Kevin Mills Racing’s Jordan Dempsey won the first Walter Hayes Trophy heat at Silverstone, while team-mate Michael Macpherson threw away his victory chances at the start.
The pair shared the front row, with poleman Dempsey streaking into the lead at the start and Macpherson sliding slowly out of his grid spot.
This promoted Formula Ford Festival winner Jonathan Browne to second and Thomas Capezzone to third, but neither could challenge the leader.
Dempsey couldn’t pull away though, and soon Macpherson closed in to make it a four-car train at the front.
The quartet ran in tandem for the last few laps, with not even errant backmarkers threatening a change of order at the front due to how slippy running off-line was on the drying track.
Tom Brown, supported by B-M Racing, was usually the fastest man in the race and finished in fifth place, ahead of team-mate Tom McArthur.
Riadro Motorsport’s Adam Higgins used his extensive experience to win the battle for seventh against W Series champion Jamie Chadwick and Logan Hannah, both driving for Graham Brunton Racing.
Early on that battle featured Team Fox Racing boss Dan Fox and UCLan’s Jaap Blijleven, before Blijleven was hit by Fox at Becketts and was then collected by KMR’s Alex Gillespie.
Race results (8 laps)
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Dempsey | Kevin Mills Racing | 9m24.874s |
| 2 | Jonathan Browne | Cliff Dempsey Racing | +0.977s |
| 3 | Thomas Capezzone | Swift Cooper | +1.274s |
| 4 | Michael Macpherson | Kevin Mills Racing | +1.474s |
| 5 | Tom Brown | B-M Racing | +2.691s |
| 6 | Tom McArthur | B-M Racing | +3.892s |
| 7 | Bob Higgins | Riadro Motorsport | +11.414s |
| 8 | Jamie Chadwick | Graham Brunton Racing | +12.967s |
| 9 | Logan Hannah | Graham Brunton Racing | +14.758s |
| 10 | Ryan Campbell | +16.580s | |
| 11 | Ian Schofield | +18.020s | |
| 12 | Mark Armstrong | Kevin Mills Racing | +18.690s |
| 13 | Dan Fox | Team Fox Racing | +24.394s |
| 14 | George McDonald | +25.154s | |
| 15 | John Greig | Souley Motorsport | +30.118s |
| 16 | James Pinkerton | Rotor Racing | +36.137s |
| 17 | James Harvey | +36.673s | |
| 18 | Will Zanelli | +46.939s | |
| 19 | Hayden Hardyman | +47.121s | |
| 20 | Mark De Rozarieux | Souley Motorsport | +1m03.969s |
| 21 | David Billington | +1m13.363s | |
| 22 | Peter Hannam | +1m16.891s | |
| 23 | David Porter | Porter Motorsport | +1 lap |
| 24 | Jaap Blijleven | UCLan | |
| 25 | Alex Gillespie | Kevin Mills Racing | |
| 26 | Stephen Bracegirdle | Wayne Poole Racing | |
| DNS | Tom Mills | ||
| Fastest lap: Brown, 1m09.666s | |||