An Interview with new Saloon Stockcar World Champion Welly 6 Simon Welton
(interview published September 9 2015 following Simon's victory in the Saloon Stockcar World Final at Mildenhall on August 29)

Age: 33
Home Town: Norwich
Occupation: Mechanic
Family: Wife Rachel
Racing career: Started racing in Ministox aged 10

You’ve had the weekend now to let it sink in that you are Saloon Stockcar World Champion, how do you feel and how does this compare to other great moments in your career and your life as a whole?
(laughs) Well Cloud Nine is pretty lovely, I’ll say that. It’s an amazing feeling, it really is but I’ve no idea how to explain it really. I never dreamed it would happen. It was the same when I won the 1300cc Stockcar World Championship, I never dreamt that would happen either, honestly I never did and I only ever thought about it after I’d won it and I think it’s been the same so far since winning the Saloon World. I never believed it would happen so I never really thought about it but since it’s happened it’s all I can think about and I suspect I will think about it and replay it over and over in my head for quite some time. It’d definitely a career highlight, if course it is. Anytime you win a big race, it means so much but the World Final is the big one, it’s the one everyone wants that little bit more than anything else. I think in a way it feels the same as the 1300cc World. I guess the Saloon World is a bigger achievement but I’ve won it at a very different stage in my life compared to when I won the 1300cc title. It was a completely different time for me and I think the wins mean very similar to me personally. As for the rest of my life, it’s hard to compare because racing is so different but it’s certainly up there, I’ll let you know when I’m a dad (laughs, Simon and his wife Rachel are currently expecting their first child).

You mention not thinking you would ever win the World Championship, can you explain that?
It was a luck thing really. I do believe I’m a good enough driver and my car is good enough to be in contention to win races like this but you need that bit of luck as well. Being a good enough driver isn’t enough and neither is just having luck, these races are not won on luck alone, you need to be good as well and I’ve just never considered myself as someone who has the luck when you need it. I’ve done really well with my racing over the years but my form in big championships has never been the greatest and I put a lot of that down to just having bad luck but (in the World Final) I think I made up for all the bad times over the years and then some, everything just went my way, it was incredible really but again I think it doesn’t matter who you are, you need that bit of luck to win a race like a World Championship.

What are your biggest memories of the race itself?
You know, it’s a funny thing because usually in races like that they seem to take forever. Five laps feels like 50 and everything seems to drag on and on but for me the race went by so quick, honestly it was like it was over in a flash, again it’s quite hard to explain and because of that at first I couldn’t remember too much about the race. After the race people were talking to me about certain moments of the race, especially the bits where I nearly went out and I honestly couldn’t remember a think at the time and didn’t know what they were talking about. But then over the weekend, from talking more and more about the race and watching some videos, more and more has come back to me.

Let’s go through the race, how did you feel at the start, especially as Deane Mayes and then Dave Aldous appeared to make bit of a break?
I didn’t have an amazing start but I did what I needed to do and that was simply survive the start and get going and I did that. I did see the front row get away, I think Lee (Sampson) was caught out a bit and it was a little frustrating for me because I could see them edging away and could see they were going to go and I was trying to encourage Lee to get going but I think in the end I probably distracting him a little and that allowed them to get away a bit more (laughs). I wasn’t too worried about them getting away thought because I was pretty confident there was going to be a stoppage. It’s Mildenhall and it’s not often you have a race there with over 30 cars in it that doesn’t get stopped so I was expecting a stoppage but also I don’t like leading races anyway so I wouldn’t have liked to have been in the lead straight away anyway. I was aware there was a crash behind me at the start. I didn’t know exactly what happened but as we took the flag I glanced in my mirror and could see cars spinning so I was happy to be in front of that and that really was the most important thing about the start of the race.

A couple of laps later and Danny Colliver span Dave Aldous and you took the lead, how did you feel about that point?
I could see Danny catching (Aldous) and I knew what he would do. I think anyone would have done the same. It’s the World Final and you can’t just pass another driver whose in contention because everyone wants it so bad that no-one would think twice of spinning you for the win so I was sure Danny would take him out, he had to really if he wanted to win and I knew he did and that’s what he did. I was completely expecting to take the lead at that point but I did but I was still pretty happy at that point. Even though I was leading the race, it was so hectic at this stage that the priority was still just to make sure you didn’t get taken out because people were getting taken out all over the place so when Deane (Mayes) got past me a couple of laps later I still wasn’t too concerned, again because I was confident there would be a stoppage and for me the main thing was surviving until then and going from there.

The stoppage came on lap five, at which point you had just reclaimed the lead. Do you think it was critical that you had the lead at this point?
(laughs) No, the most important thing at that point was not having Tommy Barnes behind me! He’s one of those guys who you just have no idea what he’s going to do at any stage so when I caught him and went past I knew I had to get away as quickly as possible. When I took the lead back from Deane that was my main goal at the time, not to take the lead but to get away from Tommy (laughs) and when the yellows were waved all I was worried about was who behind me and whether it was Tommy or not. As long as it wasn’t him I would have been happy!

You led several laps between the first and second waved yellow flags, how were things going at that point?
It was going well but I knew it was a long race and you never know what’s going to happen, again especially at Mildenhall which is always unpredictable so I just kept pushing on, but it’s always hard when you are leading a race, you never know exactly what kind of pace you should be setting but that’s one of the good things about leading a World Final at Mildenhall because I don’t think it matters where you are in the race, leading or three laps down, you still drive the same, flat out, because if you don’t you get taken out. So that’s what I was doing, trying to drive as hard as I could but it’s hard because you are so worried about making a mistake from pushing too hard.

Deane reclaimed the lead at around the half way mark, at this point where you concerned that your chances were slipping away?
I wasn’t when he took the lead. Again I knew it was a long race and there was still a long way to go just from when the half way flag came out and there were still so many cars in the race at that point but I think I did start to panic a little after the second restart because it was clear to me that he had the legs on me and I was starting to think that I was going to need a little help to catch him.

Deane led the field for the second restart with you immediately behind, what was your intention at that stage?
Get him (laughs)! Again you can’t just go past a rival in a race like this, it’s all about winning and no-one truly wants to finish second and at this point I did think he had an edge on me so I felt I had to go for it but he got away from me when the race restarted and at that point I was starting to think that I was in a little trouble and was hoping for some traffic to slow him up and get me back into the race.

That traffic came in the shape of Simon Venni, when he re-joined in between you and Deane, what were your thoughts?
When Simon came between us, my initial plan was to try and use him to fire into Deane or something like that but before I could make a move he did it for me. I don’t know what the deal was there between them, whether he just wanted to get back on the lead lap or whether he was trying to take Deane out but whatever it certainly helped me a lot. He took him wide and I made my move and tried to squeeze Deane into the wall as hard as I possibly could. If I could have, I would have tried to put him in the car park if I meant I would win (laughs) and I’m sure he would done the exact same to me. As far as I was concerned he had the quickest car out there and if I wanted to win I had to take him out.

The race reached fever pitch on laps 20 and 21 when Danny Colliver joined the battle for the lead with you and Deane, what were you thinking at this point?
On one hand I was really pleased to see Danny because I knew he would also take Deane out for the win if he could but on the other hand I was absolutely gutted that there was another driver in there with us, fighting for the lead. I think that was my biggest thought, just thinking ‘oh great, now there is three of us’ but deep down I hoped it might help because Danny and Deane might have taken each other out instead of me.

Instead it was Carl Waterfield who did the damage, taking Deane out of the race and delaying Danny to hand you a comfortable lead, was you aware of Carl when he made his move?
Kind of. Going into that bend I was completely out of control. I’d tried to spin Danny on the back straight and pretty much missed him and as a result I was totally out of control going into the pit bend. Some people thought I tried to cut the corner but the truth is I was just trying to keep in a straight line. I knew Carl was there between us but had no real idea of what he was going to do and for all I knew he was going for me so I just tried to get through the bend as quickly as I could. I knew something happened, because I heard the bang but I couldn’t really see, again I was just trying to regain control of the car and get away and I genuinely didn’t know where Deane was after that lap. I didn’t realise he was out of the race and I never thought about looking on the infield for him. I still felt he was my biggest threat and I was trying to figure out where he was for most of the race after that!

You then led the race for the remaining nine laps, how difficult were they?
It was hard, because I felt that the car was really going off. It’s strange because when I watched a video afterwards the car seemed to be going exactly the same as it had all race but inside I really felt like I was struggling, maybe it was in my head, I don’t know but the last laps were difficult but also because I had no idea where anyone was behind me. I had Jamie Sampson behind and I knew he was a lap down and I was fairly confident he wouldn’t take me out for the sake of it as he’s not really that kind of driver but I had no idea who was behind him. I kept looking at the starter hoping to see how quickly he would change his signal to have a rough idea of how far in front I was but that wasn’t helping, it never dawned on me that it was because I had quite a lead at that point (laughs).

When you took the chequered flag, how were you feeling at that point?
I just wanted to keep going, just in case there had been a mistake and I’d only done 29 laps (laughs). It was only when the fireworks started that I figured the race was definitely over!

Tell us about the celebrations after the race, we’re assuming that dancing isn’t one of your talents?
I span out on the back straight which was purely because I was going so wild in the car and pretty much forgot to drive the car (laughs). It wasn’t a bad attempt at donuts or anything, it was 100 per cent me forgetting that I was still driving the car. When I got over that I knew to go to turn three as that’s where all my guys stand, as for the dancing on the roof or whatever it was, I don’t know what it was, I was just excited. When I climbed down from the roof all I could do was lie on the track. I just didn’t know what to do with myself, I think when you come down from that unbelievable rush of adrenaline it really, really hits you and I think that’s what that was, it was incredible really.

What was the atmosphere like?
Incredible. You can’t hear a thing in the car, I heard the odd shout on the rolling laps and stuff like that but you are also concentrating so hard that you don’t pick up on most of it but when I got out of the car, the noise was just unreal. It honestly felt like everyone in the stadium was shouting for me, I know they weren’t but that is how it felt, it was just incredible but then the atmosphere had been awesome all night although I guess I would say that wouldn’t I (laughs).

What was it like after you’d won the race?
It took me about half an hour to get back to my car in the pits after the race and even then I couldn’t get near the car for people, I honestly nearly missed the final because it took so long just to get back to the car from people stopping me to say well done. But it was an amazing experience and it meant so much to have so many people come over and congratulate me and the comments afterwards have also been brilliant. When I got back to my phone I had I think it was 36 text messages and honestly about half of them were from numbers I don’t have saved in my phone so I still don’t know who they were or how they got my number (laughs).

You mentioned the evening’s Grand Final, where you finished third, your first race as champion, was this important for you to get a good result in this race?
It really was because I always remember when I won the European in the 1300cc Stockcars, for the rest of the meeting I was absolute rubbish. I think it was because I just didn’t care as I’d won the championship but I always felt that people would have thought me winning was a complete fluke because of how bad I was afterwards so I was keen not to let that happen again, especially after winning the World, so I was proper fired up to do well in the final and getting a good result in that race really did mean a lot for me.

Have you had any celebrations since winning?
We all went to the pub the following day, my family and all my mechanics which was really nice. Nothing too fancy but it was great to just have a day together and chat about it all, it was really nice because the meeting itself was really emotional for all us. You put so much of your life into this so when you get a result like this of course it means a lot and the emotions do start to get to you.

Have you given any thought to your plans for your year as World Champion and also your long term future in the formula?
I can’t see me going anywhere other than Saloons. The only other things I would consider are (BriSCA F1 or F2 Stockcars) and neither are really within my budget I don’t think, certainly not F1s and you need to spend so much money on tyres in F2s so I can’t see me doing anything else. As for the next year, I don’t know really, I’ve not given it too much thought yet. To be honest I’ve always said I would never be one of those guys to do each and every single meeting just for the sake of doing them all, champion or not. I believe that I already do a lot of racing, especially having my own business and a family and soon to be a dad as well and I enjoy what I do and that is the most important thing for me and I think if I started trying to do even more racing I would lose a little enjoyment, especially if they were meetings I didn’t particularly want to do. I guess I will probably try and squeeze a few more in here and there when I can and I will certainly do all the major championships but I was doing that anyway so I suspect the year will be very similar to what I’ve been doing as I think I’m pretty close to my limit already.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
Just the usual again, my wife, mum and dad, all my mechanics, my friends and my sponsors for everything they do.