2011 TM Lights Round of Decatur

The 2011 TM Lights Round of Decatur was the final round of the 2011 TM Lights season. It was held at the Decatur Raceway in Decatur, Illinois.

The Round of Decatur was the second of the two races in which all three divisions competed in the same round; the season-opening Round of Las Vegas was the other.

Pre-race storylines
White Mountain Motorsports folded prior to the Round of Decatur, meaning that with the team's withdrawal only one of the three races would have a full field.

Chad Lyndie was replaced by Danny Savin in the No. 39 Lenard for the Lenard Development Team.

Also, Cameron Taylor replaced Bruce Wilkinson in the No. 171 Volpi for Gravity Racing, Inc. after Wilkinson failed a league-mandated drug test.

The cars in each of the three divisions were put into each of the three races by random draw.

Race one
This was the only combo group to have a full field of 42 cars, but only 41 started – Bernhard Strauss blew up on the pace lap.

The first of the three races that made up the Round of Decatur was incredibly boring, with a rather amusing situation at the start. Stephanie McGlynn, starting from pole, self-spun in the first corner and didn't hit anyone. Bernie Fellows made a bit of a fool of himself by eliminating both himself and Gavril Tatarescu in what was a pretty stupid collision at the top of the Hill.

In the last few laps, Doug Baker had stomped the field, leading every single lap, but Morgan Hamburg – who, by this point, had become a moving chicane – held Baker up long enough to cost him the win. Dean Rickenbacher was the beneficiary, erasing a five-second lead and taking the victory.

The top 10

 * For the full results, click here.

Race two

 * NOTE: Races 2 and 3 had 40-car fields.

The second race proved to be better than the first, as Lorne Roth and Chris Davenport, the two title favorites, were both in this group. Unfortunately, neither qualified well, so it appeared to be a very dull championship battle between them. But Thurston Blood, Buffy Boreanaz, and Joe Branch were all there to make things fun! But there were a few drivers in this group who, in the eyes of their fellow competitors, earned more hatred than anything Mike Whitmore did in one race.

DeAndre Berkowitz did exactly what Stephanie McGlynn did in the first corner, except he nearly wiped out Jose Luis Martinez, who was subbing for the injured Arturo Ortega, in the process.

Thurston Blood's thirst for the title was obvious, once he got into the lead (at around Lap 5 or so), he made a stake in the lead that would last for the rest of the race, except for a lap after he pitted. It looked to be a good day for Power Steering, Inc., as he and teammate Buffy Boreanaz ran 1-2 for most of the race, with Altamont Autosport driver Lang Chong Kun in third.

Further back, there were shenanigans.

On the first lap, Jennifer Goodwin gets dumped by Garrick Kolby after Kolby leans on her right rear in Turn 3 for a good half second. Not really Kolby's fault, because Goodwin did move over on him just a bit – but then again, Kolby didn't have to make a move at the last second.

On Lap 2, Crash Davenport spun off the track all by himself. Amazingly, though, Davenport was still on the pace and caught up to the rest of the pack before long.

Lap 3 saw the first of the more questionable maneuvers. DeAndre Berkowitz loses all goodwill he had from Stan Rosenstreter and chops Rosie off as they pass under the Hotel. However, Rosie was already there, sending both cars off into the sand trap. Anyone who witnessed Louis Kingston and Joel Rodriguez's clash in the same part of the track would know that the wall at the end of Turn 3 + the sand trap = many barrel rolls. That's exactly what happened to Berkowitz, eliminating him and Rosenstreter on the spot, and infuriating the South African. Neither driver was injured, but Rosenstreter had a few loud words with the Israeli afterwards.

On Lap 8, Roger Kendall spins off the track in the Snake, and then merges back on the track – right in front of Nico Wechsler, eliminating the German immediately.

Greg Woodard and Lorne Roth both join the spin class in the Snake on Lap 10 while running nose to tail. Woodard received significantly less damage because he hit Roth, and not the wall. They were running 19th and 20th.

The second of the questionable maneuvers occurred on Lap 10, involving Kolby and Davenport. Kolby was passed by Davenport in the Snake, but Kolby wasn't too fond of that, and as soon as he got to Turn 3, laid on Davenport's right rear corner until Kolby spun Davenport into the Armco fence. Kolby earned a trip to the Steward's Office for this. Davenport, for his part, limped his way back to the pits, in hopes that repairs could be made.

On the next lap, Davenport is on the end of the Farmer's Straight, keeping his car to the right side, well out of the way. The leaders all get by him safely, except for Jose Luis Martinez, who somehow doesn't realize that the blue and pink car in front of him is solid, and promptly crashes into Davenport, eliminating himself and Davenport in one fell swoop.

The final – and most egregious – of the questionable maneuvers occurred on Lap 21 as 2011 ARLA champion Kevin Monroe and Andrea Kinasa were battling for position. Monroe, apparently getting rather frustrated with the No. 06 car of Kinasa, decides to use her car as the brakes, sending Kinasa for a one-way trip into the Armco. Kinasa was eliminated immediately. Monroe was – understandably – called to the Steward's Office, having clearly lost quite a bit of good will among his competitors.

Back at the business end of the field, Kun and Boreanaz had an awesome battle for second, won by the Chinese driver. However, neither driver could touch Blood and he staked his claim to the race victory for Power Steering, Inc.

The top 10

 * For the full results, click here.

Race three

 * NOTE: Races 2 and 3 had 40-car fields.

The third race had so many self-spins it was tough to find one car that didn't go off in the Snake.

A big jam-up in Turn 3 resulted in Montana Mosehez running into the back of someone else and eliminating himself immediately. As in Race 2, there were a few questionable moves in this race.

On Lap 9, Kazuki Toshima gets dropped by Taylor Silverman and eliminated.

One lap later, Holden Roberts decides to move over on Justin Lewis and, in a replay of the Berkowitz/Rosenstreter crash in the second race, Roberts barrel rolls about 10 times at about 100 miles per hour.

Kevin Dwyer assumed the lead on Lap 14 and proceeds to pull away.

On Lap 21, Silverman didn't learn from Roberts and from Berkowitz, doing the exact same move to Jack Bohart. They were running sixth and seventh at the time.

With two laps to go, Dwyer throws his car off in the Snake and damages the car. He still leads when he comes back on the track, but he loses a lot of time to Tyrone Stanley. Stanley gives chase, and on the final lap, final corner, Stanley is close enough to make a move, which is exactly what he does, and pulls off a photo finish to steal the win from Dwyer, in the most exciting finish of the weekend.

The top 10

 * For the full results, click here.

Points

 * For the final points standings, click here.

By virtue of his victory in Race 2, Thurston Blood was able to swipe the championship from Lorne Roth, edging him by 11 points. Blood also leapfrogged Chris Davenport, who finished in third place, 16 points off the pace.

Postrace penalties

 * None