PARIS TURF / TROT-ONLINE / USTA-NEWSROOM / AUSTROTFORUM / STANDARDBRED-CANADA /
Hämäläinen wins the
World Cup of Amateur Driving
Monday, July 24,
2006 - by John Pawlak, publicity/public relations director, the U.S.
Trotting Association The final two
races in the 2006 World Cup of Amateur Driving were raced this past Saturday
evening at Rome’s Tor di Valle Racecourse, where Finland’s Kimmo Hämäläinen
won once and finished seventh, good enough to gain the overall victory in
the biennial tournament for “gentlemen” drivers.
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Tor di Valle Racecourse |
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Finland’s Kimmo Hämäläinen is flanked by Italy's Allesandro Raspante and France's Virginie Boudier Cormy on the winner's stand following the World Cup |
The other winners in the final round included France’s Virginie Boudier Cormy, who won two of the three races. Actually, all 14 entrants raced in one race, and then they were split in two groups of seven to race a second time -- thus, although there were three races in the final round each driver only started twice.
For his efforts, the Boudier Cormy moved up the ladder and finished third, overall, just behind Italy’s Allesandro Raspante, who finished second in his two drives on Saturday.
Canada’s Howie Gelfand, who entered the final round with a one-point lead, and who had been tied for the lead after the first of three rounds, could muster only a disqualification --and a 13th place finish.
In Europe, horses are disqualified for breaking stride over a distance of 100 meters or more, and are immediately ordered out of the race by the judges; the driver receives only one point when his horse is disqualified.
The United States’ representative, Lon Frocione, finished six and was disqualified in his two starts on Saturday, and finished last in the 14-driver tournament.
The victory by Hämäläinen was, based upon driving experience, a major upset; the business manager by profession had, at the start of the competition, won only 13 races in his career -- which matched John Bennet’s (New Zealand) total as the lowest among the competitors at the start of the tournament.
Here are the finals standings:
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2006 World Cup of Amateur Driving – Final Scores |
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Rank |
Driver (Country) |
1st Leg |
2nd Leg |
3rd Leg |
Tot. |
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1. |
|
33 |
14 |
19 |
66 |
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2. |
Allesandro
Raspante ( |
16 |
25 |
21 |
62 |
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3. |
Virginie Boudier
Cormy ( |
23 |
8 |
29 |
60 |
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4. |
Iver Jessen ( |
18 |
29 |
12 |
59 |
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Marc de Soete ( |
31 |
9 |
19 |
59 |
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6. |
Klaus Tho Seeth ( |
25 |
14 |
15 |
54 |
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7. |
Howie Gelfand ( |
33 |
15 |
3 |
51 |
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8. |
Mauro Biasuzzi ( |
32 |
8 |
9 |
49 |
|
9. |
Fred Handelaar ( |
25 |
13 |
8 |
46 |
|
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Josef Maier ( |
22 |
11 |
13 |
46 |
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11. |
Colin Redwood ( |
24 |
5 |
10 |
39 |
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12. |
Tommy Holmgren ( |
18 |
12 |
6 |
36 |
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13. |
John Bennet ( |
14 |
5 |
9 |
28 |
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14. |
Lon Frocione ( |
17 |
7 |
3 |
27 |