An Interview with new Saloon Stockcar English Champion 217 Sid Madgwick
(interview published April 27 2016 in the lead up to rounds three and four of the Mildenhall Track Championship)

Age: 19
Home Town: Isleham
Occupation: Welder and fabricator
Family: Girlfriend Emily
Racing career: Starting racing Go Karts aged eight and Ministox aged 11

Congratulations on your victory in the Saloon Stockcar English Championship on Saturday at King’s Lynn, it’s been a couple of days now, how are you feeling?
I tell you what, you must be the 15th person to ask me that (laughs). I’ve told everyone the same thing and that is that it still doesn’t seem quite real. It’s the most amazing and weirdest feeling at the same time because on the one hand I’m so made up to have won this championship but on the other hand it just doesn’t feel real, it’s almost like a dream. I think it will become a lot realer when we paint the roof on the car and certainly when I race as champion for the first time. It’s part of the reason why I got a lot keener to race at Mildenhall on Saturday (April 30). Dad is away the weekend and I’ll be taking myself and to be honest when I knew he was away I was considering giving this one a miss but winning the English has changed everything and now I can’t wait to race again. Dad is hoping to either start work painting the roof tonight (Monday) or tomorrow but it will probably be something fairly basic for now as I would like to do something a bit special with the roof at some point, you know, have glitter and all that (laughs). After all I might never win something like this again.

Clearly the win means a lot to you, what makes it so special?
It’s massive and there are so many reasons. Obviously being a roof grade championship makes it really important. Those are the races everyone wants to win and I think it’s probably a dream of every driver to one day have a championship roof grade and I’m the same, I’ve always dreamt about doing it and how I would feel and now to have done it, especially in the Saloons, is just unreal. Also the history of the event is amazing. All the Saloon champions have history but the English is one of the longest running ones and I was looking at the names on the trophy as soon as I was presented with it and had an even better look yesterday and it was just incredible to see all those names and now know mine will be among them. That’s crazy. It’s really cool for the whole family I think because racing is such a big part of all our lives so to have our name on a trophy like that is amazing. Then there was the race itself which was just brilliant. Winning a championship is always going to be special but to win one which was as good and as exciting as that is even better. So many people have said what a good race it was and how exciting it was to watch and so to win a race that people enjoyed and might talk about for a while is really cool. The other thing for me was again my family, because everyone was there and to share it with them again made the whole thing so special. It really wouldn’t have been the same had they not all been there, it just made the whole thing even better. I was in bits after the race, to be honest I couldn’t believe how emotional I was but after the race I was crying like a girl (laughs). I didn’t think I could get any worse and then I saw (girlfriend) Emily and my dad and they were worse, seeing how much me doing well meant to them just meant so much so it was very, very special.

Let’s talk about the race, did you at any stage before the championship think you was in with a chance?
(laughs) No, absolutely not. I think I qualified about 20th and I was absolute rubbish in the heats. It’s something I need to improve on but when it started to rain before the meeting it really got to me. I’ve never been the best in the wet, on shale and tarmac, I don’t know why and I think whenever it’s wet I get very defeatist and it gets into my head and I almost give up and assign myself that I’m going to have a bad meeting. When it’s dry we are always working to try and make the car better and that is something we don’t usually do if it’s wet, I suppose partly because I don’t usually enjoy but I need to improve on that and not let the weather get to me and instead work towards making the car and myself better. So when it started raining before the meeting, all my confidence went and basically I started to feel like I didn’t want to be there and that really showed in the heats because I was useless and I’m amazed I even qualified. Confidence is such a big thing in racing and not having it can make a massive difference but thankfully before the championship I got my head straightened out a bit. By then it looked like it wasn’t going to rain and so I actually pulled my finger out with the car and myself. I still never dreamt I would have a chance of winning but I thought maybe I could get in the top 10 or something like that.

The start of the race was extremely wild and you were in the thick of it including being involved in the crash which brought the race to a halt to assist Deane Mayes, what were those laps like?
Yeah, they were pretty insane (laughs) but I loved it. When you are in the thick of something like that and are able to keep going, that is when our racing is the best, the feeling of being in that kind of race and surviving is just amazing. I wasn’t sure what happened with Deane exactly. I think he tangled with Lee Sampson and we all went in and somehow I managed to bounce off and continue. There was a lot of luck involved in that, there always is when a race is like that but as I said immediately after the race, someone was obviously looking out for me in that race.

Was there any point when you thought you had a chance of winning the race and if so when was it?
No, there wasn’t really. Even at the end when we were in the final laps and I was catching Welly (Simon Welton) and Simon (Venni) I was convinced something was going to go wrong but also you don’t have a lot of time to think but I never thought at any stage I was going to win. I think it was only when I came out of the last bend it fully dawned on me. Welly was out in the fence so I knew I’d cleared him and Simon was on the outside and I knew it was a little more slippery there and I was already in a straight line and he wasn’t so I had a better drag out of the bend. That was when I started screaming in my crash helmet. That went on for a while (laughs).

The race had a lot of restarts, how tough were they for you?
Well in the end I think it is safe to say that without the stoppages I wouldn’t have won because Simon and Welly at one stage were clear, I think at one point I was about half a lap behind them so without the stoppages I would have never caught them unless they’d taken each other out so in hindsight the stoppages helped but at the time I was hating it (laughs). Restarts are another thing I’m really not very good at and every time the race got stopped I was gutted because I kept thinking that when it restarted I’d get stuffed which is what usually happens but on this occasion I was able to make pretty good restarts every time which is a bit of a miracle for me, again I had a lot of luck on the night.

When did you realise you were catching Welly and Simon?
Probably a little later than everyone who was watching the race did (laughs). Initially my biggest concern on the last restart was to try and get away from Shane (Davies). He'd been so quick all night and at that point winning the race was still not a thought, it was all about trying to get away from Shane to try and finish third so at first I was only concerned about him and then I suddenly looked up and Welly and Simon were a lot closer. I still never considered winning to be a possibility so I was just going as hard as I could, still mainly thinking about trying to finish third. The last lap was hard because I could see I watch catching them and I guess Simon was waiting for the last bend to try and make a move on Welly and I think that is why I was able to catch them like I did but at the same time I also felt my best hope was to try and do something on the last bend. I was trying to judge it so I didn’t catch them too soon but obviously I was worried about them getting away or Shane catching me so it was really difficult but someone I managed to get it about right (laughs).

What were you thinking on the back straight on the last lap?
(laughs) I really don’t know! I think I had my eyes shut for most of it!

What does this win do for the rest of your season?
It’s massive. Like I said we’ve already been on the car tonight (Monday) to get ready for the weekend which otherwise I might have had off and we are now going to Scotland for the British Championship in a couple of weeks which we weren’t planning on doing. As soon as the race finished Saturday, Dad said to me that we were going to Cowdenbeath and I’ve already made the plans for the trip. Something like this just gives you such a huge boost. I’ve not raced yet and already I feel more confident and eager to get back out again, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to race again as much as this (laughs) and it also does a lot for your motivation. Don’t get me wrong I was having a good season anyway and really enjoying my racing but something like this just gets you even more motivated and when you feel like this it makes a massive difference. I was actually on the phone to Welly earlier tonight and he was saying it was the same for him when he won the World and he is still riding on that even now so hopefully it will last just as long for me (laughs). I really hope I’m able to have a good year as champion, I would hate to have a rubbish year and people think the win was some kind of fluke so I’ll be working hard to try and be as good a champion as I can be.

Part of that challenge will now include starting your races from the very back of the grid, are you looking forward to that?
I am. I know I’ve been starting in the red grade for a while but now I will be at the very back, I know it’s going to be tough but I’m looking forward to that challenge and seeing how I get on. At least I can line up next to Welly now and give him a wave before every race (laughs).

Is there anyone you would like to mention or thank?
My dad, girlfriend Emily, Trevor and everyone at Beck Row Car Spares, Welly, Ryan, Scott and Pork Pie, Alec Savage, CJ Overy, Lee and Harry Overy, AMS Electrical, the Plumbers, Uncle Gary and Richard and Kyle Overy, Simon and everyone else whose helped but especially my dad and Emily because I simply couldn’t do any of this without them and their support.