Ronnie Wrenn Jr. won six races on Wednesday night (Dec. 31) at Sports Creek Raceway, giving him 849 victories for the season and his second consecutive North American dash crown.
Wrenn won last year’s dash title with 714 wins.
Wrenn and Aaron Merriman were in a fierce battle for the No. 1 spot in wins among all harness racing drivers in North America, with Merriman holding a 28-victory advantage, 799-771, heading into racing action on Dec. 12.
But Wrenn closed out the month by winning 78 races over the final three weeks and vaulted past Merriman by one tally when he won four times on the Dec. 29 card at Northfield Park. He extended that margin to five when posting six wins to Merriman's two on Dec. 30 at Northfield.
Both drivers headed to Sports Creek on Wednesday night with Wrenn winning six and Merriman scoring once. That gave Wrenn 849 winning drives for the season to Merriman's 839.
The 28-year-old Wrenn was sidelined for much of January because of wrist surgery and also endured the loss of his father to cancer in May. Wrenn changed his colours to his father’s black and maroon in tribute to his dad.
Despite the hardships, Wrenn this season joined a small group of drivers to win at least 700 races in back-to-back years. The others are Tim Tetrick, Tony Morgan, Dave Palone, Walter Case Jr., Jack Moiseyev, Herve Filion, and Mike Lachance. Tetrick and Morgan are the only drivers to do it more than once and Morgan is the only one to extend the streak beyond two years -- winning at least 700 races from 2005-08 and also 1995-97.
(USTA)
This was wonderful
This was wonderful competition, and credit to Wrenn and Merriman for finishing head to head at a struggling track. Hope
attendance and handle reflected the drama