MEDIA RELEASE
Leading Queensland reinsman, Pete McMullen was crowned the winner at the inaugural Sky Racing Australian Drivers Championship held at Globe Derby Park Adelaide on Saturday 18 October. An impressive crowd enjoyed a magnificent and exciting night of racing which featured Australia’s best drivers competing over six races for the title of Australia’s best.
McMullen won the championship by 4 points over Western Australian ace, Gary Hall Junior, with Tasmanian young gun Gareth Rattray finishing third on a countback from SA’s David Harding and Chris Alford from Victoria. Each of the races were fiercely contested, with exquisite driving skills displayed by all Drivers on the night.
Victoria’s Chris Alford drew first blood aboard QTOWN RIP ROARING, narrowly defeating Pete McMullen on HAND OF THE KING. From then on Alford & McMullen remained on top of the leaderboard, with McMullen just 3 points in front of Alford leading into the last race of the series. McMullen scored 3 points in the final race, whilst Alford could only manage 1 point, thus handing the title to McMullen.
Western Australia’s Gary Hall Junior took the final race of the series aboard LIVING BONUS, catapulting him to overall second in the series.
HRSA CEO John Lewis stated that:
“the inaugural Australian Drivers Championship was a great success for both South Australian and Australian harness racing. It is particularly important to recognise the superb horsemanship and skills of our best Drivers.
“This series has massive potential, and we are confident that it will become one of the great events on the national harness racing calendar.”
The final standings in the series are as follows:
1. Pete McMullen (Queensland) 57 points
2. Gary Hall Jnr (Western Australia) 53 points
3. Gareth Rattray (Tasmania) 52 points
4. Chris Alford (Victoria) 52 points
5. David Harding (South Australia) 52 points
6. Blake Fitzpatrick (New South Wales) 45 points
7. Greg Sugars (Victoria) 45 points
8. Ryan Hryhorec (South Australia) 43 points
9. Chris Voak (Western Australia) 38 points
10. Amanda Turnbull (New South Wales) 38 points
11. Mathew Neilson (Queensland) 32 points
12. Ricky Duggan (Tasmania) 17 points.
More information:
John Lewis, HRSA CEO – Ph: 0417855300
