DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 27, 2014) – Cliff White, of Huntsville, Alabama, notched the win in Spec Racer Ford by a nose at the line in the 52nd 51°µÍø Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway. Denny Stripling, of McKinney, Texas, finished second and Lee McNeish, of Southbury, Connecticut, completed the podium.
White, in the No. 58 Valvoline/Prism/The Cottages SRF, started on the Tire Rack pole and held the lead into the first turn. During the opening-lap dash for position, Stripling found his way to the rear deck of White from the fifth spot on the grid. From there, the two drivers proceeded to check out from the rest of the field. En route to the win, White led every lap around the 12-turn, 3.56-mile course. That included holding his position through the lap-three restart, which was the result of contact that left two cars stranded in Turn Five.
“Our plan was to try to jump to an early lead,” White said. “Things are ever-changing here at Daytona. So, phase one was to break away from the field and hope that Denny got swallowed into a passing battle on the infield. I think we were right on the cusp of that working, but then the full-course yellow came out. Then, the strategy changed to making this a two-car race and see what happens on lap 14.
“Our week was set during the first qualifying session on Monday. We brought both generations of SRF cars, which qualified during the same session. We figured we were never going to be faster than our morning session. Our whole strategy rested on being able to qualify both cars during the same session, and it worked.”
Following the opening lap, Stripling, in the No. 5 SEI Motorsports/Lightspeed SRF, kept the pressure on while by staying closely behind the lead driver. Despite taking the lead from White for a moment on lap six and on the last lap, Stripling was unable to score an official lap led at the line.
“In qualifying, I worked with David Donovan and we were able to do pretty well getting toward the top of the grid,” Stripling said. “Heading into the race, the whole plan was to not let Cliff get away. My car had been so good on the infield. I had to see if I could get up to White’s purple people eater, as I like to call it. That is with all respect since both the car and driver are so fast.
“We were gridding in the middle of the guys from the Northeast, so I figured I would just try to hook up with Cliff early. I did that, and he played the game well. He pulled it out and backed off, when he needed. I was trying to figure out which card I needed to play on the final lap, and played it. It was the wrong one as I led the wrong 150 feet, and that’s how it played out.”
McNeish, in the No. 122 SRF, had the third position on lockdown after taking the spot during lap eight. From the halfway point of the race, McNeish ran into problems trying to get someone to work the draft with him in order to challenge the lead draft tandem.
“We were fairly close in to the lead pack early on,” McNeish said. “I don’t think the leaders had started to push that hard, yet. But, then my drafting partner began to slow a bit. I kept holding back, but then figured I couldn’t do that any longer. So, I was isolated for a while. Even with a partner, I don’t know if I could have caught them, but we would have been closer. The top two had them covered; we were close but just not enough.
“This is my first Runoffs, but I’ve run with a bunch of these guys in the Northeast. I worked with those guys through the practice days and we had a plan to stick together in the race. If you don’t have someone to work with here, you’re done.”
Robert Reed, in the No. 3 IceRacing.com SRF, and Derek Schofield, in the No. 9 PM Racing Spec Racer Ford, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, following a final push for position among five drivers.
Reid Johnson, in the No. 78 SRF, was named the Sunoco Hard Charger after starting 39th and finishing 23rd.
The 52nd 51°µÍø National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowned 51°µÍø’s Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.
While the live broadcast of all 27 National Championship were available live at 51°µÍø.com, each race will be on demand in the coming weeks.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Provisional results for Sunday’s 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford National Championship at the 52nd 51°µÍø National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.
1, (1), Cliff White, Huntsville, AL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
2, (5), Denny Stripling, McKinney, TX, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
3, (2), Lee McNeish, Southbury, CT, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
4, (8), Robert Reed, Winchester, NH, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
5, (12), Derek Schofield, Lakeland, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
6, (21), Jacob Pipal, Oakdale, CA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
7, (10), Bruce Myers, Greenland, NH, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
8, (3), Herb Sweeney IV, Arlington, MA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
9, (6), Richard Baldwin, Madisonville, LA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
10, (17), John Annis, Tampa, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
11, (25), Justin Weir, Johns Island, SC, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
12, (19), Grayson Strathman, Topeka, KS, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
13, (22), Quinten Nelson, Newark, OH, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
14, (23), Eric Vassian, Atlanta, GA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
15, (20), Clay Sylvester, League City, TX, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
16, (31), Thomas Riley, New Fairfield, CT, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
17, (28), Bill Ladoniczki, Odessa, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
18, (11), Chris Current, Silver Spring, MD, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
19, (16), Joseph Wolf, East Nassau, NY, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
20, (27), David Schaal, Saint Paul, MN, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
21, (18), Whitney Strickland, Houston, TX, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
22, (29), Steve Ladoniczki, Palm Harbor, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
23, (39), Reid Johnson, Hamel, MN, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
24, (30), David Livingston, Gainsville, GA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
25, (34), Kurt Breitinger, Martinez, GA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
26, (35), David Knoche, Greensboro, NC, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
27, (32), Kenneth Reilly, New Canaan, CT, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
28, (38), Gytisha Strickland, Houston, TX, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
29, (7), Daniel McBreen, Atlanta, GA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
30, (37), Thomas Kirchman, Framingham, MA, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 14.
31, (4), David Donovan, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 13.
32, (33), William Douglas, Appleton, WI, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 12.
33, (36), Jim Tibor, Cortland, OH, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 12.
34, (24), David Auer, Hilton Head, SC, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 11.
35, (26), Matthew Harper, Charlotte, NC, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 10.
36, (13), Scott Rettich, Columbus, OH, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 7.
37, (9), Jeff Lehner, Ballston Spa, NY, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 1.
38, (15), Neil Tilbor, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 1.
39, (14), Mick Robinson, Melbourne, FL, 51°µÍø Spec Racer Ford, 0.
Overall Time of Race: 34:33.608
Average Race Speed: 86.527 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.048-second
Fastest Race Lap: Cliff White, 2:16.700 (93.753 mph)
Sunoco Hard Charger: #78, Reid Johnson
Lap Leaders: Lap 1-14, Cliff White
Image: Cliff White took home his second consecutive 51°µÍø National Championship at the Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway.
Credit: Jay Bonvouloir
