Jason Bartlett, a 27-year-old native of Maine who earlier this year won the 2,000th race of his driving career, has accepted an invitation from the U.S. Trotting Association to represent the United States in the 2009 World Driving Championship, which will be contested in Norway.
"This is a great opportunity for me," Bartlett said. "This is a big honour, and the kind of thing I could have only dreamed about doing in the past."
The dream will become a reality when Bartlett joins nine of the world's top drivers, including the defending champion, Belgium's Christophe Martens, when the 20-race series opens in Bergen, Norway this coming May 14.
The Championship, which will conclude on May 20 at Oslo, Norway, is the oldest and most prestigious driving competition in the sport. It will have its 24th renewal in 2009, after having been founded by Stan Bergstein and Harness Tracks of America in 1970. It is contested every two years, as an adjunct to the World Trotting Conference.
Bartlett currently ranks fourth among all drivers in North America in terms of races won this year, at 522, and he has driven the winners of over $5.1 million this year -- a career-best total, by a wide margin. He also sports a healthy Universal Driver Rating of .332.
In addition, the former small-college All-American basketball player who originally hails from Augusta, Maine has been the leading driver throughout 2008 at Yonkers Raceway, and finished eighth in the point standings for Harness Track of America's Driver of the Year honours in 2007.
Early in his driving career, which began in 1998, he was a fixture on the Maine fair circuit and at commercial tracks in New England before he elected to move to larger raceways in New York and Pennsylvania. The decision was a good one; since January 1, 2006 he has won 1,448 races and driven the winners of more than $7.4 million.
Bartlett will be accompanied to Norway by his wife, Kristen, and a number of family members and friends also plan to be there to cheer him on.
(USTA)