Maifield adds third 4WD win in Round 4

Reigning champion Ryan Maifield has added a third Reedy Race win in 4WD, the TLR driver recovering from an early tangle with fellow front row starter Joseph Quagraine for a win that gives him a 2-point lead with just two races remaining.  Unable to get the holeshot on Quagraine, Maifield would follow the Schumacher for three laps before the pair tangled on the step down.  Handing Ty Tessmann the lead, Maifield would come out of the chaos 4th. Setting about chasing down the leading HB, Maifield would go to the front, 3-laps from home after a mistake by the Canadian on the landing of the first triple.  An important win, the result was more significant due to the fact that point leader after Round 3 Spencer Rivkin ended up fourth.  Starting from 9th on the grid, the teenager benefited from Tessmann’s error to go third, only to give the position up to Jared Tebo with a mistake on the final lap.

In the other two races, pole sitter Shin Adachi would lead for two laps before getting out of shape entering the straight sending cars going in all directions with Ryan Cavalieri finding a way through to the lead.  Having started 6th, the Associated driver would go on take an easy win over Rick Hohwart.  Reedy Race title contender Dakotah Phend would get third in the race, the TLR driver doing well to recover from being delayed by other’s mistakes.  In the third race Steven Hartson continued his run of wins.  Starting 4th, the former World Champion went to the front after a mistake at the JConcepts kicker from row starter Tanner Denney. Denney would recover from the mistake to bring his TLR home second ahead of team-mate Dustin Evans.  Starting from 9th on the grid, the result would be Evan’s best 4WD result but for the 2WD points leader the result has come to late for him to add a second title to his 2011 Reedy Race crown.

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Rivkin opens final day at Reedy Race with win

Spencer Rivkin has opened the final day of the Reedy Race of Champions in the best way possible with a win that puts the Associated driver one point clear of reigning champion Ryan Maifield with three races remaining.  The overnight leader, Maifield would salvage a third from his first race of the day, the win going to his TLR team-mate Dakotah Phend.  With a 10 point result to drop after his non-finish in the opening round of 4WD yesterday, Phend’s win puts the 18-year-old right in the mix as the round effectively ended a number of key player’s chances.  Leader of the event at the end of the 2WD action, former champion Dustin Evans had another tough round, finishing only 6th as he did in round 1, meaning he will have to count one of the 6th place finishes.  The other winner of the round was Steven Hartson, the AE driver’s second 4WD pulling him up the ranking.

Having been beaten off his pole starting position by team-mate Kody Numedahl, Rivkin said ‘Apart from Kody getting the holeshot on me it was really good’.  Able to go to the front when Numedahl had a bobble on the second lap, the 17-year-old said he would have one mistake in the sweeper but such was his advantage it never threatened his lead.  The first driver to lay down a 16-second lap of the OCRC track, the 2WD World Champion said he was happy that even with the mistake he was still able to run the extra lap, his fastest so far 18-lap race time giving him the advantage should the overall result go to tiebreak.  Commenting on his race, Numedahl said, ‘I got the holeshot on Spencer but then had a bobble and after that he pulled away so I just kept an eye on the guys behind and cruised to second’.

Making the most of his pole position start to lead from tone to tone ahead of Rob Gillespie, Phend was another driver who was able to survive a ‘silly mistake’ such was the lead he had built up.  Having changed his 22-4 set-up for today, he said he ‘didn’t like it’ with the car ‘less comfortable to drive’ and for Round 4 he will go back to yesterday’s set-up.  Starting from 6th on the grid, Maifield was closing on 2nd placed Gillespie but lost time with a mistake coming onto the straight.  An error at the end of the straight on lap 6 effectively ended his changes of a third 4WD win.  Dropping to 5th he could only work his way back to 3rd.

Summing up his Round 3 win ahead of Yokomo’s Lee Martin, Hartson said, ‘I’m trying to take advantage of my front row starts’.  Starting twice on the front row today but also with a 10th spot, he said the race wasn’t perfect as he ‘crashed a few times but I was so far ahead it didn’t matter’.  Lining up in the same race as Hartson, it was not the start to the day which Ryan Cavalieri was looking for.  Starting 3rd a bad starting Brian Strange, from P2 on the grid, locked wheels with the 3-time Reedy Race Champion dropping him to last from where he would recover to a third making his chances of a fourth title a long shot for the Californian.

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Maifield leads at Reedy Race going into final day

Reigning Champion Ryan Maifield leads the way going into the final day of the Reedy Race of Champions tomorrow, the TLR driver ending Day 2’s action at OCRC Raceway with a second win in 4WD.  Starting Round 2 of 4WD from the front row of the grid alongside pole sitter Dakotah Phend, Maifield’s win gives him a 1-point advantage over his protege Spencer Rivkin.  Having won his opening race Rivkin backed that up with a second place behind Associated team-mate Kody Numedahl, Numedahl sitting 3rd in the points overnight.  In the other encounter, Steven Hartson took the win ahead of Ryan Cavalieri and Jared Tebo, Cavalieri sitting 4th tied with Tebo on 15 points.

‘Still doing my thing’, was Maifield’s reaction to ending the day at the top of the points.  Commenting on his latest win he said, ‘starting 2nd that time I tried to get Dakotah off the line but it didn’t happen.  Then I followed him around. I wasn’t really pushing as I was happy to settle for second as Dakotah was hauling ass.  I was just cruising to the finish and then he made a mistake and I was able to capitalise’.  Describing his TLR22-4 as ‘very predictable’ he said the handout Pro-Line tyres were getting ‘gummy’ adding ‘this was going to play into what everyone is doing’.  Having been the overnight leader en-route to his first Reedy Race win last year, Maifield wasn’t reading anything into it saying, ‘I’m just going keep doing what I’m doing’.

Starting from 6th on the grid, Rivkin said, ‘I had a bad start because someone wrecked in front of me and I lost ground’.  Setting the fastest lap of the round, the 17-year-old would work his way back up to third which then became second when Travis Amezcua had a bobble at the end of race. Going into the final four races just a point off Maifield, Rivkin said he was ‘pretty happy’ adding the plan for tomorrow was to change nothing and continue to ‘control what I can at my end’.

Getting a third having started Round 1 from 8th on the grid, Numedahl said he was determined to make the most of his front row start in Round 2.  Starting alongside poleman Brian Strange he ‘went for it, (and) timed it just right’ adding he ‘wouldn’t have been surprised if a jump start had been called’. With the field getting stacked up behind 2nd, he ‘backed it down a little’ which he said was a ‘weird driving style’. He said while he gave up 1-point in the first round, it was ‘a good start to the day’.  Looking to tomorrow he said ‘the car is awesome and doing everything like it should so hopefully we can keep things going, although it gets a little crazy in 4WD’.

The most crowned Reedy Race Champion, Cavalieri summed up his day with ‘I’m right there. I just need to get a win here & there tomorrow’.  The multiple World Champion continued, ‘We were all tied on points (for 3rd) at the end of 2WD and now the guys (Maifield & Rivkin) are leading’.  Happy with 8th to 3rd in the first one and 9th to 2nd in Round 2, the 3-time Reedy Race Champion said ‘I need to sneak in a win in tomorrow’.

For Dustin Evans, who led at the end of 2WD, it was a tough start to 4WD as he is ‘struggling with the car today’.  The former champion said while changes made it better for the second race, in which he finished 4th, its ‘not comfortable’.  He added having had good 2WD starting position 4WD are tougher, a 7th and a 9th being his starting spots in the first two.  The Colorado driver starts out the final day 6th, 5-points of team-mate Maifield.

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