An Interview with Saloon Stockcar World Final pole position holder Deano 730 Deane Mayes
(interview published August 5 2015 in the lead up to the 2015 Championship at Mildenhall on August 29)

Age: 28
Home Town: Diss
Occupation: Self employed car parts builder
Family: Wife Marie and four children
Racing career: Started racing in Ministox aged 10 at Swaffham, first raced Saloon Stockcars in 2013

Congratulations on qualifying for the World Final for the second time and especially for topping the World Ranking points and starting on pole position, are you pleased about this and looking forward to the big night?
I’m definitely looking forward to the World Final and it is fantastic to have qualified again. I consider the formula so good and the drivers in it are so good that after qualifying last year I never took it for granted that I would get in again. Obviously you want to and you work so hard to try and make sure you get in again but you never know it will happen so just to be in the race again is fantastic but to top the World Ranking points is just incredible. I’m not too sure how happy I am about starting on pole though (laughs). That is a bit daunting if I’m honest, especially as I still don’t have the greatest amount of experience in Saloons so that is a big thing being on pole and we’ll see how it goes I guess but I suspect I might have preferred to have been a couple of rows back. At the same time I’m delighted to have topped the World Ranking points, that in itself is an amazing thing and I’m so proud to have done it. It’s for the whole team really, I’m just the guy in the car and if it wasn’t for all the support I get I’d never be in this position. I’m talking now and I have three people working on the car for me, so it’s a massive team effort and I couldn’t do all this without them and we’ve got there together, I guess getting this position is something of a reward for all that work.

As the man on pole position you will have some degree of control at the start of the race, dictating the pace and when to ‘go’, does that offer much of an advantage?
I’m not sure. Hopefully it will. It’s all about those first few laps and I think it will be a matter of survival really and getting through those laps in one piece with the car intact and everything still pointing in the right direction. Being at the front and especially having a little bit of a say in how the race starts can either go in your favour or really go against you and you’ll never know until the race starts but it might help me get through those first few laps and I think if you get survive the start then you have a chance of winning. That is especially so being at Mildenhall because the track is so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen and so if you are in the race and your car is ok after the first five laps and especially if you are still on the lead lap then you are in with a shout, hopefully being up the front will give me a better chance of being one of those drivers (laughs). The big downside for me I think is the pressure that comes with being at the front of a race like this. There is definitely more pressure involved and personally I hate it when people develop expectations of you because it just adds to the pressure. When people come over and say they think you are going to win or do well, it just adds to all that pressure. I’d prefer it if no-on thought I had a chance but it doesn’t work that way does it (laughs).

You started the recent EA Championship at Mildenhall on pole position, did that experience give you any help ahead of the World Final?
It’s funny because when I found out I was on pole I did think to myself that I could use it as a trial run for the World Final. Obviously it’s nowhere near the same scale as the World Final and there will be different drivers around me on World Final night but in my head I was trying to think what I could do and give something a go to see if it worked and I think I made a pretty good start and was pleased with that and how the race went. Unfortunately a backmarker pulled out in front of me and I got stuffed into the wet shale on the outside of the track and then I crashed so that was the end if that but at least the start was pretty good (laughs). The only trouble is if I do the same again in the World everyone will know what I’m going to do (laughs) so I might have to do something a little different! The good thing for me was that I think the race showed a little of how I’ve improved at stuff like that. I started the Superbowl on pole position and I completely messed it up and it was a dreadful start but in the EA Championship is was a lot better. Again that goes back to the different pressure involved in starting at the front compared to elsewhere. Like I said in the Superbowl I made a real mess of it but last year in the European at Mildenhall I qualified in the last chance race and came from the back to finish third and I think a lot of that was down to the pressure at the start being a lot less being near the back.

On the subject of One Wild Weekend, you had some great success that weekend, especially on the Saturday night, winning heat one and almost the second heat as well, how important was it to have that level of form at the last Mildenhall meeting prior to the World Final?
It definitely helps because confidence is such a big thing in any kind of racing, you have to have that belief that you can do well and having the weekend I did last time at Mildenhall is a huge help. To be the top scorer from the weekend going into the final means a lot to me, admittedly it didn’t go so well in the (EA Championship) but that’s one race and as we all know, so much of our racing, especially this formula is down to luck and that race was no different. Hopefully it means I’ll have a little better luck in the World instead (laughs). For me as brilliant as it was to win the first heat (on July 25), nearly winning the second heat actually meant more. In the first heat I was off the front of the reds, (laughs) I know I’m one of the worst for lining up early to try and get at the front of my grade but I just see it as a few cars I haven’t got to pass even if it does mean there are more out there to get me (laughs). But as I won the first heat, I had to start the second heat from the back of the red grade and also the second heat went flag to flag while the first heat had a stoppage and a lap sheet order restart which helped me. Don’t get me wrong, winning the first heat meant a lot, especially as it was my first of the year at Mildenhall and I do think it’s a very hard track to get a win and there is so much luck involved with winning a race there. But the second heat was even better for me, to come from pretty much the very back and nearly win without any kind of stoppage was just fantastic and I was so chuffed with how I did in that one.

As you mentioned you almost won that race but your last bend lunge on Shane Davies didn’t quite go to plan and you ultimately finished third, do you think you may have learned something there that could help you in the World Final?
You are always learning something new aren’t you. Everytime you race you learn something but Shane said to me on the Sunday that he’d seen me coming and managed to put the brakes on and to be honest I knew he had but by the time I knew I was committed and there was no way I could stop. But that’s why we go racing, to try and win so there was no way I wouldn’t have gone for it but it just didn’t work out that time but it was still a brilliant race and I absolutely loved it and I think it’s a reason why so many people like the formula right now as well, because that is how the racing is and everyone out will do everything to try and win, no-one will sit there and settle for second, it’s just how it is. And yes maybe I did learn something because if I was in a similar position on August 29 there is no chance I wouldn’t go for it and maybe I would try something a little different to what I did that night.

With that in mind, what are your goals for this year’s World Final and how realistic are your chances of achieving that?
I think my target is the same as everyone and I want to win it, you’d be lying I think if you said you didn’t but every Saloon race is a lottery and I think that is especially so at Mildenhall, just because of the size of the track, it makes every race so unpredictable and you never know what’s going to happen or whose going to win but that is what makes it so exciting to be a part of. I think my chances will all depend on how the first few laps go. Again being on pole can either go in your favour or really go against you, you just don’t know until it happens but I think if I can survive the start in fairly good shape I will have a chance. The car has been going really well lately on shale. It’s amazing really because we’ve always struggled to get a good set up on shale and what we have now really did happen by accident. One night at King’s Lynn I got a lot of damage and we just did what we had to so I could just get out for the final and the car went really well so when we got home we put the car on the scales and the set up was completely different to what we’d been doing so ever since we’ve tried to match that and it’s made a massive difference to my shale racing so hopefully that will help me because the car has never gone better on shale. Having a good handling car is so important as well on shale and again especially at Mildenhall where having a car that will do what you want is a lot more important than a fast car and we seem to have that now so if the first few laps go ok I’d like to think I have a chance.

2015 has seen you be one of the formula’s most dedicated drivers and as a result you are now a leading contender for the National Points Championship, was this always the plan and how much are you enjoying your season?
It was always the plan to do as many meetings as we could because that is what we do and what we live for racing, if I didn’t then (wife) Marie would only have me cutting the grass or painting a fence at something at home (laughs). When I was racing bangers, one year we did almost 100 meetings, I think the first year I did Saloons I did about 40 meetings and last year I think it was 65 or something so the intention for this year again was to always do the meetings but I never imagined I would be in contention for the points like this because it never happened last year even though we did the meetings but I think it does show that the more you race sometimes the better you get. It’s still too soon to be thinking about the National Points but I would obviously love to win it but I’ve no plans to change doing what I’m doing at the moment, we’ll just keep on going and see what happens nearer the end of the year.

Given the amount of meetings you have been doing this year can you tell us how much time on average you spend on your cars and also if you will be making some extra preparations for the World Final?
I might paint the wheels (laughs). We try to spend a couple of nights on the car each week and that is usually enough, I’m not sure what more we could do before the World Final but I suspect we probably will, we’ll probably check everything a couple more times than usual, just stuff like that but again I’m so lucky to have the help I do and I’d imagine the week of the World Final everyone will be eager because we’ll all be so excited so I’m sure everything will be right. I remember the first time I went to a (Saloon) World Final to race at Cowdenbeath and thinking how it wasn’t like a banger World Final because for Banger World Finals all the cars are built that bit more special than a normal meeting whereas at the Saloon World all the cars look the same as the week before and the next week and then you understand that that’s because they are all as good as they can be every week (laughs).

A big talking point this season has been the introduction of Zetec engines, is this something you are pleased to see?
Absolutely. I have them in both of my cars and I think it’s been a brilliant move for the formula and has helped bring a lot of new drivers in and also helped make the racing so good because everyone can compete without spending huge amounts of money. The fact that you can use a scrap engine which might cos around £150 rather than have a Pinto rebuilt when you break it which could cost up to £1,500 is just excellent and I think it’s helped reduce the costs of the formula a great deal and I believe Saloons are now a relatively cheap formula compared to most.

2015 has also seen your son Brandon move into National Bangers at RDC were he is already a race winner and One Wild Weekend saw him make his Saloon Stockcar debut, how special has this been for you?
Yeah, it’s been a massive deal and we’re all so proud of him. It’s funny because when he started in Junior Bangers he wasn’t so keen, I guess he was a typical teenager and didn’t want to the work in so he didn’t race so much but then he showed an interest in the stockcar and his enthusiasm built back up and it went from there and since doing (National) Bangers he’s really keen and he’d always been on about having a go in the stockcar so we decided to let him have a go and it was an awesome feeling being out there with him even though because of how the formula is you don’t get to think about it much. I’m not sure he’ll do the stockcars again any time soon, I think he’s quite happy doing his bangers for the time being but I think it could happen again down the road sometime.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
Everyone who helps me, all the boys who come down the yard to work on the car and then don’t come to the meetings, my dad for everything he does, all my sponsors and Marie for all her support.

More from this interview with Dean Mayes will appear in the official race programme at the 2015 Saloon Stockcar World Final at Mildenhall on August 29

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