In the final weekend of 2020 for motorsports activities, there was over $60,000 on the line across three days of Super Pro bracket racing here at Virginia Motorsports Park. After a long week of preparation and long hours, weather cooperated for the most part for on-schedule start times and giving us conditions to complete all three events before 9pm each evening.
On Friday’s opening day, we started eliminations with over 230 entries and pushed our way through a number of challenges until it came down to two familiar faces at the Virginia based facility. Andy Lloyd wheeled his ’69 Camaro to a perfect reaction time in the finals to defeat a red-lighting Greg Showns in his dragster. Ken Batchelor’s 4.30 dragster was the lone semi-finalist. Erich Rawlins, Tom Lakey and Duane Allen rounded out the quarter-finalists for the opening $10,000 race of the weekend. For a complete round-by-round breakdown of Friday’s eliminations, click HERE.
Fast forward to Saturday as entries rose to over 265 and we kicked through eliminations as rapidly as possible with cooler forecasted temperatures on the forecast. As the ninth and final round of the race rolled into the tunnel with 44-degrees on the temperature gauge and negative density altitude, Brian Mollison and Kelly Fenton-Taylor were set for a dual dragster showdown for $10K. Mollison dialed in at a 4.74 left the line first while Fenton-Taylor was playing catch up with a 4.38 dial-in. Mollison dropped a .003 reaction time then ran dead on with a three for a .006 package that mathematically eliminated Kelly Fenton-Taylor from the starting line. Cole Francis was the lone semi-finalist while Lee Dixon, Jamal Woolridge and Michael Robbins rounded out the quarter-finalists in the second of three races on the Thanksgiving weekend. For a complete round-by-round breakdown of Saturday’s eliminations, click HERE.
As Sunday eliminations began with the coldest morning of the weekend, track officials battled through a few struggles along with a number of breakages to continue to fight through until yet another winner was crowned in the final day of competition on the 2020 season. Ben Saia and Brandon Layfield rolled into the final round with a New Jersey versus Maryland battle to close out the season in Virginia. Saia ran dead on his 5.66 dial-in while Layfield took the reaction time advantage but broke out by .002 of a second with a 6.558 on his 6.56 dial. Carey Curling was the lone semi-finalist while Scott Vants and Brooks Moore were the quarter-finalists. For a complete round-by-round breakdown on Sunday’s eliminations, click HERE.
As we put a close on the 2020 drag racing season here at Virginia Motorsports Park, we want to thank everyone who came out to the Turkey Trots this past weekend as well as all of our events on the 2020 season. We have a number of big things already in the works for 2021 and looking forward to debuting them very soon!
All photos from Clarence Hannon at Black Dragon Photography!
