from Standardbred Canada

Mississauga, ON — Gilles Barrieau finished at the top of the driver standings to win the 2018 Atlantic Regional Driving Championship at Truro Raceway in Truro, Nova Scotia, on Friday night (June 29) and advanced to the National Driving Championship at Grand River Raceway on Sept. 26.

Kyle Burton photo

Standardbred Canada Director Kent Oakes, Gilles Barrieau, Redmond Doucet and SC Director Tony Zuethoff gathered for the awards ceremony.

Barrieau recorded a hat trick, scoring wins in races two, five and nine and a runner-up finish in the first race, finishing the eight-race competition with 72 points. In runner-up position, and also advancing, is Redmond Doucet from Inverness, Nova Scotia, with 61 points, edging out PEI’s Jason Hughes by one point. Hughes dead-heated for third in the final race which took his third place finish from seven points to six.

“I had a great night,” said Barrrieau following the winner’s presentation. “All of the drivers are competitive, it was a great evening and everything just worked out for me.”

A native of Saint John, New Brunswick, and qualifying in PEI, Gilles Barrieau was the winner of the inaugural National Driving Championship in 2007. He has been driving since 1981 and during that time has racked up 4,326 wins and more than C$8.5 million in purse earnings from his 18,990 drives (stats prior to this evening).

Redmond Doucet from Inverness, Nova Scotia, has been driving since 2001 and has 557 wins and almost C$590,000 in purse earnings to his credit from more than 2,680 drives.

Barrieau and Doucet will join six other drivers, including Ontario finalists Trevor Henry and Louis-Philippe Roy and Western Canadian finalists Kelly Hoerdt and Jamie Gray, at the 2018 National Driving Championship at Grand River Raceway in September.

The winner of the 2018 NDC will have the opportunity to represent Canada in the World Driving Championship and join 2017 World Driving Champion James MacDonald in the 2019 WDC in Sweden.