from Harness Racing Australia

The 2015 World Driving Championship will begin on Saturday night (Feb. 21) at Tabcorp Park Menangle in Sydney, Australia, with the ten drivers competing in two races on the 12-race program. Representing nine different countries, the drivers will compete in race seven, an event over 1609 meters for pacers, and race nine, which is for trotters and will be over the distance of 2,300 meters.

The drivers competing in the Championship are:

Name-Country
Pierre Vercruysse-France (Defending Champion)
Jody Jamieson-Canada
Knud Mönster-Denmark
Tony le Beller-France
Mika Forss-Finland
Dexter Dunn-New Zealand
Vidar Hop-Norway
Guillermo Adrover-Spain
Tim Tetrick-United States
Chris Alford-Australia
Peter McMullen-Australia (travelling Reserve)

Canadian Jody Jamieson could be the driver to catch early after drawing Major Moment and talented trotter Vincennes in the first two heats. Major Moment has won his past three starts, with the most recent victory coming at Menangle last Saturday night. The Blake Fitzpatrick trained Vincennes was unplaced at his last two starts but both were against stronger opposition in Gr. 1 races in Victoria. Prior to heading to Melbourne, Vincennes had won four races in a row at Menangle.

Menangle will also be the venue for the final heat in the 20 race series with that event scheduled for Sunday (March 1).

The drivers will head to Newcastle on Sunday to compete in three races. It was expected that the Championship would then head to Goulburn on Monday, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the three heats set to be run at Goulburn have been transferred and will now be run at Wagga Wagga on Tuesday.

“With the support of the trainers and drivers in the Riverina, Wagga Wagga will now run seven heats of the World Driving Championship on Tuesday,” Harness Racing New South Wales Chief Executive Officer John Dumesny said.

The Championship will continue on Wednesday at Bathurst with a further four heats before heading to Penrith for three on Thursday. The drivers will then prepare to drive in the last heat at Menangle on March 1.

For more information on the World Driving Championship, go to www.worlddrivingchamps.com/.