Ryan Cavalieri ran away with the first part of the 4WD race at the Hot Rod Hobby Shoot-Out and looked like he would cruise to an easy win until the hard-charging Ryan Maifield made it interesting at the end. Meanwhile Jared Tebo, who started the day in second place in the standings just 7 seconds behind Cavalieri waited in third for Ryan to make a mistake.

Who needs bowling trophies? Cavalieri collects the cash.

Maifield knows how to handle trophy girls. And a $50 bill too!

Cavalieri ran a consistent string of 19 second laps, including a ballistic 19.2 on lap 4 backed up by a 19.4 the next time around to take and hold the lead. Mike Truhe, xxx-4 was second in the early going with a 19.3 on lap two but Mike broke midway through the race and young Steve Hartson, driving a BJ inherited second spot. Steve also turned a 19.2 on lap 9 but he crashed on laps 12 and 14 to slide back to fifth. Watch for Steve in the future - he's just 14 years old!

Travis Amezcua on top of the hill. Yes, there were some traction rolls!

Jared Tebo -- the double was in the corner before the straight

Meanwhile, Travis Amezcua was working his Losi back to the top after problems on laps 1 & 3. While in fifth place he turned three straight 19.4s to close up on Maifield when on lap seven Truhe crashed and both Ryan & Travis got by.

Mike Truhe on top of the hill

Ryan Maifield coming up the face of the double just before the main straight

Maifield crashed on lap 10 letting Hartson and Amezcua into second and third, then Travis really turned up the wick, passing young Steve with a 19.1, then a 19.0, 19.2 and a 19.3 to start catching up to Cavalieri who was "cruising" in the mid-19s.

Jesse Robbers' xx-4 on the same double, followed by a right-hander

Cavalieri lands a double in the middle of the track

Maifield, however, was not to be denied. He passed Hartson with a 19.5 and stayed on pace with Amezcua until the next-to-last lap. Travis crashed twice, and both BJs of Maifield and Tebo went by. Cavalieri slowed down to make sure of the $100 win, and the charging Maifield and Tebo roared across the line just ½ second apart.

Greg Hodapp at the top of the hill.

So the third race winner and series winner is AE's Ryan Cavalieri winning a total of $450. Third in this race but second in the series is Jared Tebo with a total of $200.

Other cash winners are:

Greg Hodapp (X Factory) $100 as winner of race 1
Jesse Robbers (Losi) $50 as third finisher in Series. Consistancy pays off…
Ryan Maifield (AE) $50 for second place in race 3
Billy Fischer (Losi) $25 for third place in race 2