WDC drivers officially welcomed in Christchurch

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk 

The official welcome has been held in Christchurch today for the international field of drivers here for the World Driving Championship.

The function at the Commodore Hotel featured a traditional powhiri and was attended by eight of the 10 drivers involved, their entourages plus representatives from HRNZ and other interested parties.

The two drivers not there were Gary Hall Junior who had some passport dramas and a delayed departure from Western Australia while American whizz kid Brett Beckwith was due later this afternoon. 

The group has already headed to Kaikoura for the opening heats of the WDC at the scenic South Bay course tomorrow.

For New Zealand's representative Blair Orange the quest to win a world title at home is becoming very real.

"It's pretty cool and you look around and these drivers have something like 30,000 wins between them so it's a pretty amazing stat," says Orange.

Orange himself goes into Kaikoura with 2998 career wins, just two away from becoming the fourth New Zealander ever to secure 3000 wins.

There are two previous world champions in the group, Canada's James MacDonald and Frenchman Pierre Vercruysse.

For MacDonald it was eight years ago and he's been hugely successful in North America since then.

"It's exciting ... in 2017 I felt like a bit of an outsider. Now I'm older and a little more used to stuff like this and I'm going to enjoy it and have a good time."

"There's not a lot of pressure but there will be a lot of excitement if I get off to a good start."

Few would be more experienced than Vercruysse - he won in France in 2013.
 
A veteran of 40 years in the sulky he says New Zealand is a bucket list trip having driven at most harness racing jurisdictions around the world.

"It's important ... it's the one piece of the puzzle that is missing."

He's already taken in some wine tasting at Waiheke Island and his family have been to Hobbiton!

As for chances of a second title he says "I feel confident in myself."

No-one has arguably come further for these championships than Finland's Santtu Raitala.

It took him 35 hours to get to Christchurch.

"It's very nice to be here and I am looking forward to it very much."

While he is an experienced and accomplished performer he is entering new territory this WDC.

"I have no experience with pacers before."

Not that he seems too worried. 

"It should be easy," he laughs.

Everyone here agrees that luck will play a big part in this championship, both with the horses you get and in the way the heats pan out.

As MacDonald says : "It's a grind over a long period of time and you need to chip away - if you are going to be fifth try and be fourth and if you are going to be fourth try and be third."

The first heats at Kaikoura will be Races 5 (2.35pm), Race 7 (3.47pm) and Race 9 (5.00pm) on Sunday followed by Race 3 (1.20pm) and Race 5 (2.16pm) on Monday.

The 20 heats will be held over 9 days (Nov 2-11) at six meetings at four venues :

Kaikoura November 2 and 3
Cambridge November 5
Addington November 7
Winton November 9
Addington (NZ Cup day) November 11  

There will be regular updates on hrnz.co.nz, wdc25.nz, and HRNZ's social media channels throughout the championship.