An Interview with former BriSCA F2 Stockcar heat and final winner at Mildenhall on April 12 997 Oliver Ives
(interview published April 23 2014 in the lead up to round three of the BriSCA F2 Stockcar Mildenhall Track Championship at Mildenhall on May 10)

Age: 26
Home Town: West Yorkshire
Occupation: Groundwork contractor
Racing career: Started racing in 2010 in BriSCA F2 Stockcars

You had quite the night at Mildenhall Stadium on April 12, winning both your heat and the final and then suffering a big crash in the Grand National, how do you look back at the Mildenhall, as a success because of the results or differently because of the crash?
100 per cent as a success. Racing in BriSCA F2 Stockcars, you know it’s a contact formula and you accept the risk that you are likely to crash and that there is a risk of injury but you know all that, it’s a given every time you race so you can’t judge a meeting by that because it’s part of racing but having a good result doesn’t happen all the time and this was my first win of the season and then it was the first final that I have won so that’s all I take from the meeting, getting that first ever final win which is a huge deal for me and I’m still chuffed to bits to have had those results, regardless of the crash in the Grand National.

Focussing on the final first, how did the race play out for you?
Well I think I was quite lucky because everything really went my way. I would never say a race was easy because no race is easy but that one really did go my way, I had the breaks, got through the traffic and there were no caution flags to slow me down, it was close to a perfect race for me. The car I’m racing is a new one this season and so far it’s been absolutely brilliant. It was the first time I’d raced the car at Mildenhall and I couldn’t believe how well it went. I had no expectations going into the heat, other than to just see how it went and it was absolutely flying so we didn’t touch a thing for the final and it was flying again, and then it went flying in the Grand National, just a different kind of flying (laughs).

Can you talk us through your rollover in the Grand National?
It happened so quick and I’m still not sure what exactly happened, I still have no idea who I went over to roll the car, it just happened so quick, but that’s how it is in the formula and that’s what makes it so exciting because things like that happen in the blink of an eye, just one small mistake and sometimes you don’t even make a mistake, it just happens and I don’t know if I made a mistake or what happened, it just happened (laughs). It’s my first big crash like that, I think I’ve been lucky really to have not had a big crash like that before so it was due so I suppose it was a night of firsts for me really with my first final win and then my first big crash.

After your rollover you were able to get the car to the inside of the track but then the race was stopped, can you explain what happened?
The rollover seemed really quick and before I knew where I was I was on my wheels with cars whizzing either side of me and my only thought was to get out of the way but the car wouldn’t start. I stuck it in gear and basically managed to limp it to the inside and then when the marshal came over to see if I was ok I realised I couldn’t quite catch my breath. I think it was the landing which did it, I wasn’t hurt but it certainly knocked the wind out of me.

This brought the red flags out, do you think it is right the red flags be used to stop races mid flow or do you think only waved yellow flags should be used?
No, I think when you have a crash like that you should go red. At the end of the day everyone has to get up to go to work the next day and if someone has had a big crash or might be hurt I think the race should be stopped as soon as possible. But I think it’s ok to use waved yellow flags in certain situations as well so I think it’s down to the marshalls to make the best judgement call depending on what has happened.

In the final there was a stoppage in the opening few laps, at RDC if there is a stoppage in the initial laps it is an automatic red flag rather than waved yellow with a complete restart, as a low graded driver in particular what is your opinion of that and do you think if the final had been brought under a waved yellow that early on it would have changed your race?
Quite possibly but I’d not had the best of starts to the final either. I’d clipped another car and lost a few places so the restart did me a favour as well. I do see the sense in it, I’ve been in races where there has been a waved yellow flag early on and straight away the star men are on your tail so I think in those situations it certainly favours the star drivers than the lower graded drivers but also having a complete restart helps them as well because the star men can be just as likely to have a bad start as anyone and when there is a complete restart it gives everyone a second chance and personally I think that is a good thing.

Following your results on April 12 the new grades have been announced for the formula and you are set to be a red top from May 1, it’s a hell of a leap from the white grade, are you looking forward to it and do you think it is right for drivers to be upgraded so highly in one single grading period?
I think so, at the end of the day, if you are having the results and scoring the points then you need to start in the right grade because it’s the colour of your roof which represents how well you are doing and if I’m doing well enough to be a red grade then so be it. Personally I’m absolutely thrilled to have been graded red and I’ve already achieved all my initial goals for the season. This new car has been a bit of a rush, I didn’t get the car until January and then I was lucky enough to have a couple of weeks away and so it was basically all put together in February for the start of the season. My target for the year was to have a win and try to get to blue grade. When I first started racing I did tarmac and it’s only been the last year or so that I’ve switched to shale racing and I think it’s hard to get to the top grade by only racing on shale as there are less shale meetings compared to tarmac. So for me, getting to red is a massive achievement and I’m so pleased to have done it and I’ve already got more wins than I was hoping for and one of them is a final! My target now is to see if I can stay a red top for as long as possible. I know that is going to be very difficult but it’s going to be a great challenge and I’m really looking forward to my first meeting from the red grade, that’s going to be great.

As for the rest of the season, your points on April 12 have established you as a contender in the Mildenhall Championship, could that be something you might challenge for?
I love Mildenhall, honestly it’s my favourite track but the big problem for me is it’s four hours from home! The other problem I’m going to have this season is my job. One of the biggest things we do is cut grass so when the sun shines we have a lot of grass to cut which means I cannot race as much as I would like to do in the summer months which is a real shame as that’s usually the best months for shale racing! I doubt I’ll be able to challenge for the Mildenhall points because of all that but I hope to do as many meetings as I can at the track and do my best at every one of them.

April 12 was also a round of the World of Shale qualifying series and you were already doing well in the points before your heat and final double, how important is qualifying for that race for you?
It’s massive. I’ve never qualified before, I did the last chance race last year but didn’t quite get there and it would mean the world for me to qualify for the first time. But the final is at Coventry this year and I usually do crap there (laughs) so it would be enough for me to qualify, anything else is a bonus. I know the World Final is still the biggest race in the formula and I would love to have a chance to qualify for it one year, just being on the parade and the grid would be an amazing buzz but I have to be realistic and as a shale driver my chances of doing that are quite slim but the World of Shale is a different story and that’s why so many shale drivers chase that more than anything else and having had such a good start to the qualifying rounds this year, qualifying for that race is a priority for me.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
All of my team, there is Chris, Jacob, Martin and James who do such much to help, Darren Bingley for the car, the set up and the work he’s put in, Richard at Red Line Engines and PSN Motors.