Team Associated 2016 Reedy Off-road Race of Champions Victories in Open 2WD and 4WD

Thursday, Jan 28, 2016 at 12:00am UTC

This past weekend marked the 22nd running of the Reedy International Off-Road Race of Champions. Located under the sunny skies of Huntington Beach, OCRC Raceway once again was the stage for the best drivers from all over the world to compete for the coveted Open and Invitational titles. With the competition in the Open classes easily being the highest ever, staying clean and consistent would prove to be of the utmost importance on the challenging Reedy Race layout.

Qualifying
In the 2WD Open class, both Team Associated/Reedy drivers Cole Tollard and Joona Haatanen had a shot at the TQ after three rounds of qualifying. In the end, Haatanen came away with the overall TQ after setting the fastest time in the fourth and final round of qualifying. Joona led the Team Associated lockout for the double A-Main events.

In 4WD, Tollard was the one to beat as he TQ'd the first two rounds of qualifying. Trying to make it interesting, another Team Associated/Reedy Driver, Tommy Hinz, challenged Cole by taking round three of qualifying. In the fourth and final round of qualifying Cole secured his overall TQ by laying down a flawless run just shy of the only 18-lap run we would have seen all week.

Following the B-Main finals was the Junior Final. The Junior Final is for the rising stars who are 15 years of age and under who did not make the 2WD Open final. Starting on pole by qualifying the highest in the 2WD Open division was Team Associated/Reedy's Broc Champlin. Champlin took advantage of the TQ spot and never looked back to claim his first win as Reedy Race Junior Champion and secure a position in next year's event.

Finals
The format for the A-finals would be two 10-minute mains with the higher result in the second main being the tie-breaker. In 2WD Open, Haatanen continued so show that he was the fastest by leading the first main event from start to finish with a 10-second lead over fellow teammate Alex Kosciuszek. Cole Tollard finished third. This finishing order set the stage for an epic three-way battle going into the second main event.

In the second main event, Haatanen did not get the start he was looking for and fell back to third. Cole Tollard took an early advantage to gain the race lead while Nathan Bernal followed closely in second. After a few laps, Haatanen gathered it back up and took over the second position. Both Tollard and Haatanen went back and forth throughout the race, but in the end Cole was able to win the main, giving him a shot at the overall win. Haatanen could just barely seal the deal for the overall as a mistake on the last corner required turn-marshal assistance and allowed Kosciuszek to close the gap and finish just seven tenths back.

In the first main of Open 4WD, TQ Cole Tollard suffered a huge first-lap mistake, which allowed yet another Team Associated/Reedy driver, Brad Shearer, to take over the early lead. Unfortunately for Shearer, it was short-lived as he too made a mistake that would allow the stars from the 2WD class to rise to the top. Kosciuszek and Haatanen ended up breaking away from the field midway through the race until Kosciuszek found another gear and ran away with the first main victory. Haatanen finished second followed closely at the end by Shearer. After dropping back to tenth, Tollard recovered to finish fourth.

With the field locked and loaded and the final chance to get into next year's Invite class on the line, A2 of 4WD would be yet another epic race to watch. At the start of the tone, Tollard's bad luck continued as he fell back to the sixth position. He eventually regained the lead, but a crash left his car out of the race. This handed over the lead to Kosciuszek once again and he held on to the lead all the way to the end to claim the victory and a spot in the Invitational class for the 2017 event.

Team Associated and Reedy would like to congratulate Both Joona Haatanen and Alex Kosciuszek on a job well done. We would also like to thank OCRC Raceway, Scotty Ernest, Brent Thielke and everyone else behind the scenes that made this race one of a kind.

Thanks to Nick Wautlet for this report.

Products used, 2WD Open
#90002 RC10B5M Champions Edition
#260 Reedy Sonic 540-M3 Motor 7.5 Modified
#27001 Blackbox 410R 1S-2S Competition ESC w/Programmer
#27100 Reedy RS1206 Digital HV Hi-Speed Competition Servo
#322 Reedy LiPo 5300mAh 70C 7.4V Shorty

Products used, 4WD Open
#9063 B44.3 Factory Team Kit
#262 Reedy Sonic 540-M3 Motor 6.5 Modified
#27001 Blackbox 410R 1S-2S Competition ESC w/Programmer
#27100 Reedy RS1206 Digital HV Hi-Speed Competition Servo
#322 Reedy LiPo 5300mAh 70C 7.4V Shorty

Team Associated - Champions by Design