An Interview with Saloon Stockcar National Points Championship leader Deano 730 Deane Mayes
(interview published July 13 2016 in the lead up to the 201 National Championship at Mildenhall on July 23/24)

Age: 29
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

We are now looking forward to the National Championship weekend at Mildenhall, is this something you are looking forward?
Definitely, I always look forward to the championships in the Saloon (Stockcars), they are always big occasions and I enjoy them a lot and hopefully one day I might win one because at the moment I seem to have become really good at finishing second (laughs). Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to be doing so well but at the time I would really like to win one! But every time one comes up it is another chance to have a crack at it and things have been going pretty well this season at Mildenhall and in general so I’d like to think I might have as good a chance as everyone else. The great thing for me, is that I love the weekend events anyway, I love the social side of it so for me that is just as important as the racing and the champion ship itself.

Do you like the weekend format of the championship, with the qualifying heats Saturday and the championship the following day?
I’m not too bothered really how the racing is done but I really enjoy the weekend events, regardless of how the racing is done, just because I enjoy the social side so much. I’ve said it before but one of the best things about the formula is how the drivers get on when we are off the track and in the short time I have been in the formula I have made a lot of what I consider to be good friends. Well, I think that, they might not think the same (laughs)! But at a normal meeting, you arrive to race, you might have a chance to chat to some people before if you have your car ready in good time but once the racing starts, that’s it, it’s all about the racing and working on your car in between races and getting back out and racing again and then when it’s finished, everyone goes straight home so you don’t get to spend much time with people. At weekend events like this, you can do all that on the Saturday but as soon as the meeting is finished on the Saturday, you can leave the car and go in the bar and have a drink and a laugh with your mates which you don’t get to do every weekend and I love that about the sport and this formula especially. It’s amazing how people get on in the Saloons. When we were in Scotland for the British Championship, my car got smashed to bits and the amount of people offering to help me was incredible. I had people I’ve never spoken to before coming over and asking if they could help and the amount of people on my car trying to get it fixed in time for the next race was just crazy, I don’t think you’d get that in any other formula.

And did you fix the car in time for the next race?
(laughing) Yeah we did somehow!

Does having the National Championship final on a different day to the heats make for a bigger challenge as conditions will no doubt be different Sunday to how they are Saturday.
It does and it doesn’t. On the one hand yes the conditions will be different. Just being an afternoon meeting rather than an evening one will make the conditions different being on shale so that is a challenge, especially if you are going well Saturday. If things are going well Saturday, then you’ll wish the championship was Saturday night but if Saturday isn’t the best for you then you are thankful that the big race is Sunday as everyone kind of has to start again and you have another chance to get in the mix. I like the championship being the second day because it gives you a chance to spend Sunday morning working on the car and doing all the things you would do before a normal meeting to make sure the car is as good as it can be. As long as we’re not too hungover of course (laughs). When a championship is on one night, there isn’t the time for that and you do the final how your car comes off from the last heat and sometimes you might have missed something and the car might not be the best.

How much work will you spend on the car on the Sunday morning before the championship?
It depends how the Saturday goes really but hopefully we’ll get through that without any massive damage and then it will be a case of doing all the checks we do every week when we are getting ready for the racing at the weekend. Stuff like measuring everything, making sure all the wheels are in line how they should be, is something is even half an inch out it can make the biggest difference, checking every nut and bolt is tight, all that stuff goes a long way in this formula and I’m sure it won’t be just us doing it but everyone else will be doing the same as well.

Is a good qualifying position important for the championship?
I always thought it was when I was first starting in the formula. I always figured you needed to be up the front to stand a chance in a race like this and while I think that does apply on some occasions, especially the tarmac championships which are perhaps a little less unpredictable than the shale ones, it definitely doesn’t apply at Mildenhall. I found that out in the European Championship a couple of years ago when I finished on the podium having started right at the back. I figured I had no chance in that race and I finished third which was one of my first big results so it was very special. Don’t get me wrong I finished quite a way behind David Aldous who won but anything could have happened and it would have only taken one incident for him to get taken out and I would have had a shot at winning. That’s the thing with Mildenhall, being so small, when there is a big grid of cars it’s so unpredictable and luck plays a massive part. It doesn’t matter where you start because anywhere could be the wrong place at the start, you have no idea what’s going to happen and I think as long as you can come out of the first couple of laps in one piece you will stand a chance.

You are currently running second in the Mildenhall Track Championship, does that help your chances?
Probably not because I honestly didn’t know that (laughs)! That surprises me a little because I didn’t think I’d been doing that well at Mildenhall this year, I knew it had been going ok but not that well but I think that just shows how hard it is to be consistently good at Mildenhall all the time because the racing is so unpredictable. I’ve had some good meetings and some not so good meetings but even so I’m still doing well in the points. At most other tracks, one bad meeting and you would be out of contention for the track championship. I don’t think where you are in the points really makes too much difference in a race like this, nothing really counts, just how you do in that race but I guess knowing that the car has been performing well does give you a confidence boost and that belief that you can do well and I’m pleased with how the shale car is going as we’ve been working hard on it, stuff like that helps.

On the subject of points, you are also winning the National Points Championship, are you pleased with that?
Yeah, very but it has come as a surprise as I never set out to try and go for the National Points. Last year we did a lot of meetings and it burned me out a lot so the plan this year was to cut back a bit. Especially now (son) Brandon is racing Bangers, because I’ve lost a mechanic now because he’s always building his own cars and not helping me with mine (laughs). The meetings I have done this year are the ones I want to do, that’s why I’ve not been to Scotland except for the championships. It’s expensive racing there, it’s about £250 in diesel for the trip and I can’t justify that every time there is no racing locally so I’ve not been doing them. I’m lucky I guess because between Mildenhall, King’s Lynn and Skegness you have the bulk of the fixtures and Taunton isn’t too bad and I enjoy racing there and the St Day meetings usually have Taunton the next day so again it’s a weekend away. The target this year was very much to just try and stay red all season because that is something I haven’t managed to do yet and to do that I was just trying to meet the average score needed to be a red at each meeting and now I’m trying to match my own average at each meeting which is tough because it’s pretty high but I’m really pleased with how the year is going and if I manage to win the National Points that would be brilliant.

You mention not racing at Cowdenbeath regularly with is something recent winners of the points championship have done, is that something you are especially pleased about?
Not really. You do hear people comment about it being easier to score points at Cowdenbeath because there are sometimes less cars than elsewhere and more meetings but trust me, it is not easy to score points there. Unless you are Luke Grief (laughs)! He makes it look easy, but it is an incredibly hard track to score well at because there are a lot of good lower graded drivers there so if anyone scores well at Cowdenbeath regularly they deserve to do well.

This season at Mildenhall has seen every Saloon Stockcar meeting have five races with an Allcomers at every one so far, is that something you are in favour of?
Yeah, as far as I’m concerned the more racing the better and I will always try and get out for all the races I can. It can be hard because usually there isn’t much time between the final and the Allcomers but I am grateful for the extra race and as long as I can, I’ll be in it.

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.