McMullen sitting pretty in WDC

Australia’s Pete McMullen is well poised in third spot at the halfway mark of the harness racing World Driving Championship in Europe.

The Queensland-based McMullen is on 68 points, just one behind second-placed German driver Hanna Huygens (69). The runaway leader is defending champion Rick Ebbinge from the Netherlands on 103 points. Ebbinge won the last title in 2019.

It was a luckless day two for McMullen after sharing the lead at the completion of the opening day.

Ebbinge boasts more than 1260 career wins and also trains a team of 30. His biggest win was the 2019 German Derby, and, like most, his dream is to win an Elitloppet.

The other Down Under driver, New Zealand’s Blair Orange, enjoyed a strong second meeting to move into fourth place on 65 points.

The last Down Under driver to win the World Championship was NZ’s Dexter Dunn in 2015, well before he relocated to the US.

The last Australian winner was the great Ted Demmler way back in 1987.

The Championship moves to Belgium tonight for the third leg at Hippodrome de Wallonie in Mons.

Thursday is a travel day before the series concludes on Friday in Berlin at Trabrennbahn Mariendorf.

WORLD DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS TABLE (after day two of four):

103 – Rick Ebbinge (Netherlands)

69 – Hanna Huygens (Belgium)

68 – PETER MCMULLEN (Australia)

65 – Blair Orange (NZ)

65 – Santtu Raitala (Finland)

63 – Doug McNair (Canada)

59 – Jordan Ross (USA)

53 – Miodrag Pantic (Serbia)

49 – Michael Nimczyk (Germany)

48 – Rodnay Gatt (Malta)

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Australia