 2 would prove to be the most entertaining of the 3 as a recovering Chrstopher Krapp put in a huge charge in the final minute to catch his Tamiya team-mate Matsukura who probably wouldn’t have held off the German had the race gone an extra lap.  Having started on pole Andrew Hardman would complete the Top 3.  The most heavily loaded of the races, Race 3 would see reigning champion Marc Rheinard and Volker go head to head.  Volker had the advantage of starting from pole and dominated the race while contact at the start from P4 left Rheinard at the back.  The Tamiya driver would recover to take a distant 2nd with team-mate Akio Sobue 3rd.

Commenting on the first of the 12 races that make up the Reedy Race, 10 counting for the final standings, Cavalieri said, ‘it was actually really good’.  The reigning US National Touring Car Champion, a title the Cali driver won at Tamiya Raceway, the Offroad star said despite the track being ‘looser’ his TC7 had ‘good steering and overall feeling’.  On the race action, the multiple Offroad Reedy Race Champion said, ‘I was just being patient behind Rick.   He got a bit out of shape and I got through and then on the same lap Albano made a mistake so I went from 3rd to first in one lap ‘.

‘Good start’ was how Matsukura summed up his opening race but the Japanese driver added his car was ‘super difficult to drive’.  With ‘super traction at the start’, he said towards the end his TRF419 was ‘loose and pushing’.  Running an aluminium chassis when all his team-mates are using carbon, he said ‘on this type of track I prefer carbon but its my mechanic’s decision to run alu so we will try a different set-up for Round 2 to try improve it’.   Providing the main entertainment of Round 1, Krapp said, ‘for the first one I will take 2nd’.  Star of the event last year on his RROC debut, the German who started 6th would get caught up in an error by Felix Law on the opening lap. Making his way back through the field he said he was ‘surprised (he) reeled in Naoto so fast’ so he ‘pushed like crazy but needed one more lap’.

Champion in 2014 when the Mike Reedy created race returned to the popular Tamiya Raceway track in 2014, Volker said they were ‘difficult track conditions’ adding ‘but I expected that due to the 9am start as there was no sun and the track was sugar watered this morning’.  Starting on pole with team-mate and 2015 podium finisher Meen Vejrak alongside the ETS Champion said ‘I knew I had to win the first and after 2 corners I was out front and just kept it going to the finish’.  With Vejrak retiring Volker was ‘disappointed for Meen as we had a chance of a 1-2’.  Admitting Rheinard’s first lap drama made things easier he said the win was a good start but added ‘there is a long way to go’.  Commenting on his recovery to 2nd, Rheinard said, ‘I’m not fast enough to beat Ronald’.  Suffering a ‘pretty shit start’, after getting spun out which left him at the back, the 5 time RROC champion ‘just focused on finishing 2nd to get points’.

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