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.

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