22nd RROC opens with wins for Cavalieri, Evans & Numedahl

The 22nd running of the Reedy Race of Champions opened with wins for former Champions Ryan Cavalieri and Dustin Evans, but it was Kody Numedahl’s win that provided the most entertainment.  Starting from 9th on the grid, the Associated driver would see off a late charge from a recovering Spencer Rivkin. With both drivers wheelying across the finish line Numedahl took the win from the World Champion by 0.044 of a second.  In the other 2 encounters Cavalieri and Evans took wins from 2nd on the grid, Evans winning the most stacked race of the opening round from TLR team-mate Dakotah Phend.

Commenting on his race, Numedahl, who would go to the front after contact with early leader Travis Amezcua, said after a ‘shaky first lap’ he benefited from his rivals ‘one by one wrecking at the triple’.  Moving into second after Rivkin made contact with the second placed Carson Wernimont, an error by Amezcua put the AE designer in the hunt for the win.  After the sweeper at the end of the straight Numedahl would try a pass on the inside but ended up touching the rear wing of the Durango, the two cars tangling.  Numedahl would get going first admitting himself he expected to be called up by the referees but no call came.  Giving his view on the incident, Amezcua who led for 10 of the 16 laps before finishing 3rd, said ‘They made it clear at the drivers briefing that if you hit someone from behind or spin them out there would be a penalty but he (Numedahl) just drove.  I want to talk to them (the referees) to find out why no penalty was called’.

Having got the first race start abort after he jumped the start, Rivkin said ‘It was good but it could have been better’.  The 17-year-old said ‘I had a rough 3-minutes after I touched Carson and waited. I should have been more patient in trying to get by him’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race as he chased down Numedahl he said ‘I’m still pretty happy with a 2nd so its on to the next race and hopefully I can repeat a good finish’.

Winning the opening race from Steven Hartson, Cavalieri was able to get the jump on pole sitter Jared Tebo off the line for a lead he would never relinquish.  Starting from 2nd on the grid, the 3-time Reedy Race Champion said the outside of the grid had a better groove and that helped him to drive around the outside of Tebo.  Hartson was closing on Cavalieri until a small error just before entering the main straight. After bad opening lap on which he dropped to 5th, Tebo would recover to 3rd but was made work for it by Chad Due, the Associated driver coming onto the last lap on the rear wing of the Kyosho but making a mistake after the first triple that gave Tebo enough breathing room to finish third.

The 2011 Reedy Race Champion, Evans would also win from starting 2nd on the grid.  The third of the 2WD encounters, it was Australia’s Kyle McBride who led the way for the first half of the race.  The Associated driver would come undone when he came up short on the second triple which was enough to let Evans go to the front where he would stay to the end while Phend came through from 10th to finish half a second behind. Commenting on the race Evans said ‘I tried to get the holeshot but Kyle got a good start so I didn’t push the issue.  A stacked heat I decided to jusy follow until he made a mistake’.  Making a mistake while in the lead, he said ‘I was cruising and then rolled which made the race a little more stressful than it needed to be.  The first round is always nervous so its good to start with a win’.  A loaded race, reigning champion Ryan Maifield looked like getting a good result from his 9th starting position.  Getting up to third after an inside pass on Yokomo’s Lee Martin, the TLR driver would have a rollover at the end of the straight damaging his rear wing with some rough laps to follow.  In the end he would finish 5th behind Rob Gillespie and ahead McBride.

View our event image gallery here.

Evans tops 2WD practice at Reedy Race

Dustin Evans set the pace in 2WD practice at the Reedy Race of Champions, the former champion heading a TLR 1-2 from reigning champion Ryan Maifield.   Setting the fastest consecutive laps in the third of the three rounds of practice, Evans was 2/10ths faster than Maifield with HB’s Ty Tessmann completing the Top 3 as the track got considerably faster.  Setting the fastest lap of the day in P3 with an 18.6 second lap, Ryan Cavalieri ended 2WD practice fourth quickest ahead of AE team-mate Kody Numedahl with Jared Tebo rounding out the Top 6.

While times count for little in the unique heads up racing format of the Reedy Race, Evans said his ‘car was awesome’.  Winner of the event in 2011, when the race was held at the since closed West Coast RC, he said ‘I have spent a lot of time here (at OCRC) and my car as been awesome from the first practice’.  Making a small change for P2, he went back for the final practice saying he couldn’t ‘ask for anything more’ from the car and he’s ready to go racing.  Asked about the track he replied ‘I love it’ adding ‘it suits my style of driving and I adapted to it straight away’. Pitting directly across from Evans, Maifield summed up his 2WD performance as ‘fine’, issues with his 4WD clearly occupying his thoughts.

Tessmann summed up practice as ‘pretty good’. Having made little changes to his D216 over the three rounds, the Canadian said they are ‘making progress’.  In P3 he said the car suffered from push and they needed to try something for the first race tomorrow to get more steering.  Waiting for the handout JConcepts tyres to break in, the 1:8 World Champion said with the tyre wear different every year at this race it is hard to predict when they will come good.

Multiple Reedy Race Champion Cavalieri said his B5M ‘got better every run’ despite the fact he ‘did change anything on the car’.  With the ‘grip getting better’, the former World Champion said this was helping his car come around to the track.  With drivers getting to do a practice start at the end of their third practice, he said ‘the end of the straight feels more narrow’ and ‘there are some sketchy spots going through the jumps with everyone together’.

‘Going good’ was Numedahl reaction to setting the 5th fastest time. Describing his car as ‘really easy to drive’, the B5M designer said he would like to get a bit more steering for tomorrow.  Changing the front wing position from the top to the bottom of the shock tower, he said he wasn’t sure he liked the change and will go back to the top for racing.  Having felt he needed more power for the triples, he said increasing the power settings on his Reedy speedo had helped with the jumps but he said now at the end of the straight if he misses his entry the car is going to end up in the wall.

Having not been happy with his performance after the first two practices, Tebo said things were ‘getting better’ adding ‘I think we’ll be good for tomorrow’.  He said while he made small changes to his RB6 the improvement mostly came from the grip getting better.  Asked about how he expected racing to go after his practice start, he said ‘2WD going to be a lot more hectic’ adding ‘you need to drive really square into the triples so the guys behind can really mess you up’.

Top European at the end of 2WD practice would be Polish ace Michal Orlowski.  The factory Schumacher driver said having started out the day with forward traction a ‘really big problem’ so to end up 9th fastest he was ‘so happy’.  Having to completely change his car, including using a kit conversion that moves the motor position 30mm further back in the car, the 14-year-old said now looking for more steering they will switch to a softer front spring.  A star of the Euro Offroad Series and making the final in both 2WD & 4WD at the World Championships in Japan, he said the track here at OCRC is very different to what he is used to but he is enjoying this year’s layout and bigger jumps.

View our event image gallery here.