Kelly wins as the drama gets dialled up in the fourth WHT heat

Photo: Ida Wood

Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly triumphed in the fourth Walter Hayes Trophy heat at Silverstone, which was full of drama.

KMR Sport’s KC Ensor-Smith had pole, but lost out to Kelly and Sema Racing’s Alex Ames before Copse.

Ammonite Motorsport’s Ayrton Houk made it three-wide for second into Maggotts, but was then wheel-to-wheel with Wayne Poole Racing’s Alex Walker exiting Becketts. It was then three-wide for third on the following straight, and a huge lock-up for Ames sent him into Walker and put the latter out of the race.

Ames dropped to sixth, with Kelly leading Houk until Becketts on lap two as Houk went around Kelly’s outside to get ahead. Yellow flags waved after that due to the clearing of Walker’s car, but Oldfield Motorsport’s Connor Willis went to pass Ensor-Smith down the straight.

Ensor-Smith in turn went to Kelly’s inside and took second, then got a wheel alongside Houk but it sent both spinning.

Kelly was left leading Willis and KMR’s Michael Eastwell, and Ames got battling with them on lap three. Willis and Eastwell collided on the Wellington Straight, with Eastwell spinning but actually taking second and going damage-free.

He was however 2.97 seconds behind Kelly as lap four began, and that gap grew to 5.539s in the race’s second half.

Part of that was down to more battling, with Ames getting ahead of Eastwell early in lap five but the places reversing at Brooklands where Houk took the outside so he could then pass on the inside through Luffield.

He did the same on Eastwell a lap later, but Eastwell was back ahead by Becketts. They banged wheels down the Wellington Straight and at Brooklands, where Eastwell asserted himself back in second.

Houk almost nosed him into Maggotts on the final lap, then Eastwell sent Houk onto the grass down the next straight. Once Houk’s car was back on track fully they banged wheels multiple times and ran side-by-side through Brooklands. Eastwell held on to second by 0.053s, with Ames 0.2s behind.

“It felt very much like a final [with the battles],” said Eastwell. “We came out realtively unscathed. From eighth, I’m happy with that because we had a terrible morning.”

“Ammonite guys gave me a tank. This thing held up to a lot of abuse out there,” was Houk’s description of the race. “I definitely think we could have contended for a win if we didn’t get spun down to 10th and back up to third again. Really happy about how it went, really excited about tomorrow.”

Doug Crosbie came through for a surprise fifth place after B-M Racing’s Drew Cameron got a five-second track limits penalty, Ensor-Smith fell to 21st but recovered to sixth, and Enigma Motorsport’s James Clarke colimbed 12 places to finish seventh.

Dolan duo Stephen O’Connor and Mattia Tremolada were on course to finish 11th and 12th, granting them semi-final spots, until the last lap when incidents at Becketts sent both into retirement.

Heat 4 results (8 laps)