THE GERALDTON JET IS REFUELLED AND READY TO LAUNCH! 

Thirty Five year old Western Australia 's Mark Wells has earned himself a somewhat enigmatic reputation in Australian Sprintcar Racing during a career that has seen great results interspersed with long lay offs.

He has twice finished third in the Australian Sprintcar Title (hence the title of this story) and also landed the plum WSS ride with Krikke Motorsport for season 04/05.  

Wells is a former motocross rider who, not unlike fellow WA racer Ryan Farrell, got behind the wheel at seventeen and never looked back.

However, a number of things have seemingly conspired to stop him reaching his full potential, including an horrendous leg injury courtesy of a motorbike accident and one might also consider that living four hundred kilometers from Perth hasn't done him any favours either?

Wells is a friendly bloke who genuinely seems to thrive in the heat of battle out on track, but last year he was nowhere to be seen and the sprintcar scene was lesser for his absence. He admits to having ‘no idea' of just how much his racing cost during his younger years, as his father was paying all the bills, but in recent times he has developed a much better sense of what it takes to succeed.   

Recently, he rediscovered the desire to compete in the big dollar world of sprintcar racing and subsequently he and his family have released the purse strings once again and lashed out on some top class equipment as he prepares to return to the fray.

SRN Editor Rod Colquhoun caught up with Wells during a break from his day job  driving trucks for the family business to get the low down on his re-entry into four wheeled war fare.       

“It was dad who got itchy feet to go racing again,” said Mark.   

“He missed it a lot last summer and I suppose I did too. We did a fair bit of fishing and stuff, but there is nothing that compares to racing. It is twenty years since I first drove one so it is pretty hard to just give it away and forget it. I was exhausted after my season on the road with the Krikke Team and when last season came around I guess I just wasn't ready to keep going.”

Wells begun preparing for his return by purchasing the number two car from the always immaculate ‘Monte Motrsports Team' and the car has been in his keeping for about six weeks now. Mark and his dad purchased the roller from Luche and it is the same chassis that both Ryan Farrell and Ben Atkinson had outings in last summer.

“Yeh, we've had it the best part of two months now and things are starting to come together,”

“We are trying to do a deal with Peter Morris from Maxwill Motors to get a competitive engine and we've also done a deal with Hino WA who are helping us with a truck.”

Whilst on the surface it would seem that everything is falling into place for the vastly experienced Wells, there will be a lot of money spent prior to him hitting the track; “I don't think we'll have much change out of Two Hundred Grand when we're done,” he said. It is a serious comeback and I want to be up the pointy end from the start. I don't want to be just another car on the track.”

Whilst Mark and his father share a blind love of sprintcar racing, their relationship is not always perfect, to the point where Mark lovingly refers to it as a love / hate relationship.

“I work in the family business and that can be tough. My dad is my boss and there is little doubt that we spend too much time together, in fact a lot of people have said that to me over the years. I think working for your father brings with it a certain degree of pressure that would not normally exist. If something goes wrong at work you can rest assured that I will be somewhere near the blame and that is a bit tough sometimes. But at the end of the day I probably annoy him as much as he annoys me so it works out ok.”

Wells is not afraid to open up in print and I must admit to being extremely interested in what he had to say. The man is a believer in living every day like it's his last and although he concedes he doesn't always do that, he tries extremely hard to make it a reality;

“There were two defining moments in my life that changed my perspective on things. The first was the death of the Krikke Boys in a car accident. They were both great guys and that had a profound effect on me. It was very difficult to come to terms with and it was on my mind for a long time. It gave me a new appreciation of life and I think my increased self analysis made me a better person,” he said.

“The second thing was my big bike crash in 2001. I was doing well with my motocross racing and the Castrol rep came down to watch me practice. I had cleared a particular triple jump many times before, but this particular day it went horribly wrong.”

“I was on a Honda CR250 and I hit the jump at a speed I considered pretty normal, but I came up short on the landing and my ankle just disintegrated. I remember lying in hospital and the doctor came in and said ‘we think we're going to have to take off your lower leg.' That was one of the worst days of my life and although they didn't end up amputating it, the mental scars are still there.' It turned out that the jump I crashed on had been altered the day before, but I suppose rather foolishly I assumed it would be as it always had. I was very lucky that I had good medical cover otherwise it would have had catastrophic consequences for me financially. I was off work for fourteen months and I had plenty of time to think about things.”

If there is an achilles heel in the Wells attack it is his rugged relationship with race officials and he says this has caused him a fair amount of agitation throughout his career and there is one incident that stands out in his memory; “It was the 03 – 04 Krikke Boys meeting I think. I was racing with Robbie (Farr) and Robbie spun and hit me. My car was damaged and I just needed some minor work done to get going again but they wouldn't let the crew out onto the track. Anyway, without going into too much detail I was black flagged and actually towed off the track at one point. It was a disgrace and the crowd was furious. In fact the Chief Steward later told me he feared for his life. The whole crowd was gathered around my truck after the meeting and at the end of the day I believe that decision cost me a $20,000 truck (first prize). Not to mention victory in a race that honours my two friends. That took me a while to get over.”

Wells has spent plenty of time dwelling on his sour relationship with officials and although there is no definitive answer, he thinks he has some idea as to why he cops a rough deal; “The only thing I can put it down to is that we come from out of town and more often than not we are successful. I basically drive into town, race, get the prize money and leave and I don't think that sits too well with some people. Because we come from Geraldton we tend to arrive at 4pm and we're gone by 11pm, we don't have too much time to socialize. I'm not 100% sure that is the reason, but I think it is a contributing factor.”

Two years ago Wells landed what has to be one of the top rides in Australian Sprintcar Racing and that is the pilot's seat in the Krikke Motorsport Team, but other than a couple of flashes of brilliance, it didn't come to much; “I couldn't have asked for more from Shane and the boys. They are a great team and really good people, but I really struggled with the Cool Chassis. I struggled and struggled to make it work and in the end we even built up the spare car (another ‘Cool') but that was no better. I am not saying they are a bad chassis they just don't suit me. I usually drive ‘Murphy' Chassis and they have been great. The Cool felt a lot stiffer and it really sapped my confidence. I guess my results would indicate that something wasn't quite right and in my mind that is what it was.”

History shows that Mark lost the Krikke ride to Australia 's top driver, Brooke Tatnell, and there is no shame in that.

Away from the track Wells' story is once again not as straight forward as many of his fellow racers; there is no wife and no children and at this stage no plans to change that. “I live just out of Geraldton on a couple of acres and it suits me fine,” he said. I've got a couple of dogs and that's about it. I was in a relationship for about nine years, but that ended some time ago and I just haven't met the right person I guess. I come from a broken family and it was tough as a kid and I promised myself that I would never put any child of mine through that. I know there are no guarantees but unless I meet someone that I think I can spend the rest of my life with then I won't be getting married. My parents split when I was 10 and that was F…king hard to go through at that age.”

Mark's mother Merryl now lives in Perth and she has evolved from being horrified that he was racing to his biggest fan; “She used to come to Claremont when I first started in the Sprintcar, but she would stand behind the grandstand and just listen to the racing. She couldn't bare to watch in case I was in an accident. Nowadays she can't get enough of it and she is my biggest fan. She never misses a meeting and that means a lot to me.”

So, will the ‘Geraldton Jet's' return to racing light up the sky or turn out to be a fizzer? Only time will tell, but one thing's is for sure; away from the track Mark Wells is one of the most genuine and honest blokes on the national scene.

SO WHAT DOES DAD THINK?

Mark's father Reg is a former bike and sprintcar racer himself and he is a self confessed sprintcar fanatic. After some prodding he concedes that he was ‘pretty good in his day' as a motocross competitor and thoroughly enjoyed his sprintcar racing, which wound up in the mid eighties.

The 64 year old has watched his son's evolution from motocross racer to high profile sprintcar driver and says he genuinely believes Mark is a talent; “Mark has always been a bit lucky when it comes to sport as he seems to be good at everything. He plays a bit of golf and also does some fishing, but by and large his love is car racing.”

Reg, who was originally from Margaret River (300 klm south of Perth ), moved to Gerladton at the age of 17 to take up a new job and never left.

He is still very much involved in the family's trucking business and shows no sign of slowing down just yet.

Of Mark's somewhat disappointing run in World Series Sprintcars two seasons back, Reg says; “I think it was a lot harder than he expected it to be and it really took it out of him. When the tour was over he slept for about four days non stop so I knew it had knocked him around.”

Reg is complimentary of the Krikke Team and says they couldn't have done more for Mark, but there was one problem that they couldn't overcome and that was the chassis the team was using. Reg continued; “Mark could not get on with the Cool Chassis and nothing he did could make it work for him. Unfortunately that was the chassis they were using and he just had to drive it. They did everything to help Mark, but he wasn't really at his best in that car.”

As he looks forward to the season ahead, Reg says he is ‘half excited' about what lay ahead despite the fact that it is a big financial commitment; “We were lucky because when we got out a couple of years back we sold everything to Les Sawyer and we saved some of that money in case we wanted to come back. It is an expensive sport and I told Mark that if he wanted to come back he had to do it 100% or not at all. You can't afford to be half hearted in a sport that is so expensive and can quite often be cruel. All we had a few months ago a four wheeler to push the car, a tool box and a jack so it's been a big effort to completely re-stock.”