Day 2 opens at RROC with wins for Rheinard, Vejrak and Matsukura

A cold start to the second day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions in California, it was overnight points leader Marc Rheinard who got proceedings underway at Tamiya Raceway with his fourth win from five races. Winner of two encounters yesterday, Meen Vejrak would bring his tally to three with a very easy win in Race 2 over Nicolas Lee and defending champion Ronald Volker.  After a tough opening day that left him sitting 14th in the points, World Champion Naoto Matsukura registered his first win but declared the victory over Juho Levanen a ‘lucky’ one.

Pushed hard by Xray’s Alexander Hagberg in the latter half of the race, the pair having started on the front row, Rheinard said ‘because it’s way colder the car didn’t feel good’.  With the front biting and the rear loose, the 4-time champion said he tried to keep it safe and not push too hard. Set to start round 6 from 3rd behind Matsukura with Volker 8th on the grid, he said he would ‘drive with his brain a little bit’ adding he’d ‘be happy with a 2nd or 3rd’.

Starting on the outside of the front row alongside Team Associated’s Rick Hohwart, Vejrak said he ‘got a lucky start’ and once in front he was able to control the race with a ‘safe drive’.  Third in the overnight standings, the Yokomo driver said while it was a ‘good start to the day’ his BD7 had too much steering and was loose on the rear making it tricky to drive.  Hoping the weather warms up for the second of the day’s four races he said closer to the Round 6 he will decide whether to make a set-up change or not.

Running in the same race as Vejrak, team-mate Volker was frustrated with his starting draws for today’s action.  Starting from 8th on the grid, the same place he will start again in the next round, he managed to finish third behind Nicolas Lee. Having only looked at his starting order for Day 2 on arriving at the track this morning he said all he can hope for today is Top 3 finishes adding ‘hopefully that will be enough for a final podium placing’.  With starting from the back of the grid, he starts Round 7 from 9th, he said the racing is already difficult enough with his arch rival Rheinard having much better starting positions.  The German, who set the fastest lap of the round by a considerable margin, said with over half the event still to run ‘anything can happen’ and he would just take it round by round.

Matsukura said he only won because 1:8 Offroad World Champion Ty Tessmann rolled his HB 5-laps into the race while leading.  Although he was able to drive the rest of the race ‘easy’ to take the win he said compared to his key rivals he is not competitive and for Round 6 he will switch to a different car.

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Video – Invitational Round 4

Rheinard leads at RROC after ‘almost perfect day’

Marc Rheinard leads the way at the end of the first day of racing at the Reedy International Touring Car Race of Champions. An ‘almost perfect day’, the Tamiya driver capped off a run of three wins with a third in the day’s final round.  Chasing a record 5th title at the World famous event that now honours the memory of rc industry pioneer Mike Reedy, Rheinard holds a two points advantage over defending champion Ronald Volker as Meen Vejrak holds third with two more days of racing to come.  The fourth round of racing would see Christopher Krapp becoming the third multiple winner as he backed up his Round 2 victory with a win over Volker.  Pulling off the pass of the day to get by fellow Swede Alexander Hagberg, Viktor Wilck notched up his first win as did Akio Sobue when he led home Keven Hebert and Rheinard.

A two time winner of the event at Tamiya Raceway, 2006 & 2007, Rheinard said to end the first day at the top of the points is always a great way to start off but cautioned ‘there is still a long way to go’.  Set to start the opening race of Day 2 from pole position, the 4-time World Champion hoped he could keep his points tally low with another win. Commenting on his Round 4 race, the German said his TRF419 was good and he felt he could have challenged for the win until when running side by side with JJ Wang the HB driver got out of shape and they collided.  Pointing out the contact was not Wang’s fault and was just ‘an unlucky moment’ that was enough to deny him a chance of a ‘perfect day’.

Volker described his day’s performances of a win, 2 seconds and a third as ‘solid but only average’.  Adding that while the results give him a chance of a podium finish he added if he is to fight for the overall win he ‘need(s) a way better day’ tomorrow. Challenging Nicholas Lee for the lead of his race in Round 4 after pole starter Charlie Phutiyotin made a mistake on lap 6, Volker would make contact with the Singaporean driver through the sweeper. Having to wait to give back position this allowed Krapp’s Tamiya through for the win.

After a ‘rough start’ that left him last, Krapp said despite being very frustrated he just kept it rolling and it paid off.  Having had a huge off at the end of the straight on lap 3 of Round 3, the multiple World’s finalist said with the benefit of his tyre being almost new he was able to close a little on the leaders as he posted the fastest lap of the round. Thanking his mechanic Takayuki Kono for ‘a good job’ in getting his car ready after his earlier crash, Round 4 being brought forward by almost an hour in the schedule, he said once he got into the lead he was able to cruise to the finish.  His first visit to the Tamiya track, he said he was happy for his team as his win made them the most winning manufacturer of Day 1 while also putting him 5th in the points overnight.

Starting from 7th on the grid in the round’s opening race Sobue, who kicked off the day with a pair of second places, said his win brought a good finish to the day.  The 20-year-old who was star of the recent fourth round of the ETS in Austria when he mixed with Volker for the win, said his retirement in the previous round gave him the benefit of new tyres. With the fastest lap time of that heat, the World Championship finalist would also benefit from Freddy Sudhoff making contact with long time race leader Juho Levanen’s Associated and the earlier Wang and Rheinard moment.

‘Finally’ was Wilck’s reaction to winning what was the best of the day’s 12 encounters.  The sole Serpent driver in attendance at the Californian event in the invite class, he said after ‘unlucky heats and shit starts’ it was nice to end the day with a win even though it came the hard way. Contact with front row starter Meen Vejrak in the first corner caused both to spin, he said he then just went for it to try and get back as many of the positions lost as possible. Tagging Hagberg a number of times, he said when he finally pulled off the pass it ‘felt good’.  Elaborating on the pass he said with this year’s traction the hairpin after the sweeper was the only place on the track a pass could be executed highlighting the many attempted passes through the sweeper that went awry. Feeling ‘it’s pretty much over for the win’ as his former TRF team-mate Rheinard already has three wins, 10 of the 12 rounds to count, he said he will ‘still keep at it’ as over the remaining two days ‘anything can happen’.

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Video – Invitational Round 3

Rheinard continues winning way at RROC

Marc Rheinard’s winning run continued at the Reedy Race of Champions as the Tamiya driver took a third consecutive victory despite starting his 3rd race of the event from last on the grid.  Giving the German a perfect score so far, the round would see Meen Vejrak become the only other multiple winner as the Thai driver held off the challenge of reigning champion Ronald Volker.  In a re-run of Heat 1, Japan’s Naoki Akiyama notched up a first win with a tone to tone victory over Andrew Hardman.  The same heat would see Round 2 winner Christopher Krapp suffer a huge off at end of the straight heavily damaging his Tamiya.  For World Champion Naoto Matsukura the day didn’t improve with Freddy Sudhoff making contact with the Tamiya driver in the sweeper on lap 12, the impact forcing the Japanese ace to retire 3-laps later.

‘Not so bad, not so bad’, was Rheinard’s reaction to his win which was impressive considering drivers complaints about the narrow line making it difficult to overtake and the fact that Rheinard started the race 10th.  The first race up after a break from racing, he said there was ‘no grip’ making his Much More powered TRF419 ‘not so easy to drive’.  With a ‘good start’, he ‘just waited to see how the battle out front worked out’ knowing that Matsukura was slower than Sudhoff.  After the pair crashed he said he was able to take it easy and save his tyres for the day’s final encounter.  Starting 6th in Round 4, the German said it would be great to do a clean sweep but with team-mate Akio Sobue retiring at the start he should have the advantage of almost new tyres.  He also said with JJ Wang and Sudhoff proving very fast it was going to be a competitive heat.

Taking the lead when Volker got out of shape through the track’s famous kink, Vejrak said his day was ‘going a lot better than last year’, when the Thai driver found himself last in the points ranking at the end of the first day of racing.  Making contact with Volker’s car when he got out of shape, the former 200mm World Champion said the impact popped in the front of his bodyshell causing his BD7 to understeer slightly. Driving it safe he said he just stuck to his lines and this was enough to see off Volker’s challenge to retake the lead.  Starting from 5th on the grid Volker said he ‘got a lucky start (and) came out of the sweeper in first’. With his car loose for the first 2-minutes he said he got out of shape at the kink for a couple of laps before he finally lost it. Although his car was ‘faster’ than Vejrak’s going off line to try and pass saw his tyres pick up dirt and he struggled for the next few corners. With Vejrak making no mistakes he said he had to settle for second.  Disappointed with the result considering arch rival Rheinard got a third win he said at least his Yokomo team managed 1-2 finish in 2 of the 3 races.

With the Reedy Race his first race in the US, 15-year-old Akiyama was delighted with his win.  The Yokomo supported up & coming Japanese driver said he was under a lot pressure from fellow teenager Hardman towards the end of the race but luckily he was able to control his nerves to the finish.

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