2011 Round of Decatur qualifying races

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The 2011 Round of Decatur qualifying races were a series of races designed to fill out the field for the 2011 Round of Decatur.

Procedure[edit | edit source]

Three pre-qualifying races were held with the cars that did not time their way into the race during pole qualifying.

The top 14 finishers from each of these races advanced to the main qualifying race.

Main qualifying race[edit | edit source]

Qualifying Race[edit | edit source]

2011 Round of Decatur
Qualifying Race
Date November 12, 2011
Location Decatur Raceway, Decatur, IL
Laps 24 (80.8 miles)
Polesitter Scott Bates
First Alexis Rainsford
Second Adrien Devereux
Third Marcos Leonard
Cautions 0
Race Results

Alexis Rainsford nearly wiped the top four out in the first corner, Adrien Devereux hopped the curb and took the lead as Scott Bates ran a tick wide.

In the back, Kraig Mummert got punted by Gaspar de Sousa on the first corner, and Mummert might have saved the car, but he collected Joao Paolo Vidal, Ziggy Waldemar, and Cyrus LaTerza. All four had damage and fell off the pace.

The Volpi team for once didn't blow a pit stop, and Rainsford was able to stay with Devereux, before passing him on the track. They ran nose to tail until the end of the race, with Marcos Leonard and Scott Bates right behind them.

Results[edit | edit source]

x-indicates one-off entry

Position Number Driver Interval
1 1 Alexis Rainsford —
2 26 Adrien Devereux -1.27
3 999 Marcos Leonard -1.79
4 88 Scott Bates -4.36
5 27 Chris Davenport -8.23
6 95 Avery Holtzmann -10.80
7 49 Blake Camphausen -11.25
8 13 Alan Hodges -11.61
9 34 Yuliya Nosova -12.78
10 55 Zelda Ashby -13.13

Failed to Qualify[edit | edit source]

Pre-qualifying races[edit | edit source]

Each of the pre-qualifying races were 18 laps in distance.

Race 1[edit | edit source]

2011 Round of Decatur
Pre-qualifying Race 1
Date November 11, 2011
Location Decatur Raceway, Decatur, IL
Laps 18 (60.6 miles)
Polesitter Michael Sykes
First Michael Sykes
Second Mikko Forsstrom
Third Dale Roswell
Cautions 0
Race Results

Michael Sykes led all but one lap from the pole. The only lap he didn't lead was because of pit stops. Not like it mattered a whole lot.

Old friends Packer Carroll and Brian Sendack tangled on the first lap and sent Troy Griffith off course. Further down the field, Ryan Griffin pushed up into John Jefferson, taking both into the wall. Both continued, but with extensive damage.

With only two laps remaining, Mike Whitmore, who had been running 11th, pulled off the course after a tire exploded.

Mikko Forsstrom, Ryan Matthews, and Ike Durbin were one step closer to making their TM Master Cup Series debuts, while Sendack was a step closer to his first start of the year.

Notable among the did-not-pre-qualify list were Danny Savin (whom Sendack shoved out of the way at the top of the Hill with two laps to go), ARLA title contender Kevin Monroe, Daniel Foray (whose first foray into TM Master Cup Series racing did not go well), Shane Lake, and Leigh Gruell.

Results[edit | edit source]

x-indicates one-off entry

Position Number Driver Interval
1 04 Michael Sykes —
2 995 x-Mikko Forsstrom -1.38
3 17 Dale Roswell -1.88
4 55 Zelda Ashby -2.34
5 2 Zack Duff -2.93
6 76 x-Ryan Matthews -3.37
7 999 Marcos Leonard -3.98
8 11 Ethan Everett -12.22
9 23 Scott Steudler -12.63
10 28 Packer Carroll -13.09
11 86 x-Ike Durbin -13.51
12 33 Tony Durbin -15.19
13 831 Yamino Tenchi -15.66
14 51 Brian Sendack -16.93

Failed to pre-qualify[edit | edit source]

Race 2[edit | edit source]

2011 Round of Decatur
Pre-qualifying Race 2
Date November 11, 2011
Location Decatur Raceway, Decatur, IL
Laps 18 (60.6 miles)
Polesitter Adrien Devereux
First Adrien Devereux
Second Alan Hodges
Third Kraig Mummert
Cautions 0
Race Results

Adrien Devereux broke the track record and put his car on pole with the Lady in Red alongside him on the front row. Most drivers would use caution when starting on the outside of the front row at Decatur in a prequalifying race, but Rainsford opted to throw caution to the wind, nearly jumping the curb in a hero-or-zero move to take the lead. It worked.

Fortunately, nobody else tried anything quite as crazy in the first turn of the first lap. Before the field got to turn 3 (a right hander), Anthony Griffith pulled to the left into Justin Robinson, trying to run him into the grass. Robinson did not budge. The result was both cars going off course and Robinson bouncing off the wall. His day was done after he drove the 79 car back to the pits.

Griffith was invited to the Steward's Office.

After turn 3, Casey Lester got into Cyrus LaTerza, which looked to spin the No. 99 car but in reality send the car for a 25-yard-long drift. The field stacked up, and too many cars in too small a space at the top of the hill inevitably leads to a crash. Today was no exception.

Michael Dougly continued his streak of not making friends this week by turning Sarah Xavier around and nose first into the wall. Xavier would have been fine and have driven away from this incident. That is, if Yevgeny Kuznetsov knew where the brakes were and didn't hammer into the right rear of Xavier's car. Darrell Wallace hammered into the back of Kuznetsov's car, eliminating both and Xavier on the spot. Nobody was injured.

Rainsford in the meantime opened up a huge lead before green flag pit stops, where the Volpi crew (typically) blew it and gave the lead to Devereux, who led until the end. Rainsford had a four-second lead before the pit stops. After the pit stops, she was eight seconds back. Whoops.

A good battle ensued in the midfield for the race, and it was a tight battle to get the transfer positions. However, annoying backmarkers (Dougly, Mike Walczak, and Griffith), rained on that parade.

Dougly jammed up Axel Andersson (running 10th at the time), who was lapping Walczak's Tutino. Behind Andersson was Chris Davenport, who, being the epitome of patience, punted the Tutino out of the way, taking Andersson and himself off the track. Taylor Silverman also went off track as well but he wasn't hit by anyone.

One lap later, Griffith jammed up his "good friend" Allie Riggs going up the hill. Riggs made several attempts to spin the No. 31 car of Griffith out, but her last attempt was foiled by LaTerza. LaTerza intended to actually race and poked his nose under Riggs going up the hill. Riggs attempted to punt the No. 31 off the course. She succeeded, but she also cut across LaTerza's nose in the process, sending herself and Griffith off course.

There was a little bit of drama still to come. Nils Tolonen, running second in his Finntech Omecha, broke a camshaft and exited the race. Meaning, of course, that he racked up a did-not-pre-qualify. Kurt Plissken was the beneficiary.

After the race, Griffith and Riggs got into a confrontation near Riggs' hauler, with Griffith apparently getting the worse of the encounter.

Results[edit | edit source]

x-indicates one-off entry

Position Number Driver Interval
1 26 Adrien Devereux —
2 13 Alan Hodges -3.32
3 6 Kraig Mummert -5.17
4 1 Alexis Rainsford -5.66
5 72 x-Kevin Dwyer -6.09
6 41 x-Greg Woodard -9.84
7 97 x-Jason Teller -10.36
8 27 Chris Davenport -12.59
9 99 x-Cyrus LaTerza -14.09
10 95 Avery Holtzmann -14.47
11 18 Rene Recarmier -17.38
12 47 Robert Dorian -17.88
13 839 Azuma Kazeyama -19.23
14 16 Kurt Plissken -19.65

Failed to prequalify[edit | edit source]

Race 3[edit | edit source]

2011 Round of Decatur
Pre-qualifying Race 3
Date November 11, 2011
Location Decatur Raceway, Decatur, IL
Laps 18 (60.6 miles)
Polesitter Scott Bates
First Scott Bates
Second Yuliya Nosova
Third Jacob Kard
Cautions 0
Race Results

Phillip Borland was scheduled to start the No. 68 car from 36th, but blew up on the pace lap.

Scott Bates was the class of the field, leading 17 of the 18 laps. Cameron Taylor, in the meantime, was busy getting booted off the road by Tom Delgado in turn three. It was a move that the stewards did not particularly like, and issued a warning to Delgado for reckless driving.

Vitaly Karpenko's Tolyatti did what Tolyatti does best midway through the race — it blew up!

Other than that, Jacob Kard, subbing for Jacques Bouvier, did a tremendous job to finish third.

Results[edit | edit source]

x-indicates one-off entry

Position Number Driver Interval
1 88 Scott Bates —
2 34 Yuliya Nosova -5.99
3 7 Jacob Kard -8.76
4 74 Rachel Rainsford -11.68
5 37 Mathias Taube -12.08
6 44 Louis Kingston -13.65
7 49 x-Blake Camphausen -14.03
8 996 x-Ziggy Waldemar -14.43
9 177 x-Mark Blackwell -15.02
10 52 Elina Varjo -16.21
11 24 Joao Paulo Vidal -16.71
12 913 x-Andreas Laporta -18.64
13 40 Gaspar de Souza -19.12
14 73 x-Nick Dawson -19.53

Failed to prequalify[edit | edit source]

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