Joey Foster

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Walter Hayes Trophy

07.11.2005 by Andrea Cook

It was a triumphant return to racing in the UK for Truro's Joey Foster as he returned to Silverstone and claimed his third successive win in the Walter Hayes Trophy. Driving the Marque Cars prepared Reynard 89FF in which he won last year, Joey took on and beat the other 151 entrants in the event that has, in just five years, grown into the most important on the FF1600 calendar.

Friday

Arriving back from the USA on Thursday, there was barely time to adjust his watch before Joey was having a seat fitting and heading for Silverstone for the three 15-minute free practice sessions on Friday. This was his first opportunity to re-acquaint himself with the car that he had not driven since winning this same event 12 months earlier. Joey commented afterwards that to start with it had been a bit tricky remembering which gears to use in some of the corners and that, because of the differences from the USFF car he has been racing, he was "telling myself to brake early for Becketts and by the time I'd thought it, it was already too late!"

Although the sessions were, strictly speaking, untimed of course everyone was keeping a very close eye on the proceedings and it was something of a relief to see that Joey was well up with the frontrunners despite his lack of time in the car and the fact that it was a clear, dry day. History has shown that if there is one thing that the Reynard seems to like it is wet conditions and although Joey said he wanted it to stay dry so in order to prove he could win this event without it being wet, it wouldn't have been too surprising if Marque Cars boss Don Hardman had been busy doing rain dances all week!

Saturday

The draw for the heats had been made and Joey was placed in the fifth and final group alongside the winner of the King of Kents Cup Ed Moore. In the qualifying session for the heat Moore was unbeatable and took pole position despite Joey chipping away at his time and reducing the gap on each lap until it was a mere 0.336 secs at the end of the session. Not a bad time given that on Saturday the weather was once again dry. The race was Joey's chance to prove how well he could run in dry conditions, and prove it he did. There were a few heart-stopping moments along the way as he fell back to third place behind Moore and Neil Boardman on the first lap. What then followed was an enthralling battle with Joey and Boardman swapping places numerous times before Joey was finally able to break clear and set off after Moore who had, up to that point, been able to open out a small lead. On lap eight Moore was briefly held up by a backmarker and Joey didn't need asking twice to launch his attack. In what was by far the best overtaking move of the weekend he swept past Moore's Van Diemen RF91 on the outside around the Brooklands/Luffield complex. Boardman then passed Moore on the inside of Brooklands on the following lap and that was the order in which they finished. Joey was extremely happy to have taken the fight to the Van Diemens and beaten them fair and square in conditions that should have favoured them. " I really didn't expect to win that, but it's great and puts us in a good position for the semi tomorrow" he said.

Sunday

Race day arrived and brought with it rain - lots of it. The rain dancing had obviously worked and suddenly things were looking good for Joey, if not for the rest of the competitors. There was a deluge as the consolation race set off on the green flag lap, which resulted in it being abandoned and a rain delay whilst the sweepers took to the track to try and clear some of the standing water.

The winner of the MotorSport Vision championship, Peter Dempsey, had just won the first semi-final and it was now time for the second semi to go ahead. Joey had one aim in mind: to get a good start and stay ahead. He had Gavin Wills right behind him on the grid and the winner of the Star of Midlands Championship was certainly not going to give in without a fight. Wills has also won this event in the past so he was certainly a threat, or so it seemed. Joey did exactly what was necessary and, having broken clear at the start he pulled out a gap which allowed him to take an unchallenged victory, winning by over seven seconds and in the process setting a pace fast enough to guarantee pole position for the Grand Final that was still to come.

Because of the rain delays and the fact that the light was fading fast, there was barely time to refuel and do the briefest of checks on the cars before they were called to the assembly area for the Grand Final. There were due to have been two races between the semis and the final but the Superkart race was cancelled and the Walter Hayes Trophy brought forward. In appalling weather conditions, Joey once again drove a superb race, taking the lead from Dempsey and Wills at the start and, never putting a wheel wrong, he pulled out a lead that was almost 10 seconds at one point and took what looked like a very easy lights to flag victory. Commenting after the race Joey said, "I just wanted to get into Copse first and then get my head down and try to open a gap. It was pretty tricky out there and, as is typical of Silverstone, when it dried out a bit it got even more slippery!"

At the presentation ceremony, Joey was lauded by Sir Jackie Stewart who was as impressed as everyone else with such an achievement, and announced that the BRDC had decided that, in the best traditions of sporting events, as he has now won the Walter Hayes Trophy three times, Joey was to be allowed to keep it. "I'm amazed," said Joey with a huge grin, "I really wasn't expecting that, it's brilliant." He went on to say that "this is the best race of the year, I really want to come back and do it again next year" and it would be hard to find anyone to disagree with that sentiment. High praise indeed must go to James Beckett of the BRDC for his hard work in bringing the Walter Hayes Trophy into being and for continuing to build it into such a wonderful event.