Rackstraw wins dice with Ensor-Smith and Walker in first WHT heat

Photo: Ida Wood

Andrew Rackstraw won a race-long fight with KC Ensor-Smith and Alex Walker to triumph in the first Walter Hayes Trophy heat.

Wayne Poole Racing’s Walker had pole, ahead of KMR Sport duo Ensor-Smith and Rackstraw, Swift Cooper’s Robert Hall, Team Dolan’s Jonathan Kotyk and KMR’s Andrew Schofield.

A throttle issue for Schofield led to some arm-waving on the grid and an ad-hoc solution that enabled him to start. Ensor-Smith was slow off the line and dropped to fourth, while Pirate M-Sports’ Joey rose from 21st to 13th on lap one after a mechanical issue hampered him in qualifying.

Nemesis Racing’s Cal Bennett stopped on the outside of Copse but it did not disrupt proceedings, and the top four broke clear on lap two. Walker and Ensor-Smith went side-by-side into Brooklands, with the latter trying the outside line before thinking better of it. Foster meanwhile gained another two spots.

Just 0.214 seconds split the top three as lap three began, and Ensor-Smith was side-by-side with the leader exiting Copse. They ran wheel-to-wheel into Maggotts, kept alongside each other through Becketts and then continued to have a head-to-head battle down the Wellington Straight.

Ensor-Smith opted to tuck back in entering Broooklands, which allowed Rackstraw to have a look at going down the inside of Walker but he did not commit to a move.

They were still just 0.2s apart on lap four, and Rackstraw went down the inside at Copse to take the lead. Ensor-Smith tried following him through but did not have the speed at corner exit to make it happen.

Walker was in Rackstraw’s mirrors as they headed down the Wellington Straight, but then locked up and went deep. Ensor-Smith slipped down his inside, which became the outside for Luffield and enabled Walker to draw back alongside.

Ensor-Smith crossed the line 0.012s ahead on the outside, as Foster in eighth set the fastest lap by half a second. His charge was soon to be halted, as on lap six he went side-by-side with Darwin Smith into Copse and their rear wheels touched. Both were sent into a half-spin and got going again.

Ensor-Smith had tried to take the lead from his team-mate at Brooklands two laps in a row, and at the outside of Copse on lap six, but could not find a way through.

Walker then found room to squeeze down his inside at Maggotts on lap seven, and once he had to defend from Ensor-Smith it enabled Rackstraw to pull away.

Second place was recovered by Ensor-Smith as he took to the inside at Copse in the final lap, leaving Walker with almost no room on the outside and then hugging the racing line into Maggotts.

They finished less than 0.2s apart, but Walker then got a five-second penalty post-race for exceeding track limits. That dropped him to sixth, behind Hall, Kotyk and Ammonite Motorsport’s Anthony Amato.

Foster recovered back to ninth, and lost the fastest lap to Kotyk by 0.041s.

Heat 1 result (8 laps)