Red RC » R On Road

May 29, 2016

Volker stretches advantage at RROC with 5th win

Having assumed the lead at the Reedy Race of Champions this morning from overnight leader & defending champion Marc Rheinard, Ronald Volker is starting to stretch his advantage with the Yokomo driver making it three wins from three races today at Tamiya Raceway. With himself and Rheinard claiming a win a piece in the second race of the day maintaining the single point separation, Round 7 would see the duo draw to run in the same race. Starting from 3rd on the grid with Rheinard at the back, Volker would survive contact with his team-mate Loic Jasmin, and a call from the referee for a Stop & Go, to win. While a good race from Rheinard would see him snatch 2nd from Ryan Cavalieri on the final dash to the finish line, the result leaves Volker with a two point lead as they again start in the same race in similar grid positions for the 8th of 12, & final race of the day. Very much a battle of the Germans this year, the round would see fellow countryman Christopher Krapp add a third win ahead of Tamiya team-mate Akio Sobue to move him into a provisional overall podium placing. Kicking off the round, Race 1 would be the most exciting encounter as a trio of Team Associated drivers battled for their first win of the 19th running of the Reedy Race. In the end Juho Levanen would take the win after Rick Hohwart spun but that set up another great battle for second as the Reedy electronics frontman tried to get passed his team driver Keven Hebert.

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May 28, 2016

Volker leads as Reedy Race at the mid point

With half of the 12 rounds of heads up racing complete at the Reedy Race of Champions, it is Ronald Volker who narrowly leads the way from defending champion Marc Rheinard. The sixth round of racing would see the early title contenders maintain equilibrium as both drivers recorded wins, the other race going to Round 4 winner Randy Caster. The only time both drivers don’t line up in the same races today, it was Rheinard who laid down the gauntlet after a disappointing start to Day 2 as he won the opening race of the round from fourth on the grid ahead of P8 starter Viljami Kutvonen and Naoto Matsukura. Starting his encounter from 3rd, Volker however would match his fellow German to win ahead of 3rd in the overall standings Akio Sobue to make it a neutral round in terms of the point divide between himself and Rheinard. Two pretty straight forward races the third race would provide all the action. While Caster would complete a tone to tone win from pole, behind him there was a great battle between Austria’s Thomas Pumpler, American Touring Car stalwart Rick Hohwart and for a time Juho Levanen. Pumpler would hold his nerve to finish second, himself and Hohwart high-fiving after their crowd pleasing tussle.

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May 28, 2016

RROC Day 2 opens with wins for Krapp, Volker & Kutvonen

With California’s ‘June Gloom’ delaying the start of the second day’s action at the Reedy Race of Champions, when racing did get underway on the low traction conditions it was Christopher Krapp, Ronald Volker and Viljami Kutvonen who took the wins. With the 5th round again seeing Volker line up against defending champion Marc Rheinard, the main attention would be on Race 2. Starting side by side on the second row, Rheinard having the advantage of lining up on the inside, the prospects of a repeat of the great battles yesterday would be short lived. Coming out of the sweeper, Rheinard’s Tamiya would spin out dropping him to the back allowing Volker to bide his time in getting passed early leader Andrew Hardman. Hardman would hold on to finish second as an attempt by the recovering Rheinard to pass the Canadian saw him get spun out by the lapped VBC of Ryan Maker. Having established a lead Volker’s race wasn’t without drama, holding comfortable lead the Yokomo driver somehow survived a huge impact when he collected Keven Hebert’s Associated which suffered a shutdown on the main straight. In the opening race, Krapp registered his second win as he capitalised on his pole starting position to win easily ahead of Ryan Cavalieri. In the third race, RROC Rookie Viljami Kutvonen also made the most of a P1 grid position to win but couldn’t let up as Tamiya’s Akio Sobue chased in second. World Champion Naoto Matsukura would finish a distant third.

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May 28, 2016

Rheinard leads RROC at the end of Day 1

Defending champion Marc Rheinard leads the Reedy Race of Champions at the end of the Day 1, the Tamiya driver taking an important win in the day’s closing race as he again went head to head with arch rival Ronald Volker. With Volker pulling off an epic pass on Rheinard in the previous round, the pair started their fourth race of the day side by side on the back row setting the stage for a showdown that wasn’t to disappoint. While Volker got the initial jump on his fellow German, he would have to check up to avoid hitting pole starter EJ Evans, allowing Rheinard to go second behind Barry Baker. A winner in Round 3, Baker would hold three of the best drivers in the business at bay for six laps but when Rheinard found a way through so too did Volker and World Champion Naoto Matsukura. With three & a half minutes complete Volker was all over the lead Tamiya, getting on the inside of Rheinard in the centre section before the kink Volker tried a pass. Side by side they would touch in the kink with Volker coming off the worst as his Yokomo rolled. With Rick Hohwart slipping through Volker would finish third as Rheinard won by 0.9 of a second. In the other encounters, starting from pole Meen Vejrak would register his first win taking Race 1 ahead of last place starter Christopher Krapp and Akio Sobue who finds himself third overall overnight. The same race would see Ryan Cavalieri’s impressive run come undone as had a coming together with AE team-mate Juho Levanen, the Offroad star not happy with the Finn saying afterwards, ‘You can’t do much when your ball jammed by your team-mate’. In a somewhat chaotic Race 2, Associated driver Randy Caster would benefit to take a comfortable win from the back of the grid.

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May 28, 2016

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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May 27, 2016

Rheinard posts 1st win as Tamiya sweeps Round 2

Reigning Champion Marc Rheinard has registered the first win in his quest for a 6th Reedy Race of Champions title. Second in the opening round ahead of early title favourite Ronald Volker, Rheinard would take an easy win in the second encounter which would be dominated by Tamiya. In the opening race of the round Christopher Krapp went one better than Round 1 to take the win ahead of first round winner Ryan Cavalieri. TRF team-mate Akio Sobue claimed the Race 2 win having withstood a challenge from Volker. In contrast to his first race, a good start would allow Rheinard to go to the front as he got around the outside of pole sitter Antoni Caretti through the first corner. From there he cruised to a victory by almost half a lap as Meen Vejrak and Viljami Kutvonen provided the entertainment battling over second, Round 1 retiree Vejrak holding off the Finn for 2nd. Opening the event with a win and running Round 2 in the same race as Rheinard, World Champion Naoto Matsukura would finish only 6th after a mistake but struggling with his TRF419 he is set to join his team-mates in running a carbon chassis for Round 3.

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May 27, 2016

Cavalieri, Matsukura & Volker win opening RROC encounters

The opening round of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions produced pretty straight forward wins for Ryan Cavalieri, Naoto Matsukura and Ronald Volker, with only World Champion Matsukura forced to work for his win. Starting the opening race of the 19th running of the iconic event from 3rd on the grid, early patience from Cavalieri would pay with mistakes from pole sitter Rick Hohwart and early leader Eric Albano on the same lap handed the Associated driver the lead. Hohwart would get second followed by Reedy Race debutant Viljami Kutvonen who came through from 6th on the grid. Race 2 would prove to be the most entertaining of the 3 as a recovering Chrstopher Krapp put in a huge charge in the final minute to catch his Tamiya team-mate Matsukura who probably wouldn’t have held off the German had the race gone an extra lap. Having started on pole Andrew Hardman would complete the Top 3. The most heavily loaded of the races, Race 3 would see reigning champion Marc Rheinard and Volker go head to head. Volker had the advantage of starting from pole and dominated the race while contact at the start from P4 left Rheinard at the back. The Tamiya driver would recover to take a distant 2nd with team-mate Akio Sobue 3rd.

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May 27, 2016

Kyle Spiteri takes Maltese 200mm Championship title

The final round of the 2016 Maltese Onroad Championship was held at the IRMCC track in Pembroke. In the 1/10th 200mm F2 category, Kyle Spiteri (Xray) would seal the championship thanks to a TQ and win at the finale to take the title from Xray team mates Charles Vassallo and William Mallia.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]