Bartlett wins Tioga Drivers' Championship

Jason Bartlett captured the 2009 edition of the Drivers’ Championship at Tioga Downs on Sunday afternoon. Winning two of the seven divisions, Bartlett also steered Cinderella Guy to a track record for older gelding pacers in 1:50.3. It was the fastest mile that Bartlett had ever won in his racing career and came in the fifth division of the Drivers’ Championship in the $16,800 Open Handicap Pace.

 

Bartlett also won the second division of the Drivers’ Championship with the Trond Smedshammer Ice Queen in a new lifetime mark of 1:56.2. 

 

The $25,000 first place prize came down to the seventh and final division of the Drivers’ Championship which was the fiive-eighths-mile dash for the cash and only two drivers had the possibility of winning it--Ron Pierce and Bartlett. Pierce was driving the heavy favored Snoopmattydog and attempted to leave from post six, but was parked out by Tim Tetrick and Armbro Cougar through fractions of :26.3 and :54.3. Snoopmattydog and Pierce tired on the outside allowing Bartlett and I’m In Luck to sneak up the inside and finish fifth, ahead of Pierce, and capture the 2009 Drivers’ Championship. Mountain Rocket and David Miller captured the dash in a track record time of 1:09. 

 

The complete order of finish for the third annual Drivers’ Championship was: Bartlett--first place; Pierce, second; Andy Miller, third; Tetrick, fourth, Yannick Gingras, fifth; David Miller, sixth; Jody Jamieson and Brian Sears, tied for seventh; Jim Marohn Jr., ninth. 

 

"This is at the top of the list for my career, driving against the best drivers in the world and some of them the drivers I grew up looking up to. It was all about going out there and having fun today, but winning it is awesome, just being able to be in the same field with these drivers was a thing in itself,” said Bartlett following his victory in his first appearance in the Drivers’ Championship. 

 

Dave Palone got stuck in the Philadelphia Airport due to weather delays and was unable to make the Drivers’ Championship, so David Miller filled in for all of Palone’s drives and competed in the Drivers’ Championship in his place.

 

The real winners of the event were the foundations that the drivers donated their five percent to for the Drivers’ Championship races. The Sara Strope Memorial Fund is a charity for a local mother who recently lost her 12-year-old daughter unexpectedly and with the drivers’ donations, contributions from the horseplay promotion, donations from horsemen and fans, and Tioga Downs and Jeff Gural matching it, Tioga Downs successfully raised over $6,700 for the cause. The other charity receiving half of the donations from the drivers, which was also matched, was the HTA Scholarship Foundation who ended up with $4,980. Jeff Gural personally made a donation of $5,000 to the Standardbred Retirement Foundation for the nine drivers that competed in the 2009 Drivers’ Championship.

 

“These two charities are great causes, and we could not be more proud to be partnered with them for the third annual Drivers’ Championship. These drivers are more than willing to help out with these causes and we thank them for everything they do for us. The fans and the horsemen also showed their gratitude today, donating their own money to a great cause in the Sara Strope Memorial Fund,” said Jason Settlemoir, VP of racing and simulcast. (Tioga Downs)