2011 Xenos Alberta Duels

The 2011 Xenos Alberta Duels was the fifth race of the 2011 ARLA Elite Series season. It was held at the Alberta Superspeedway in Blue Ridge, Alberta, Canada, and was the first stop in the Elite Series' three-race Canadian tour.

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Pre-race storylines
James West and Phillip Borland were both held out of this race due to injuries suffered at Las Vegas. Ronald Porter, who drives for Karl, Inc. Racing in the ARLA Thunder Trucks, filled in for West, while Owen Hill filled in for Borland. It was originally speculated that Borland might be able to go, but A1 Racing decided to let Hill take the wheel.

Derek Dudding, Olivier Martinez, and Salvatore Provenzano were no-shows. Martinez and Provenzano both drove for Scuderia Martinez, which had been rumored to be in financial trouble since the start of the season. Joel Rodriguez did show up in the team's third car. Replacing the other two Martinez cars on the grid was Speedvision, a two-car effort fronted by former TM Master Cup driver David Krikorian. DK would drive one car, with rookie Herbie Finkelberg in the other. The team fields the STS Arrow, which was the chassis run by Pearson/Sweeney Motorsports in 2010.

Zach Branch made his Elite Series debut in Race One, driving the No. 609 Juneau S1 for Last Row Autosport.

Race one
Raibeart Scott took down the Smash Beer Pole Award for the race, with Kevin Monroe starting second. Monroe had a poor start, allowing the inside line headed by Scott to get out to an early lead. Ricky Navarro took the lead after the first lap. Caution came out on Lap 10 as Libby Bell went four-wide with Dale Underwood down the front stretch. Underwood got into Bell, forcing her into the No. 67 of Brenda Riggs. Underwood spun when Bell moved back into him, taking CJ Cameron along with him. Both drivers kept going.

Kurt Walker led the field back to the green as the leader, since he didn't pit under the yellow. He wouldn't lead for long as Lucas Sweeney and Gary DeSouza powered by him shortly after the restart.

Cameron lost his engine on Lap 22 and would retire.

Lap 35 saw the second caution of the day as Branch would get into Ricky Flush coming out of turn 2. A multiple-car pileup ensued, with Branch, Suiiju Dejao, Earl McDermott, Taylor Brillon, and others getting involved. All the cars involved would continue.

Rachel Gonzalez flew through the incident at speed, which could have caused a nasty wreck had she hit another car. Gonzalez earned a trip to Race Control as a result. Packer Carroll was the leader as the field went back to green-flag racing, with Monroe a close second. Rene Recarmier worked his way to third. Carroll would give the lead to Monroe coming out of turn 2, but no good deed goes unpunished – he would subsequently be freight-trained by the field.

Caution flew again on Lap 49 as Leslie Riggs and Ricky Navarro got together, sending both cars darting into the inside retaining wall. Riggs got the worst impact, hitting the wall at about 207 mph (333.13 km/h) at roughly a 45-degree angle. She slid back onto the track in Turn 3 and came to rest after hitting the outside wall. The race was red-flagged to get Riggs' No. 50 Tremwell off the track.

Coming to the yellow Joseph Howard got into Jason Bates, with Henrietta LaVerne III getting a piece of this as well. All three cars would suffer damage, and Howard was called to Race Control.

When the race got going again, Carroll would hold the lead with Mumba Kumangu running second in his Katzev. Sweeney made a run on Carroll just after the restart, and held the lead with two laps to go. However, Sweeney would have to pit coming to the white flag, ending any hopes of a top-five finish.

Kumangu inherited the lead coming to the white flag, but Allie Riggs overtook him for the lead coming out of Turn 2. Carroll got on Riggs' back bumper and got a great run coming off Turn 4, but it wasn't enough as Riggs held on by a quarter-car length to take the win.

The top 10
It was announced after the race that Leslie Riggs had suffered three broken ribs, a broken left clavicle, and a concussion as a result of her incident with Navarro.

Race two
Jared Andersen started on pole for race two, with Scott Morales on his outside. Jeremy West started third, and challenged for the lead early on.

Lap 10 would see the first caution of the evening as Damien Snyder and Eric Jackson get together coming out of Turn 2 – and in a near-replay of the Leslie Riggs crash in Race 1, both cars go hard into the inside wall. Unlike the first wreck, however, both cars end up back on the track near the entrance to Turn 3. There were shenanigans leading under this caution as well, as Scott Morales and Hawk Slider and got together, sending Morales' car into West's. Morales would spin out as a result of this, but he would continue on. Tyson Lautenschlager also was involved in the incident, as he ran into the back of West. Morales was also called to Race Control.

Blake Camphausen assumed the lead on the restart, but Nick Howard would take over for Camphausen four laps later.

A long (28-lap) green-flag run would come to an end on Lap 39 as Bob Stephans and Amy Harrison exchanged pleasantries, sending both cars up in front of the field and triggering a big pile-up. At least eight cars were involved, including Chuck Bloomers, Lucas Hunter, Camphausen, Dan Mackay, and Bruce Wilkinson. Mackay and Wilkinson would drop out, as would Howard, Andersen, and Kyle Eckerton, who were each also collected in the wreck. Makoto Yamada would lead on the restart with Nami Mura in tow. Scott Dalitz would advance toward the front a few laps later, eventually challenging Yamada for the lead.

Herbie Finkelberg led coming to the white flag, but Nico Petrov got a good run on him coming down the front stretch and took the lead at the stripe. Mura was running second, but couldn't mount a charge as Petrov claimed the victory.

Camphausen would finish 26th, ending a remarkable string in which he placed in the top 10 in each of the events he had entered.

After the race, it was learned that Damien Snyder had suffered similar injuries to the ones that Leslie Riggs had suffered, and would have to sit out the next race at Alaska. However, Eric Jackson's injuries, while not fully detailed, were described as "severe" and he would have to sit the remainder of the 2011 season. Zach Gott would pilot the #3 Volpi at Alaska, before former TM Master Cup driver Todd Wodarczyk would take over for the rest of the season starting at Mosport.

Points

 * For the full points standings, click here.

Kevin Monroe held the points lead by six over Allie Riggs. Jacob Eichholtz was third, 11 points back, with Rene Recarmier lurking in fourth 16 markers off the pace.

Postrace penalties

 * Joseph Howard – loss of 25 points and start in rear of field in race 6 for causing an avoidable collision under caution
 * Scott Morales – loss of 25 points and start in rear of field in race 6 for causing an avoidable collision under caution
 * Rachel Gonzalez – loss of 15 starting grid positions in race 6 for reckless driving