Just one day after returning from a two-week overseas stay in Norway, Jason Bartlett was back on the road and on the way to the racetrack.
The 28-year-old Windsor native has followed up a 2008 debut season at Yonkers Raceway in New York, in which he was the track’s leading driver, with a 2009 season in which he has already notched 212 wins and has represented the U.S. at the prestigious World Driving Championship.
Bartlett raced against nine other countries’ drivers in a 20-race series over six days at five different Norwegian race tracks. The other countries represented in the biannual Olympic-style event were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden.
Bartlett, who started the final day of competition eighth overall, finished sixth while Denmark’s Birger Jorgensen won two races and the overall title and the $20,000 cash prize.
“I had a horse that hurt itself. I was going to win, but it broke (stride) at the top of the stretch,” said Bartlett while driving to Yonkers Thursday afternoon. “If that horse had won, I would have finished at least second in the standings.”
The soft-spoken Bartlett had difficulty finding the words to describe how much it meant to him to be selected in the race and to represent not just Maine, but his country.
“It means everything to me to represent your country. I think it’s a big honor to wear your country’s colors and flags,” he said.
The low-key Bartlett admitted he got a little emotional during the pre-race ceremonies.
“I did a little bit when they first introduced us and drove us over in cars to stand before the crowd and wave as we were introduced, but once you get out there and on the track, it’s just all about the race,” he said.
The last American to win the WDC title was Dave Magee in 1995. Only three Americans have won the 39-year-old event.
All expenses were taken care of for Bartlett, who brought wife Kristen along for the ride.
“I’d never been there before. The people were great. They spoke pretty good English, they love the sport, and it couldn’t have been any better,” he said. “It’s [harness racing] really big there and even bigger in Sweden. Even more than it is in New York.”
Bartlett, currently ranked eighth in North America by the U.S. Trotting Association for races won, was selected by the United States Harness Writers Association as its 2008 Rising Star Award winner.
UM team marshaling for alumni
The University of Maine Standardbred Drill Team will perform for a UMaine alumni event May 30 at 3:30 p.m. Four of the team’s six riders and horses will parade through campus on the way to the Page Farm and Home Museum near the greenhouses.
“We try to do four to six performances a year,” said Nonni Daly, an assistant professor in animal and veterinary science at UMaine. “We’ll also be marshalling and having a post parade at Bangor Raceway July 12.”
Marshalling involves escorting the harness horses to the starting gate and the winners to the winners circle.
The team has been active for 12 years and has been performing for the last 10.