An Interview with 788 Stephen Mallinson
This is your fifth appearance in the World
of Shale but it is your first since 2009, before we talk about this year's race,
can you tell us a little about your absence from the event in recent years?
Well it's pretty simple really, I got married! During the last season I was
racing regularly on shale I was busy saving for the wedding and I had a target
in mind and we did really well so when I reached the target I kept on saving and
decided to buy a tarmac car. I met my wife at racing and she is extremely
supportive of the racing and I said to her that when I'd saved this money it was
probably my only chance to have a real crack at racing on tarmac so we decided
to go for it and once I'd had a bit of time off to sort the wedding fund we
started racing on tarmac. The next thing that happened was my wife got pregnant
with our daughter so the circumstances changed again and basically I could
either afford a pile of tyres for racing on tarmac or spend the money on
nappies! And nappies were more important.
You've returned to racing more on shale in
2013, are you enjoying that?
Yes I am, for whatever reason I never quite enjoyed racing on tarmac as much
as I enjoyed racing on shale and you don't need to spend quite as much money to
be competitive on shale so that was a big factor in going back to shale. I'm
lucky as well because I've had a great season which has helped justify the
switch back.
You've certainly had some great form at
Mildenhall this year with a final win and you are currently second in the track
championship despite missing two meetings this season. Have you enjoyed your
racing at Mildenhall this year?
Yes I have, again I've been fortunate with Mildenhall because I've had my
best meetings there in 2013. The only trouble is the track is a long way away
for us, it's four hours there and four back so we've tried hard to make the
effort to do as many meetings there as we can because we've been having the
results, for whatever reason the car at the moment just seems to be best suited
to Mildenhall and the car goes really well there.
With that in mind, how do you feel about
this year's World of Shale Championship, especially with your fine qualifying
series which will see you start on the outside of row four.
I would prefer to be on the inside but that can't be helped, I'm happy to be
as far up the front as I am, I had a lot of good fortune in the qualifying
rounds so I can't complain. I think the winner is likely to come from the front
few rows, just because there are such good drivers up there and one is likely to
get away and be hard to catch but I think I have a chance of doing well from
where I've qualified. But it's like anything, you don't know what's going to
happen when the race starts, you can't plan for it you just have to see how it
goes and go from there and do your best.
Your best result in race is a sixth, which
came at Mildenhall back in 2006. Do you hope to improve on that result and what
is your goal for this race and do you think you are capable of improving on that
result?
I suppose you always want to try and do better than you did before but it
isn't always as easy as that. Being in the top six again would be a fantastic
result and I would be really pleased if I could do that but to be honest I would
be quite happy to finish and drive with the car still in one piece, and I don't
think that is going to be the easiest task in a race like this.
It sound like you are expecting a lively
race.
You just don't know what's going to happen do you. It might be but it could
go completely the other way, you can never tell but hopefully it will be a good
one.
Who do you think the main danger men are
going to be?
Again, I think anyone on the front three or four rows has got to fancy their
chances. There are a lot of quick drivers in front of me and a lot of quick ones
behind me so there are plenty of people who will fancy their chances I think.
I've got Andy Ford lining up behind me and he is going to be one to watch and
likely to be in a hurry to get to the front which could make my first bend
lively! To be honest there are so many good drivers, especially in the first
half of the grid, it could be any of them.
How big of an occasion is the World of Shale
to you as a driver?
It's a big deal. For the shale drivers it is our World Final and especially
so now we've the overseas drivers from Holland racing which makes it feel much
more like a World Final. Years ago you would expect the English drivers to have
an advantage over the overseas ones but that isn't the case anymore, these guys
are as good as anyone over here, some might even be better so they raise the
quality of the drivers on the grid and make it a better race to be a part off.
What do you think of the changes made to the
World of Shale series this year?
I like the involvement of the overseas drivers a lot but to be honest for
someone like me in the top 10, the changes haven't made the most difference to
me. The people effected are those who finished 21st to 32nd who previously would
have qualified but not have to try in the last chance race. I can understand
they would be disappointed and I'm sure I would have been if I was in that
position but sometimes changing things can be good so we will have to see.
Is there anyone you would to thank or
mention?
My dad who is a massive help to me and my wife who is a huge support and
understanding of all the money I spend and time I spend in the garage.