James Herbertson
A surprisingly big opening night has Victorian young gun James Herbertson poised to win the Ladbrokes Ultimate Driver Championship at Albion Park tonight.
Two wins and consistent performances across the 10 heats of night have given Herbertson a nine-point lead.
Early favourite Gary Hall Jr and NSW superstar Cam Hart are equal second with 80 points, while defending champion Angus Garrard is fourth and still withing striking distance on 75 points.
“It was great to get a couple of wins (last night) and most of my drives ran well,” Herbertson said. “I had a good team, headed by Ryan Spice, picking my horses in the draft and they’ve done well.”
Hall Jr was backed from $7 into $4 favourite going into opening night, but didn’t fare as well as he and his Gloucester Park Gurus team hoped with just 80 points.
“We hoped and expected he’d have a big lead after night one, so it’s going to be very hard from here,” Gloucester Guru form man Matt Leppard said.
“We went really heavy on night one. It started well, but didn’t finish the way we hoped.”
Seven of the 10 drivers in the series had wins on night one, including Canadian champion James MacDonald.
“I loved it. I didn’t have the best of luck in a few of the races, including the last, but I’ll be better for the experience on my first night driving at the track,” he said.
Herbertson, who was $6 before the first heat, is the commanding $1.75 to win the crown.
The dual Australian premiership-winning is a “driver series’ specialist, having won both the Australian Drivers’ Championship and Australasian Young Drivers’ Championships last year.
LADBROKES ULTIMATE DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP - POINTS TABLE AFTER NIGHT ONE
89 James Herbertson (Vic, odds to win $1.75)
80 Gary Hall Jr (WA, $14), Cam Hart (NSW, $2.70)
75 Angus Garrard (Qld, $6)
59 Luke McCarthy (NSW, $21)
58 Pete McMullen (Qld, $16)
57 James MacDonald (Canada, $31)
54 Robbie Morris (NSW, $41)
50 Zachary Butcher (NZ, $51), Trista Dixon (Qld, $51)
PHOTO: Stuart McCormick
