The Crossflow Cup
Neil Porter Farewell Tour - Races 3 & 4
Sonoma Raceway at Sears Point with CSRG April 17th-19th, 2026
Spring was in the air, the hills were green, and the rain held off for round two of The Crossflow Cup - Neil Porter Farewell Tour 2026. Practice got underway Friday with 35 cars entered. We lost one car on the Friday test day. Ian Sweeney ended his weekend early due to a solo encounter with a dirt berm at Turn 5. With Crossle spares on hand from Porter Racing and a valiant effort, Ian almost made it…A leaking radiator was just one too many issues to fix before Saturday’s Qualifying.
The start order for Qualify 1 on Saturday morning was set by merging the championship standings from Historic and Club Ford. The goal was to reduce risk of black flag all / red flag incident(s) by gridding drivers around cars of like speed. Nothing is perfect as it did put some fast drivers at the back who had not yet been scored points in the championship. Our friends from Canada didn’t make it south for this event but Mexico was represented with Augustine Valero and his gorgeous red Lotus Mk 69. When the track went green, 33 cars set qualifying times. Chris Schoap had an electrical problem and Jay Streets aborted qualifying due to a fuel cell leak. Pole position was set by Adam White with a 1:44.4, followed by Denny Renfrow, Kelly Heil, Greg Hoff, John Plavan Jr., and Todd Willing. Danny Baker, Skip Streets, Tim Monahan and Niel Porter rounded out the remaining top 10. Unfortunately, Todd Willing’s PRS suffered a front upright failure and he was out for the rest of the weekend. We look forward to having him back soon.
Saturday afternoon’s main event got off to a good start, until an incident in Turn 10 brought out the red flag. If there is one thing every driver should know about driving Sears Point, it is never lift in Turn 10. Scott Knell was following Paul Kitchen into Turn 10 and unfortunately lost the rear of his car, rotating about 300 degrees and ending up stopped on track. The next 10 cars through drove around him on the outside but the 11th wasn’t so lucky. Dan Wise threw out the anchor and backed into Scott’s Titan at speed, gearbox to gearbox. It was a very scary incident that could have been much, much worse. We are all grateful that both drivers were able to walk away.
After medical attention and track clearing, the pace car was brought out. Most drivers were not aware of what had taken place but from the time we sat on course, we all knew that something bad had happened and were unsure if racing would resume. After a couple of turns around behind the pace car, racing resumed for 5 more laps. Adam White brought home the overall win with a fast lap of 1:44.1 then Denny Renfrow a second back for the Historic Ford top podium step. John Plavan Jr. and Tim Monahan rounded out the Historic Ford Podium with Skip Streets and Neil Porter on the podium for Club Ford. The Masters Class was won by Gregg Hoff with Ed VanTassel and Steve Gomas.
On a side note: One thing we should all be aware of is that when a red flag does come out, to safely park in a way that keeps the track clear for emergency personnel. Everyone did that, but not necessarily in the order we were running at the time of the flag. That was the right thing to do. When racing restarted we should have all resumed the position on track we were in when the flag came out, that did not happen. We will address this and first lap out is always yellow in a rules clarification and drivers bulletin at a later date.
Club Ford Podum:
1st - Adam White
2nd - Skip Streets
3rd - Neil Porter
Historic Ford Podium:
1st - Denny Renfrow
2nd - John Plavan Jr.
3rd - Tim Monahan
Masters Podium:
1st - Greg Hoff
2nd - Ed VanTassel
3rd- Steve Gomas (Brian F. standing in for the picture)
The party starts when the track goes cold!
Our awards were given out in the Katusha Garage once the track went cold. The Twisting Turns Cabernet Sauvignon podium trophies were kindly provided by Jonathan Kitchen. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we had lots of winners on and off the podium. The winning raffle tickets were once again drawn with the assistance of Lilly “Vanna” White and Jack.
Porter Racing T-shirt: Fred Gries
Panasport Wheels T-shirt: Sam McCord
Porter Racing T-shirt: Tim Monahan
Panasport Wheels T-shirt: Thomas Blackmon
Dezzani Digital Art: John Plavan Jr.
$300 Scott Young Enterprises: Ed VanTassle
Porter Racing brake Pads: Kelly Heil
$300 Ivey Engines: Ed Abate
Porter Racing brake pads: Chris Schoap
$500 Panasport Wheels: Adam White
Hoosier Racing Tire tires: Mace Gjerman
Nova Motorsports tires: Oliver Abate
Free Entry to another CSRG event: Mitch Roth
As always, a big thank you to our sponsors!
Sunday’s qualifying saw a minor delay due to Kelly Heil parking it in Turn 2 on the out lap under yellow. He eventually coasted back down the hill to sort out his issues. All drivers came into the pit lane, then the aborted start of qualifying resumed. There was some confusion as to whether the out lap was to be consider green or yellow. No one did anything wrong, but many drivers treated it differently and that too will be addressed in a rules clarification and a drivers bulletin in the near future. Once again Adam White was on pole followed by Denny Renfrow, John Plavan Jr., Danny Baker, Tim Monahan, Kelly Heil, Neill Porter, Gregg Hoff, Olive Abate and Jay Streets.
Sundays feature race saw great racing at the front, middle and back of the pack. Tim Monahan dropped out on lap one, parking behind the K-rail on the drag strip. Greg Hoff was having an epic battle trying to get around Neil Porter for 5th, it was all going well until Alan Dezaani’s car developed and oiling issue that most people first felt in Turn 5 but ended up covering most of the track resulting in a trip for his motor to the Ivey’s shop. The oil in 5 gave Greg what he needed to get around Neil and although the surface was questionable, he never looked back. Jay Streets had a front row seat to the Porter /Hoff duel but on the final lap, his Lithium battery failed, parking the Titan next to Tim Monahan behind the K-rail, this allowed his brother Skip to take the 7th place slot.
Club Ford Podum:
Adam White
Neil Porter
Skip Streets
Historic Ford Podium:
Denny Renfrow
Danny Baker
John Plavan Jr.
Masters Podium:
Greg Hoff
Brian Forester
Ed VanTassel
Porter Racing T-Shirt for the highest finishing Crossle: Mace Gjerman
Some of you got to see a preview of Mitch Roth’s video at Thunderhill. Mitch was kind enough to share a link of his work in progress. It has interviews with the Porter Racing crew and some great Formula Ford history. Here is a link if you are interested. You will need to create a user and login to access. https://wipapp.wipster.io/review/Ce3sWwA_FrO95qBmjbsOVe6lpWa0RjE_diwjsCEne7uqoKdcnQ
Overheard in the paddock said by an SCCA Racer:
“The only reason you were ahead of me is I spun, I would have been top 10.”
Overheard from in the paddock said by a Vintage Racer:
“That was so much fun! We were battling it out and then I spun in the oil. I was coming back at you hard but couldn’t quite catch up.”
Remember this is vintage racing and we are here for the fun.
Thank you all for coming out,
See you in Monterey for CSRG’s Corkscrew Classic