The 2015 edition of the Australasian Young Drivers Championship was decided today at the Timaru Harness Racing Club's meeting at Phar Lap Raceway.
Conducted over seven races at four different tracks over four days, the championship was keenly fought for by six young drivers from Australia and four from New Zealand.
Robbie Close representing New Zealand's South Island went into the last two races today with a twelve point lead over his nearest rival Andre Poutama and Robbie quickly put the contest to bed when he won the first of today's two heats with a lovely drive on the trotter Saint Michel.
Away well from barrier one to lead early, Saint Michel was taken on in the mid stages and ended up three back on the inner going past the 400 metres mark.
Angling off the inner on the point of the turn, Robbie pulled Saint Michel out four wide as they turned for home and slowly reeled in the leader Clean Break with Trent Moffat in the bike while Price Of Fame and Josh Aiken flew late for third just in front of Peterhof and Jake Webster.
With the 17 points for the win, Robbie had an unassailable lead of 27 points going into the last heat of the series later in the day.
Mind you all the other drivers still had plenty to aim for and after a stirring race Coringa Delight and Tom Buchanan had a half head to spare from Secret Lotion and Dylan Ford with 6 1/2 lengths back to Indian Arrow and Josh Aiken and a further 1 1/2 lengths back to Betabcool and Michele Neilson with Robbie Close only picking up one point with a last placing.
When all the points were tallied up the final result looked like this.
1st – Robbie Close (NZ) – 77
2nd – Andre Poutama (NZ) – 52
3rd = Tom Buchanan (WA) – 51
3rd = Michele Neilson (NZ) – 51
5th – Dylan Ford (TAS) – 48
6th – Jake Webster (SA) – 44
7th = Trent Moffat (QLD – 39
7th = Josh Aiken (VIC) – 39
9th – Robbie Morris (NSW) – 27
10th – Ben Butcher (NZ) – 26
This season has been Robbie's best to date with 24 wins so far and 88 wins lifetime which is a great achievement with the limited opportunities for junior drivers overall in New Zealand compared to their Australian counterparts.
We here at Harnesslink would like to congratulate Robbie on winning the title and wish him all the best for the rest of the season.
Harnesslink Media
