TOP 11 COUNTDOWN – BRANDON WHITE
By Kevin Peters
After leading the Spears Spears Srl Southwest Tour <https://www.facebook.com/spearssrl.tour> Series Points Standings through four races in 2014, Brandon White entered 2015 as one of the drivers to beat. Through four point races in 2015, Brandon sits in the 3rd position in our current top 11 rundown. He is only 49 points behind championship points leader Greg Voigt and 19 points out of second place.
At 18 years of age, Brandon is already a multi-time winner in Tour / Super Late Model Competition. He gained his first Spears Southwest Tour Series win last season and was the 2013 Series Rookie of the Year Runner-up. He boasts wins in the Rocky Mountain Challenge Series, Airport Auto Brokers Late Models (now Pacific Challenge Series), USAC and Outlaw Go Karts. He was the 2012 Rookie of the Year in the AABLM, 2010 USAC Western Pavement Ford Focus Young Guns Champion, and the 2010 USAC Nor-Cal Young Guns Champion.
The season started out at the non-points 2015 Winter Showdown <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Winter-Showdown/751949664879103> presented by the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series at Kern County Raceway. Brandon fought mechanical troubles all weekend, but qualified 13th in the stellar 52 car field. He finished 6th in his qualifying heat to advance to the 250 lap main event, but lost a cylinder at the halfway mark and another on the last lap in doing so. Fellow competitor David Ross stepped up and loaned him his back-up motor so that Brandon could tag the rear of the field (36th) for Sunday’s main. Brandon spent the first half of the race working his way through the field to as high as 13th but finished in position 15 at the lap 125 break. Unfortunately Brandon got caught up in the big accident on lap 135 which ended his long weekend sooner than he would have liked.
The points season got underway at Madera Speedway with a disappointing 10th place run. At Kern County Raceway, Brandon scored his first Top 5 of the season, with a 5th place finish. Stockton 99 Speedway was next on the schedule. Brandon led the first 40 laps before he had a tire go down while leading. A second flat tire led to suspension failure and a 14th place finish. At Irwindale Speedway Brandon started 3rd and took the lead on lap 9. He led for 26 laps until he was overtaken by 2014 Series Champion Derek Thorn. At the end of the night Brandon was able to hold on for a 4th place finish.
On July 4, Brandon brought his SRL Tour car to Redwood Acres Raceway <https://www.facebook.com/redwoodacresraceway> for the Firecracker 100. Brandon would set fast time and lead every lap of the race, finishing in front of Northern California legend Jimmy Walker and Oregon ace Mike Sackett. “Our season to date has been full of bad luck but hopefully we turned it around after the win in Eureka at the Firecracker 100.” Brandon replied. I’m really looking forward to the last couple of races (on the SRL schedule) and of course Eureka because it’s my home track”, Brandon added.
Brandon also stated “I would really like to thank Dan Joiner and Joiner Motorsports, North Coast Lighting, Don’s Rentals, Compton Electric, DC Racing Engines, McMurray and Son’s Roofing, Hilfiker Pipe Company and Advanced Security. Brandon will be back in action when the Spears Southwest Tour Series visits Redwood Acres Raceway on August 1st. Look for Brandon to be one of the favorites against a strong field of champions and young upcoming stars.
