New Zealand's Ferguson leads WDC, US's Bartlett stands 7th

Belgium’s Christophe Martens began like a house afire, Norway’s Eirik Høitomt won the fourth of five rounds and the USA’s Jason Bartlett couldn’t make up any ground in the fourth round of the World Driving Championship, raced on Monday night at Sorlandets Travpark in Kristiansand, Norway.

But when the dust had settled after the penultimate round, New Zealand’s Peter Ferguson, who twice finished second on Monday, retained the top position and a 133 to 117 lead over Germany’s Roland Hűlskath. The latter began the round in fourth position after having won round number three at Jarlsberg this past Saturday.

Bartlett couldn’t find traction on Monday. His mounts finished eighth, 10th (as a favorite), sixth and third. His 90 points remain seventh best, and he is 43 points behind Ferguson’s lead.

Eirik Høitomt had far and away his best single round among the four raced to date. He capped three third place finishes with a win in the nightcap on Monday, and will now be considered a factor when the final round of four heats are raced on Wednesday night at Oslo’s Bjerke Travpark.

Martens won the first two races on Monday, but then finished ninth and sat while his fourth division mount was scratched. Those results dropped him back to sixth position, although he is in theory still alive to win his second World Driving Championship title.

Here are the standings after the fourth round of the 24th World Driving Championship, with the winner of each round indicated byboldface type:

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