Canterbury Junior Driver Jessica Young should have won the South Island section of the Australasian Young Drivers Championships and should be representing her country this year. She was leading at the normal cut off time and thought she had won the chance to compete, but due to confusion from Perth officials she has lost that chance.
The Australasia Young Drivers Championship is one of two serious targets for all junior drivers in New Zealand each season, with the NZ Junior Drivers Championships being the most sort after.
Thanks to a outstanding season which has so far seen Young salute 23 times, she is now a leading chance to qualify and in with a chance to win this years edition of the NZ Junior Drivers Championships.
But it's missing out on the Australasian Champs that really has Young upset.
With qualifying usually running from the start of the season to around March, the points system was simply and easy to follow thanks to weekly updates on the HRNZ website.
First there was talk it might be held in conjunction with the Tabtouch Perth Inter Dominions in December 2015.
Then it was March 2016. That date came and went with little communication from Perth Officials.
Now it looks like December 2016 will be the confirmed date.
While it is great that the series will finally be held, it doesn't help Young out at all. Thanks to the new points system in place she currently sits in 4th place in the South Island ladder, 141 points behind leader Brad Williamson. Even if Young somehow made a unlikely come back to topple Brad, she would be unable to compete due to age restrictions.
This throws up some questions, such as:
Why is the date not a fixed? – We suggest March/April each year, to allow a good time of qualifying for New Zealand & Australian young drivers.
Where is the communication from the Perth officials?
Did they hope to push it under the rug and hope nothing became of it?
āMajor issues were raised after a disappointed owner sent in this letter http://www.harnesslink.com/International/Horse-owner-pleads-for-
While plenty of the anger in that letter was directed at HRNZ, we would like to direct the attention away from them and their staff. They are the middle man, and have been given little information to work with by the Perth officials.
The issue is clearly with Perth, and a lack of communication that has resulted in them letting down young drivers all around Australasia.
Something needs to be done to clear up these issues.
A Junior Driver in New Zealand only gets 5 season as a junior. And usually it is only in the last two seasons that a young driver really hits their straps and starts to get a larger amount of drives which sets them up to qualify for series such as these.
The last thing they need is uncertainties on dates they can collect points and when the competition will be held.
Harnesslink Media