August 9, 2007

Driver Gilles Barrieau and Canada's Atlantic Region are celebrating tonight after he captured the National Driving Championship title and the honour of representing his country at the World Driving Championship.

After a one-day driving championship that saw eight drivers from across the country contest eight races, Barrieau emerged victorious as the top points earner, with a total of 64 points.

"I didn't start out well," Barrieau said after winning the NDC title. "I was plucking away and the next thing I knew, I was on top.

"I was confident going into the last race but my horse didn't race well and I was lucky to finish fourth," he continued. "When Mario [Baillargeon] crossed the line first I wasn't sure if I'd won or not."

Barrieau led consistently through the last three dashes in the championship, followed closely by Ontario's Mario Baillargeon (61 points) and Paul MacKenzie (52 points). Of the eight dashes Barrieau was only victorious in one, but never finished worse than fifth.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent Canada," Barrieau said of heading to the World Driving Championship later this year. "My heart goes out to everybody who came to support me." A resident of Saint John, NB, prior to tonight's competition Barrieau had a record of 400-119-76-67 this year, with over $180,000 in purse earnings.

Here are the final standings:

Gilles Barrieau (Atlantic Region) - 64

Mario Baillargeon (Ontario Region) - 61

Paul MacKenzie (Ontario) - 52

Gaetan Lamy (Quebec) - 49

Scott Knight (Western Region) - 45

Denis St Pierre (Quebec) - 40 points

Bill Tainsh Jr. (Western Region) - 38 points

Walter Cheverie (Atlantic Region) - 27 points

To view video replays of the races, click here.

To view the charted results, click here.