Cavalieri led Team Associated to six wins at Horizon Hobby Off-Road Championships

0 Nov. 11, 2015, 2:33 p.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from Team Associated:
www.teamassociated.com

Team Associated Shines at Horizon Hobby Off-Road Championships

As the season turns from Summer to Fall, racers from the Midwest migrate indoors to race for the winter. One of the signature events of this time of year is hosted by Trackside Hobbies & Raceway just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now re-branded as the Horizon Hobby Off-Road Championships, racers from across the country visit the professionally run and maintained facility to see how they stack up against an impressive group of local talent.

Making the journey for Team Associated was 5x 2015 R.O.A.R. National Champion, Ryan Cavalieri, and newly crowned I.F.M.A.R. World Champion, Spencer Rivkin. Covering the four major modified classes, the duo top qualified all of them with Cavalieri starting first in 2WD, 4WD, and Short Course Modified with Rivkin taking the TQ in 2WD Truck Modified.

While Cavalieri won 2WD Modified Short Course with his SC5M and Rivkin won 2WD Modified Truck with his Reedy-powered T5M relatively unchallenged, the duo battled it out in the premier classes of 2WD and 4WD Modified Buggy. Tied for the overall win going in to A3 of 2WD Mod Buggy, Cavalieri made an early mistake that put Rivkin at the lead, who in turn bobbled, allowing Dustin Evans to inherit the lead while Rivkin and Cavalieri continued their battle. Ending up tied for the win, the I.F.M.A.R. tiebreaker rules used by the event awarded the overall win to Cavalieri. If R.O.A.R. tiebreaker rules had been used, the award would have gone to Rivkin. This just goes to show how close the racing was all weekend between the two Team Associated stars who both raced the just-announced B5M Champions Edition.

In 4WD Modified Buggy, Cavalieri went in to A3 with a victory and second place while Rivkin had suffered from a poor A1 and A2, but still had an outside shot at a podium finish. As the seconds ticked away it was clear that Rivkin had the pace to challenge Cavalieri for the victory, yet remained patient behind his teammate in order to secure the overall victory for Team Associated and the B44.3 for Cavalieri. Rivkin just missed out on the third step of the podium that was occupied by teammate Corey Liebherr who received a warm round of applause from his fellow local racers for a job well done.

Team Associated wasn't finished with the victories just yet. In the ultra-competitive 2WD 17.5 Buggy, it was the Reedy-powered B5M Factory Lite of Sarah Ann Ernst that rose above the rest. With the overall TQ and victories in A1 and A2, she showed her true speed and dominance in the most popular racing class in the U.S. right now. Also taking a victory not only for Team Associated, but for the Ernst family was Scotty Ernst in 2WD 17.5 Short Course with his Reedy-powered SC5M.

With another event and several victories checked off the calendar, Team Associated would like to thank the whole crew from Trackside Hobbies for their hospitality and congratulate them on hosting one of the best events of the year. See ya next year.

Team Associated Winning Vehicles