An Interview with BriSCA F2 Stockcar World Championship rookie 441 Micky Branston
(interview published August 31 2016 in the lead up to the BriSCA F2 Stockcar World Championship weekend on September 10 and 11)

Age: 24
Home town: Nr Burnley
Occupation: Service engineer
Family: Girlfriend Lucy
Started racing: Aged 11 in Ministox at Warton

Congratulations on qualifying for the World Final for the second year running, are you looking forward to it?
I am, definitely. When it was announced the semi-finals and World Final were both going to be on shale I wasn’t completely sure about my chances and how I felt about it as I’ve always been more of a tarmac racer and while I have done a bit of shale racing, I’ve only been to Mildenhall once and I never did very well at King’s Lynn. Then I did the World of Shale last year at King’s Lynn and I did really well, I finished fourth having started 36th on the grid after only qualifying in the last chance race and it changed my whole outlook on this year’s World Final and made me start to think more seriously about it and now I’m in it, I’m really pleased and looking forward to hopefully having a really good crack at winning it.

Has qualifying for the race been a goal this season?
It wasn’t before the World of Shale. Well I suppose it was but I think I would have been less worried if I’d not qualified for the semis until I had that meeting at the World of Shale and that changed everything and made me a lot more motivated about the whole thing, just because I guess that meeting gave me such a boost for racing on shale and showed that I am capable of doing well (on shale). My mum and dad and Darren Bingley have also been pushing me pretty hard to get on with it and make an effort to qualify, maybe they believe in me more than I do.

Around a quarter of the meetings you have raced at this season have been on shale, have you enjoyed your shale racing this year?
I have but I’ve been doing so well on tarmac that I’ve been concentrating a lot on that and because of that I’ve not done as much shale racing as I would have liked. The intention was always to try and do a bit more but there’s not the time to do everything and when things have been going so well on tarmac you don’t want to back off from that and keep pushing to try and get better but unfortunately it means I’ve only done a few shale meetings but I have scored a few points on shale which is good and I got a good result at King’s Lynn which helps. Thankfully things seems to have worked out quite well for me this year so far. Another big tarmac of mine was the World Cup at Venray. I went last year and loved it but I wasn’t high enough in our points to be one of the UK seeds and qualify with the time trials so being high enough in the points to do that was a big goal this season and a main reason for dedicating so much of my time to tarmac racing but it paid off. I qualified really well and then finished second which was amazing, I was happy to be the first UK driver in the race but to finish second was just brilliant, hopefully I can do as well in the World Final too.

You’ve only raced at Mildenhall once back in September 2014 where you failed to score, is that a concern or does your other shale experience help?
I hope it will be (laughs). I’ve done a few meetings at Stoke and Belle Vue and those tracks are fairly similar to Mildenhall and I’ve been doing ok there so hopefully that means I will be ok at Mildenhall as well but we won’t really know until the race starts will we (laughs). What I’ve found with most tracks though, including the shale ones, is that once I have one good meeting there I’m ok. I really used to struggle at King’s Lynn and then I had the World of Shale meeting last year and it changed everything and now when I race there I tend to go well so I’m hoping the World Final will be ‘that’ meeting at Mildenhall, when I suss it out (laughs). When I last went there I’d not done much on shale at all but I’ve done a fair bit more now and I think I’m much better on shale than I was the last time so hopefully that will help as well. Also when I last raced at Mildenhall it was before I started using a Zetec engine on shale and that has helped me a lot so hopefully I’ll be able to show that in the World Final.

Mentioning your use of the Zetec engine, what do you think about the engines in the sport?
It’s good because the engines are so much cheaper. I bought mine new from Fords, because 2Litre Zetec engine are actually quite hard to find where I am but even then it’s still loads cheaper than having a Pinto engine built for racing. The problem I see is that the Zetecs just aren’t quite quick enough on tarmac. They are plenty good enough on shale which is why when I was struggling with mine on tarmac we decided to use it for shale instead and it’s been great. I’d like to see it so we could do a little to the engines to get them on the same pace as the Pintos. I’m not talking about adding any modifications to the engine, they need to be kept standard but I think if we could adjust the timing of the engine, something simple like that it would make them a lot better.

You are set to start on the inside of row 7, are you happy with that grid position?
I am, especially being on the inside, I think that will help because when you are on the inside you can lean more on the car next to you which gives you a bit more confidence going into the first bend so I think the inside will help a bit. I’m happy being a few rows back. My first World Final last year didn’t last long, I got caught in the crash with Dave Polley and Wim Peeters, I basically got smashed into it and there was nothing I could do about it so I’d be quite happy to do more than that this year. But I did learn a lesson last year and that’s that sometimes it helps to hang back a little in races like that and let things unfold and then try and make some moves. I don’t think I would want to be at the front of the grid for this race, especially with some of the drivers who are in front of me, I can see there being a big crash at the start and I hope the combination of my experience from last year and being a few rows back will allow me to avoid anything like that and they try and start moving forward from there.

Who do you see as being the leading contenders for the race?
I think a dark horse will be Rob Mitchell, I think he stands a great chance and not many people seem to be talking about him which I think will help him. He’s won the World of Shale before and he’s starting up the front so I think he’s in with a really good shout.

How do you rate your chances?
Well I’m in it to try and win it (laughs). But then that’s the same for everyone, I’m going to be going for it, things are going well for me right now, the second at Venray in the World Cup was a big thing and getting a fifth in the semi-final made a massive difference as well so I’m feeling confident and I think I’ve got a real shot with the grid position I have, it’s just down to what happens on the night now I think.

Much has been said about the state of the sport in 2016 and the steps being made to try and improve it, how do you feel the sport is right now?
I think it’s doing ok and it’s getting better but I think we could learn a lot from the guys in Holland. Having just come back from the weekend in Venray I find it amazing how different things are out there but the trouble is the most important thing is not something you can change with rules. That’s just how the drivers are with each other. There is so much respect between the drivers over there, it’s much better than how it is here. Admittedly the racing isn’t as hard I don’t think in Holland but I don’t see why hard racing needs to also mean more tension between drivers and less respect. It’s not so bad on shale in this country, the drivers seem a bit more laid back and there is less stress but unfortunately on tarmac that’s not the case and the racing really is a bit too serious at times and I think that is a big problem but how we change that I’ve not idea. One thing I think they do better in Holland as well which we could do here is the levels of scrutineering, I was amazed at the standards of checks they did on the cars, it was amazing and I think that goes some way towards reducing the tension because people are more confident that no one is cheating.

There is also talk of a shootout style series being introduced for the National Points Championship, much like what already exists for BriSCA F1 Stockcars, you are currently 10th in the National Points and therefore potentially could be involved in that in the future if it was introduced, would you support such a series?
Personally I think it might work to help give the drivers something to race for after the World Final and give the end of the season a boost which has been the case with F1s but I don’t think it should be for the silver roof, that should go to the guy who has done all the meetings and been the best all year, rather than just the best for a few at the end of the year.

Much was said about the Semi-Finals and the World Final being on shale this year, how did you feel about it?
Well I guess I would have preferred tarmac to have been more involved, especially with how my year has been going but it does spice things up and at the end of the day the formula races on both surfaces and the best drivers, and most of the World Champions over the years have been good on both surfaces so if you’re good on both, which I guess you should be to be World Champion, then it shouldn’t matter what surfaces the races are on.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My mum and dad for all their support with my racing over the years, my girlfriend, RCE and Darren and Steve Bingley for all they do.