Do competitors rocket into the lead in it? (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
space race
'the lead in it?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'do competitors rocket' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'rocket' could be 'space' (space rocket is a kind of rocket) and 'space' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'race' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'into' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for space race that I've seen is " Aerial competition".)