Cavalieri biggest winner of opening Reedy Race encounter

Ryan Cavalieri, Brent Thielke and Travis Amezcua have opened their Reedy Offroad Race of Champions with victories of their respective races with former champion Cavalieri taking the biggest win in a race that featured three electric offroad World Champions.  The opening race of the 19th running of the famous event, the current World Champion cruised to a 7-second win over Jared Tebo with Ty Tessmann coming from 8th on the grid to complete the Top 3.

After the race Cavalieri said his Associated B4.1 was really good but added he expected more of a battle.  Starting from pole, the American said the woop section played out bad’ for the rest of the pack giving him enough of a break that he could focus on his own race and open up a comfortable gap.  Set to start on pole for the 2nd of the six 2WD races before the drivers switch to their 4WD buggies, Cavalieri said he hopes for a similar result then.

Tebo who started from 6th on the grid, described his 2nd place finish as ‘awesome’.  Making big changes to his RB6’s set-up after yesterday’s practice he said his buggy was not too good but added he now knows what set-up he needs to run and his is very confident about the rest of the races.

In the second race Brent Thielke, the man responsible for putting on the Reedy Race ‘show’, took the win but only after a battle with the pole starting TLR of Matt Castellano which saw the pair swap the lead of a number of times.  While the front row of the grid battled up front, reigning champion Joern Neumann, who arrived at the track this morning to a reserved ‘VIP Champion’ parking spot right at the front door of the West Coast R/C Raceway, came through from 9th on the grid up to third looking like a serious treat for the win.  Unfortunately for the German a mistake at the end of the straight in which his buggy flipped dropped him back but a late mistake by Castellano would let him through to finish 2nd, a result he said was ‘really good especially for 2WD on dirt’.

The final race of the opening round produced the closest finish with Amezcua just holding off Atsushi Hara by .149 of a second.  Hara who started second behind Amezcua managed to find a way passed the Durango driver but then lost it on the double jump on the entry to the main straight.  One lap later Amezcua made the exact same mistake but unfortunately for Hara he could capitalise as he collected the foot of Joern Neumann who was marshalling Amezcua’s DEX210. Amezcua said he went a ‘little too much’ with the set-up changes he made last night and will go back to a lighter spring for his next race.  Happy with the win Amezcua said ‘it was a little lucky but this race is all about luck’.

Hara, who is running a Kyosho in mid motor configuration, said he just tried to manage the race as best he could and so starting & finishing second was a decent result. Having managed to make his buggy more stable for the opening race he said the mid motor has some good points on the track where he is much faster than his rivals running rear motor set-ups but one spot he has a disadvantage is the double coming on to the straight but every run with the car he gets more confident with it and so he has a good feeling for the rest of the event.

Round 1 2WD Buggy
Race 1
1.(1) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 15/5:08.294
2.(6) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 15/5:15.048
3.(8) Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:17.019
4.(10)Lee Martin – Tamiya – 14/5:00.462
5.(2) Neil Cragg – Associated – 14/5:03.149
6.(3) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:03.149
7.(7) Chad Due – Associated – 14/5:10.161
8.(9) Cody Tuner – Kyosho – 14/5:11.627
9.(5) Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 14/5:12.937
10.(4)Peter Pinisch – Associated – 14/5:17.957

Race 2
1.(2) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/5:13.475
2.(9) Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 15/5:15.561
3.(1) Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:18.116
4.(10)Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:18.996
5.(5) Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:03.873
6.(3) Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – 14/5:06.717
7.(6) Rick Hohwart – Associated – 14/5:09.629
8.(7) Tanner Denney – Associated – 14/5:17.421
9.(8) Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – 14/5:19.593
10.(4)Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – 14/5:20.883

Race 3
1.(1) Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – 15/5:17.174
2.(2) Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – 15/5:17.323
3.(4) Kody Numedahl – Associated – 14/5:01.816
4.(8) Steven Hartson – Associated – 14/5:02.186
5.(3) Rene Trauner – Yokomo – 14/5:08.419
6.(7) Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:10.334
7.(6) Paul Bradby – Associated – 14/5:10.694
8.(10)Josh Numan – Associated – 14/5:13.660
9.(5) Brian Kinwald – Associated – 14/5:14.524

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Tebo tops practice at Reedy Race

Kyosho’s Jared Tebo set the pace in practice for the Reedy Race of Champions, the America topping the times sheets at West Coast RC Raceway in California in both 2WD & 4WD.  Although times have no meaning due to the head to head race format of the world famous race, they do give an indication of each drivers form with Tebo declaring himself happy to end Day 1 as the fastest of the 29 invited drivers who will battle for the 19th Reedy Race title over the next three days.  In 2WD it was defending Champion Joern Neumann who was 2nd fastest, with his Durango team-mate Travis Amezcua the closest on pace to Tebo in 4WD.

Over the three round of practice the drivers got today for each class, Tebo said he used each of the 5-minute runs to try different shock settings with a piston change on his 4WD for the final practice giving the buggy a really good feeling allowing him to post the fastest run of the day by almost 4-seconds from Amezcua.  Commenting on his 2WD he said he feels he would like to try a few more options as the rear is a little loose but added that he is not sure that he should ‘go messing with set-up’ for the first race tomorrow as overall his RB6 is comfortable to drive.  Unlike normal races where outright speed is what you look for in practice, he said its a fine line between speed and drivability for this type of racing.

Suffering with a cold Neumann also felt his DEX210 was a little loose on the rear, the German putting this down to his rear tyres, which after three runs still look like the they just came out of their packaging. With little he can do about the tyres, hoping they will come in soon, he will reduce the anti-squat in the hope of improving the car.  Although he didn’t post a Top 10 practice time in 4WD, the European Champion said his DEX410 felt good and being easy to drive he planned to leave it as is for the first of his races in the morning.

Amezcua was also happy with his 4WD Durango, the American making only a number of small adjustments over the day.  Easy to drive he said he can push hard if needs to and is pretty confident going into the racing.  On his 2WD he said that he plans to look over his buggy tonight and make a few more small adjustments for tomorrow.  Easy and safe to drive, allowing him to set the 9th fastest time, he said he could do with finding a small bit of speed but thinks with the planned changes he should be ready to go racing.

Setting the third fastest time in 4WD Hupo Honigl said he was on target for a faster run in P3 until he crashed with another buggy twice on the main straight.  The Austrian, who felt conditions were ‘surprisingly slippery’, said while his DEX410 was good his 2WD needs work if he is to be any way competitive tomorrow.

Team Losi Racing claimed the 4th fastest time in both classes with 2011 Champion Dustin Evans their top man in 2WD while the race’s youngest driver Dakotah Phend took the oldest buggy on the market to within 6 seconds of fastest 4WD time.  Evans said both his buggies felt ‘awesome’ with his TLR22 needing no changes over the day. On his XXX-4 he said a switch to a hand made steering rack, which in testing made the buggy oversteer, improved the steering a lot especially through the sweeper at the end of the straight and it now feels ‘good to go racing with’.  Phend said he was really happy with his 4WD and while his 2WD was also good he needed to drive it a bit better in the beginning of the runs and cut out the small errors he has been making.

Tamiya Racing Factory’s Lee Martin, who has been over in the US for the past week for some testing as well as some vacation time with his family, took his TRF201 to the third fastest time and in 4WD managed 5th ahead of Associated’s Cody Numedahl and HB’s Atsushi Hara who was also 7th fastest in 2WD.  With HB not having an electric offroad chassis, Hara who put on one of the best races of last year’s Reedy Race when he had a great battle with Ryan Cavalieri in one of the heats, is running a Durango in 4WD and a mid motored Kyosho in 2WD.  In his final 4WD practice the Japanese ace who hasn’t raced electric offroad competitively for a number of years, lost what he jokingly described as a ‘very fast’ rear wheel which over took his buggy down the main straight.  HB team-mate Ty Tessmann, the reigning US 1:8 Offroad National Champion is running Associated in both classes for the event.

Fastest Associated at the end of practice in 2WD was the name who has taken over the running of the Reedy Race of Champions in recent years, Brent Thielke.  Behind the AE team-manager, taking his B4.2 to the 6th fastest time was his star driver Ryan Maifield while in 4WD Numedahl was the quickest of the team’s drivers with Neil Cragg the next quickest with the 8th fastest time.

2WD Practice Times
1. Jared Tebo – 15/5:03.537
2. Joern Neumann – 15/5:06.774
3. Lee Martin – 15/5:07.046
4. Dustin Evans – 15/5:07.556
5. Brent Thielke – 15/5:11.885
6. Ryan Maifield – 15/5:17.040
7. Atsushi Hara – 15/5:17.531
8. Matt Castellano – 15/5:17.851
9. Travis Amezcua – 15/5:19.467
10.Josh Numan – 15/5:20.301

4WD Practice Times
1. Jared Tebo – 16/5:10.943
2. Travis Amezcua – 16/5:14.720
3. Hupo Honigl – 16/5:15.871
4. Dakotah Phend – 16/5:16.698
5. Lee Martin – 16/5:17.127
6. Kody Numedahl – 16/5:19.885
7. Atsushi Hara – 16/5:21.005
8. Neil Cragg – 15/5:01.005
9. Steven Hartson – 15/5:02.863
10.Chad Due – 15/5:03.968

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World’s best ready to battle at 19th Reedy Race

The Reedy Race of Champions is one of the most famous races in the world and was the brainchild of one of the sports greatest pioneers Mike Reedy.  Looking to celebrate his birthday by hosting a race, in 1987 the motor guru created an all new concept for an event in which 32 of the best offroad drivers in the World where invited to race both 2WD and 4WD buggies in a series of head to head races with the driver achieving the best points tally over the 8 races being declared Champion.  First run in 1987, when Chris Allec took the title, the 2013 Reedy Race of Champions is the 19th running of the event which after an 8-year break due to a decline in the 4WD class was resurrected in 2009 when Ryan Cavalieri won the title at the Yatabe Arena in Japan, which is so far the only time the event has been hosted outside of the USA.

Hosted for a third consecutive year at the impressive West Coast RC Raceway facility in La Mirada, California, this year’s event will see 29 drivers made up of 18 Americans, 8 Europeans, 2 Japanese and one Canadian, battle it out for the title with the US determined to see the title back in the hands of an American after Joern Neumann last year became the first European to ever win the prestigious trophy that is engraved with names of the sport’s greats like Cliff Lett, Masami Hirosaka and Brian Kinwald.  A former two time winner Kinwald is one of this year’s invited competitors as is Rick Hohwart who won the event 21 years ago.  A nice touch by the organisers to ensure the founder of the race, who passed away in 2011, is not forgotten is that the first pit table in the main pitting area has been laid out as Mike would have done so back in the day with much of his original equipment including a number of the all conquering Reedy brushed motors he was most famous for.

With the line up for each of the 12 races different, each driver in the invitational class has been designated a permanent number for the four day event with No.1 being carried by defending Neumann, No.2 by 2011 Champion Evans and No.3 by 2010 champion Cavalieri.  In addition to the main event there is also an open class, which runs the more traditional race format of heats followed by finals, with the prize for winning that an invitation to race with the big guns for next year’s Reedy Race of Champions title.  Chad Due is the 2012 2WD Open Champion and carries the No.15 on his Associated in the Invitation class and is joined by 4WD Open Champion Josh Numan who is No.16 on the entry list.  Unfortunately former World Champion Hayato Matsukura who was due to carry the No.5 is unable to attend this year’s event. The event features a controlled tyre with the front tyre being JConcepts ‘Gold Barcode’ fitted with their ‘Profile’ closed cell insert while the rear tyre is Proline’s ‘MC Surburbs’ together with their closed cell insert.

Commenting on the event, current World Champion Cavalieri said the Reedy Race can be stressful as the outcome is not always down to your own driving but its a lot of fun.  Racing the same format so much, the Associated driver said the heads up racing makes a nice change and at the end always gives everyone plenty to talk about.  Living just 25-minutes from West Coast R/C Raceway, this is Cavaieri’s home track but due to the unique format of the race he said this gives him no advantage.

One of the few drivers to have raced both eras of the Reedy Race, Brian Kinwald said the event is one of the hardest races in the world to win as even if your the fastest driver on the day it doesn’t mean your going to come away with the overall win.  While many of the younger drivers will not remember the significances of Mike Reedy’s input into r/c racing Kinwald said the history behind the race makes it also one of the most prestigious events to be able to compete in.

A race that launched TLR’s Dustin Evans international career when he won in 2011, the American said he grew up following the race and then to win it on its return to the USA was a very special moment for him.  The former US National Champion said the event creates a lot of great racing but is hard mentally as you can’t get too excited when you win a race as your going to need to try do it a couple more times.  Evans team-mate Dakotah Phend, who at 15-years-old is the youngest driver in the event, may not be fully aware of the history of the race but is a big fan of all the heads up racing.  For the World Championship finalist winning the races shows that you are a really good racer.

Kyosho’s Jared Tebo said the race ‘rates up there’ as one of the best there is and it is one he wants to add to his CV.  The former World Champion said last year he tried to race strategically by working out what he needs to do in each race but it didn’t work out.  This year he plans to race everyone and just get passed any car that is in front of him.  Commenting on the track layout, which is getting a positive response from the driver, Tebo said its better than last year with the wider line making for most passing opportunities but he added its still going to be tough racing.

Today’s schedule is made up of 6 rounds of practice, alternating between 2WD & 4WD, with the serious business getting underway tomorrow with the first four of the 8 races that will determine the 2013 Reedy Race of Champions winner.  The first 2 rounds of practice was all about breaking in tyres on the freshly prepped track after which the 29 drivers drew a starting number that correspondents to the grids of the races with the race listing being held over till the morning to build up things up but race officials have said the draw has created what are certain to be a number of world class showdowns between.

2013 Reedy Race of Champions Entry list
1. Joern Neumann – Team Durango – Germany
2. Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – USA
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – USA
4. Brian Kinwald – Associated – USA
5. Rick Hohwart – Associated – USA
7. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – USA
8. Neil Cragg – Associated – United Kingdom
9. Lee Martin – Tamiya – United Kingdom
10.Ryan Maifield – Associated – USA
11.Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – Austria
12.Dakotah Phend – Team Losi Racing – USA
13.Peter Pinisch – Associated – Austria
14.Kohta Akimoto – Kyosho – Japan
15.Chad Due – Associated – USA
16.Josh Numan – Associated – USA
17.Atsushi Hara – HB/HPI Racing – Japan
18.Kody Numedahl – Associated – USA
19.Steven Hartson – Associated – USA
21.Paul Bradby – Associated – United Kingdom
22.Ty Tessmann – HB/HPI Racing – Canada
23.Stefan Pfeihofer – Associated – Germany
24.Matt Castellano – Team Losi Racing – USA
25.Cody Tuner – Kyosho – USA
26.Brent Thielke – Associated – USA
27.Rene Trauner – Yokomo – Austria
28.Tanner Denney – Associated – USA
29.Travis Amezcua – Team Durango – USA
30.Mike Truhe – Team Losi Racing – USA
31.Ryan Lutz – Team Durango – USA

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