2011 Mosport 175

The Mosport 175 was the seventh race of the 2011 ARLA Elite Series season. It was held at the Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. It was the last race of the series' Canadian tour.

Watch
f9fxOv0b1WE

Pre-race storylines
Leslie Riggs returned to competition this week after sitting out the Elk Ridge Ice Clash with a concussion, as did teammate Damien Snyder.

Packer Carroll also returned this week after missing Elk Ridge due to his commitments in the TM Master Cup series.

Race one
Taylor Brillon started on pole for race one, with Packer Carroll completing the front row. Rene Recarmier challenged Carroll for second early on and easily took the spot as he had the preferred line heading into Turn 2. Carroll would eventually take the position back, however.

Harry S. Enola triggered a big wreck at the end of Lap 2 when he got into the back of Hawk Slider, which caused Slider to spin Amy Patti. Patti hit the outside wall on the frontstretch and slid back onto the track where she was nicked by Edwin Schwarzloski. The contact caused Patti to hit the inside wall, and dart back into the racing line where several other cars, including Todd Stater, Amy Harrison, and Holden Roberts, piled in. Patti would end up back on the track pointed in the right direction, but would pull off again with terminal damage. Stater, Harrison, Roberts, Jacob Eichholtz, and Nico Petrov also dropped out from their damage in this.

Todd Wodarczyk, making his debut for Gravity Racing, Inc., received a rude welcome from Shane Lake on Lap 4 as both he and Lake would be introduced to the tire barriers. Neither car would continue as a result of this. Also on Lap 4, Zach Branch and Kyle Eckerton exchanged pleasantries after Ricky Navarro spun Eckerton, with Branch receiving the worst of it. Branch would retire. The lap car of Leigh Gruell would be the next to cause problems as an impatient Leslie Riggs bumped and then spun Gruell out – right into the path of Carroll. Both drivers would continue, but each car was badly damaged.

Navarro would strike again as he spun out Andy Pearson on the front straight – a move the officials wanted to discuss with him. Navarro was called to Race Control. Recarmier would grab the lead from Brillon shortly after this. He would kick off green-flag pit stops shortly thereafter, and left the pits with the lead.

Riggs would put another lapped car out of her misery on Lap 19, hooking Gary DeSouza out of the last corner and sending both cars into the outside wall. This time, however, Riggs would seriously damage her car, and to add insult to injury, she was rear-ended by Ricky Flush coming out of Turn 1.

Two laps later, Rip Tyler got into Riggs, with his impact sending her around and into a roll. Chuck Bloomers, who has had a knack of finding someone else's incidents all season, did so again here, getting a piece of this as well. Riggs and Bloomers would drop out as a result. Pearson had a mechanical issue on this lap, but he would receive a tow back to the pits and return to action.

Turn 10 claimed more victims on Lap 24, as Brenda Riggs and Bruce Wilkinson got together, sending Wilkinson around. Damien Snyder had nowhere to go and smashed into Wilkinson. To make matters worse, Enola and Bigsby Foote both hit the No. 57, putting all three cars out. Wilkinson, in an effort to limp back to the pit area, pulled directly in front of Allie Riggs and damaged her left front. Riggs was understandably furious, and, according to Scott Bush, the fines from broadcasting her radio transmissions "would put this network out of business."

Back at the business end of the field, Recarmier was expanding his lead over Brillon, with CJ Cameron a distant third. However, once pit stops cycled out Recarmier got stuck behind the lapped car of Carroll, allowing Brillon to reel him in. Gruell would earn some more television time with five laps to go for the wrong reasons as he and Cameron would get together, sending both cars hard into the tire barriers. Both cars would drop out as a result.

Once Recarmier cleared Carroll, it was smooth sailing for him to collect his second win of the year. Kevin Monroe and Carroll got together coming to the checkered flag, sending Monroe into the wall and earning Carroll a trip to Race Control. Herbie Finkelberg was the beneficiary of this as he took third.

Race two
Tyson Lautenschlager put his Karl, Inc. Revolution on the pole, the first of his career. The Atsuro Technologies car of Kyle Gaffigan made its second appearance of the season in this race (teammate Kiriki Hetsuno finished 14th in Race 1).

Turn 10 continued to be a problem spot as Suiiju Dejao ran the turn wide and got into the Cromwell of Scott Morales, sending Dejao across the track and into the path of Dale Underwood. Both Dejao and Underwood would continue, but with damaged race cars.

Dejao as a result quickly became a moving chicane, holding up most of the lead group – save Lautenschlager and Howard. James West and Nami Mura added their signatures to the Turn 10 tire barriers on Lap 12, as both cars spun out there while battling for position. Mura would win the battle, however – Mura ended up 37th while West finished 38th.

The fun didn't stop there, as Nick Howard and Wesley Savage got together three laps later, sending Savage into the path of Lucas Hunter. Hunter would get into Savage, sending Savage spinning into one of the support columns for the bridge over the front stretch. Savage would drop out. In front of this, Cletus McGuffie seemed to get through the wreck OK, but went off the track coming out of Turn 1 and pancaking his car against the wall. McGuffie would spin across the track and keep going. The incident raised a few eyebrows among the officials, who called McGuffie to Race Control.

Lautenschlager kicked off pit stops a few laps later, however, Howard waited an extra lap to pit and was rewarded with a good-sized lead when the stops cycled out.

Howard's comfortable lead disappeared shortly after the second cycle of pit stops, as he encountered the lapped car of Hunter. Hunter was in no hurry to yield to the leader Howard, which allowed Lautenschlager and the rest of the lead pack to catch up. Lautenschlager and Howard would get together as a result, sending Howard into the tire barriers and out of competition.

Jeremy West's Fortner gave out on him on the front stretch; he would get help back to the pits and fix the problem. The mechanical problems cost him a good finish.

Hunter later continued to be a moving chicane, holding up Lautenschlager and allowing both Raibeart Scott and David Krikorian to catch up and make it a three-car race. Lautenschlager would hook Hunter coming out of Turn 10, putting both cars in the wall and killing Lautenschlager's momentum. This allowed both Scott and Krikorian to make the pass and move him back to third.

Krikorian subsequently dumped the lapped car of McGuffie, causing he and Hunter to wreck. Both drivers dropped out, to the rest of the field's relief. The incident allowed Scott to build up a decent cushion, and he took the win.

Points

 * For the full standings, click here.

Recarmier took over the points lead by virtue of his win in Race 1, dropping Monroe to second, four points back. Allie Riggs was third, 39 points off the lead.

Postrace penalties

 * Tyson Lautenschlager – start in rear of field at Verdugo for an avoidable collision with the race leader.
 * Leslie Riggs – warning for multiple avoidable collisions
 * Ricky Navarro – start in rear of field at Verdugo for multiple avoidable collisions
 * Leigh Gruell – start in rear of field at Verdugo for repeatedly impeding lead-lap traffic
 * Lucas Hunter – start in rear of field at Verdugo for repeatedly impeding lead-lap traffic
 * Cletus McGuffie – suspended six races for driving under the influence