The L&L Transmission & Axle Service Fall 150 has always been a popular event in the month of November on the schedule at Virginia Motorsports Park. In the last few seasons, the event has become a limited pre-entry field due to the potential difficulties that weather in Virginia can throw on the table this time of year. This season, both Super Pro and Footbrake fields sold out in record time, increasing the hype and the level of competition that filled the pits this past weekend.
Saturday morning started with a time trial session for all entries and directly into round number one of eliminations following the time trial session. Sadly, Saturday brought a number of on-track delays and breakages, extending the day farther into the evening than the original plan was designed for. The racers and staff continued to battle and as the rounds began to wind down, some of the toughest racers across a number of states kept returning to the staging lanes in their hopes of claiming a $10,000 win before the season closes out in a few weeks. Young gun Jayden Lawler from Jacksonville, NC wheeled his dragster to the dance floor under a 45-degree final round against fellow North Carolina runner, Terrance Sessoms. Lawler took a reaction time advantage all the way to the finish line in a wire-to-wire victory, marking his first in a big car. Christine Wiggins and Jerry Birchfield, Jr. were the semi-finalists while Tim Timberlake, John Joines and Marty Dabney ended their evening in the quarterfinals.
Jayden Lawler | Saturday’s Super Pro Winner
On the Footbrake side, it was a number of familiar faces to VMP in the late rounds. Doug Driver outlasted them all, claiming a victory over Luke Miller’s Malibu, Driver took a reaction time advantage and forced a breakout from Miller to claim the victory on Saturday evening. Jonathan Martin was the lone semi-finalist while Jason Parker and Wade Giles were quarterfinalists.
Doug Driver | Saturday’s Footbrake Winner
Sunday’s festivities kicked off with the new entry time trial and immediately into eliminations soon after. Tough laps were produced from the very start of Sunday’s race. In the end, it was another dragster vs. door car match up in the final round of Super Pro with another $10,000 up for grabs. Joe Martin from Leonardtown, Maryland laid claim to the win in his 2011 Diamond chassis dragster as multi-time world champion Dan Fletcher clicked it .003 red in his wheelstanding wagon. Brandon Lane and Steve Witherow ended their weekends with semi-final finishes while Herb Bailey, Jeff Grant and Kyle Hustwayte were the quarterfinalists.
Joe Martin | Sunday’s Super Pro Winner
For the second time in as many days, Luke Miller found his way to the finals in Footbrake, this time, against fellow young gun and back-to-back 2022 and 2023 Pro ET champion, Cody Kirk. The champ lived up to the billing in this matchup with an .014 reaction time and running 6.125 on the 6.12 dial to put .019 total on the timeslip, while Miller was .023 leaving the starting line for his second runner-up finish of the weekend. Russell Cannon was the lone semi-finalist while Chad Glenn and Chase Marrs bowed out in the quarters.
Cody Kirk (Right) & Luke Miller (Left) | Footbrake Winner & Runner-Up
For complete round-by-round results for both days, click HERE.
The Virginia Motorsports Park staff would like to thank everyone who came out and raced the Fall 150, for their continued support on all of our events and to the L&L Transmission & Axle Services team and family for their support of the facility and these events. The final bracket race on the season schedule for 2023 is the popular Turkey Trots event with twin $10,000 payouts on Thanksgiving weekend, November 24-25. For more information on the Turkey Trots, click HERE.
