AUSTRALIA’S best harness racing drivers will converge on Launceston tomorrow night for the Sky Racing Australian Driving Championships with the outcome of six of the nine races framed on the program to determine the nation’s top driver.
The line-up to contest the event is a who’s who of Australian harness racing with the best two drivers from each state to vie for the honour of Australian champion.
It is the first time Tasmania has hosted the ADC and for many of the drivers it will be their first look at the Launceston circuit.
Lauren Panella is one of two women to contest the championship. She won the NSW driver’s premiership last season and the driver who finished second, Robert Morris, is the other member of the NSW team.
Panella is only 22 and is the youngest in the series but she is an amazing talent with her feats aboard Gaius Caesar in 2013 giving her multiple Group 1 wins including a Len Smith Mile and last year she won a Breeders Crown final aboard Marty Monkhouse.
Morris, 24, has notched almost 800 wins since he took to the sulky just over seven years ago and he too has won multiple Group 1 races.
The championship races tomorrow night are from races 2-7 inclusive with 19 points allocated for a win; 14 for second; 11 for third and nine for fourth reducing by one through to last in fields of 12.
The driver who accrues the most number of points after the six heats will be declared the winner and that could give the driver an advantage at the selection table when deciding who will represent Australia at the next World Driving Championship in Canada in 2017.
Check out the horses team NSW will partner in the ADC on Sunday night.