Foster holds off Mills to win opening Walter Hayes semi-final

Photo: Ida Wood

Don Hardman Racing’s Joey Foster triumphed in the first Walter Hayes Trophy semi-final at Silverstone after resisting a late charge from Tom Mills.

Foster lined up on pole but it was Julian van der Watt who edged ahead into Copse at the start for Kevin Mills Racing before Foster regained the lead at Becketts.

Meanwhile Ben Mitchell spun across the track on the exit of Copse before crashing backwards into the wall and Ammonite’s Shawn Rashid went off at Brooklands and fell down the field.

After dropping two places to eighth at the start, KMR’s Mills made up ground to pass Cameron Jackson and Tom McArthur before reeling in van der Watt for second.

He soon made the move at Brooklands, and then set a series of fastest laps to eradicate almost a one second deficit to Foster. Mills had a couple of looks into Luffield late on, but came home 0,182s behind, while Van der Watt claimed third.

Team Dolan’s Chris Middlehurst and Team USA Scholar Elliott Budzinski climbed up fo fourth and fifth while Jackson was squeezed at Woodcote and lost ground.

But it was Oldfield’s Lucas Romanek that prevailed in a late battle to snatch fourth from Middlehurst, while final lap contact dropped Budzinski to ninth.

According to eye witness reports, Jackson went to pass Budzinski down the inside at Brooklands but locked a wheel and did not get turned in as tightly as planned. As a result, contact was made with Budzinski which sent the Team USA scholar spinning. The pair were summoned to the stewards over the incident.

McArthur finished sixth, ahead of James Penrose, Jackson and Budzinski. Neil Fowler was 10th ahead of Ian Campbell and Last Chance Race winner Felix Fisher. Team Dolan’s Gabe Tesch retired late on after spinning out at Becketts.

Race result (10 laps)