New Zealand's Champion Truck Driver Has Been Found

Who’s the champion truck driver in New Zealand? Well, after the closely fought final event of the New Zealand Truck Driving Championship at Baypark in Tauranga, Stuart Howard of Terence Howard and Sons out of Pukekohe came out on top as the overall champion.

Stuart showed remarkable consistency through the entire event, which was so close that it wasn’t actually decided until the very last drive. Stuart took home the $10,000 main prize sponsored by TR Group and TR Master Drive Services.

The class winners were:

ERoad Young Driver of the Year:
Campbell Murdoch (left) of Murdoch Transport.

Combination Truck-Trailer winner:
Reagan Brown (left) of HWR Freight Haulage.

Rigid (Class 2) winner:
Dean Wilson (left) of Philip Wareing Ltd.

Rigid (Class 3 & 4) winner:
Maikara Brown Rapana (left) of Move Logistics.

Combination Tractor-Semi winner:
John Baillie (left) of Baillie Transport.

Given that there were 17 regional heats, and an intense series of theoretical and practical tests, winning any class, let alone the overall championship is quite an achievement. As Competition Coordinator, Mark Ngatuere said, “To win at this year’s event required competitors to virtually nail every challenge put in front of them.”

We’d like to congratulate everyone who entered. The events were a showcase of the skill and professionalism shown every day on the roads by New Zealand’s truck drivers and TR Group remains committed to supporting the development of truck driving as a professional career option through the New Zealand Truck Driving Championship.

As we close in on the end of the year and the beginning of summer, the start of the regional events for the 2017 New Zealand Truck Driving Championship isn’t that far away. After this year’s amazing final, we expect an even closer competition next year. We’ll keep you posted with the dates.

All the best,
Andrew Carpenter
Managing Director, TR Group.