By Matt Markham
The chance to pit themselves against some of Australia’s best young talents and experience harness racing in another country has some of New Zealand’s youngest driving stars excited about the week ahead.
Robbie Close, Matt Anderson, Kyle Marshall and Brad Williamson departed New Zealand yesterday (Thursday) to head to Western Australia to compete in the biannual Australasian Young Drivers’ Championship – charged with the hopes of a country on their young shoulders.
The Kiwi quartet, along with six of the best youngsters in Australasia will go head-to-head in a 10 race series over the next week, with the final race of the series held on Inter Dominion Grand Final night at Gloucester Park.
For Close, the most experience of the four, it’s an exciting prospect.
“I can’t wait to get over there and get into it,” he said.
“It’s a real honour to represent your country and I feel very privileged to have been given the opportunity.”
Despite losing his junior driver licence at the end of the 2015-2016 season, Close is allowed to compete in the series by virtue of the fact he is the defending champion of the Series and that he still fits into the required age bracket.
“I never even really thought about it to be honest so it was pretty overwhelming to get the news.”
Close won the Series when it was held in New Zealand two years ago in a brilliant display of driving and he will be looking to repeat the dose in Western Australia.
“It’s a very strong crop of drivers, there is some real experience in there. Guys like Jason Lee and Todd McCarthy have driven in some pretty big races so it’s going to be a real test on their home turf.
“But any of us four Kiwi guys are capable of giving it a really good shake I reckon, and it’s going to be a great group to be a part of and to spend some time with.”
Just one win shy of 150 career wins, Close said he had searched out the advice of some New Zealand drivers who had experienced racing in Western Australia and been busying himself with watching plenty of racing.
“I hit up the likes of Dexter Dunn and Gavin Smith about what it’s like and they were great and I’ve tried to watch as many races as I can from over there too.”
For Anderson, who is still a relative new face in the driving ranks, the prospect of the experience is leaving him fizzing.
“It’s going to be a really good experience to tick up and I’m looking forward to getting over there and doing my best to get some results on the board.”
Like Close, Anderson has spent plenty of time pouring over videos and has plans to talk to his boss Mark Purdon, who is currently over there, when he arrives.
“Mark and Natalie have three horses over there are the moment so I’ve been watching them race and looking at the racing pattern pretty closely. It’s completely different to the New Zealand style of racing, that’s for sure.”
The competition kicks off on Friday night at Gloucester Park with the first heat at 11.15pm (NZT) before competition moves to Bunbury on Saturday for a further two races. There are then further heats at Pinjarra, Northam and Narrogin before it’s the final race of the series on Inter Dominion Grand Final night at Gloucester Park on December 9.
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