Ontario hosted the National Professional Truck Driving Championships (NPTDC) in Brantford recently.
The grand champion, Bryon Winfield of Home Hardware, came from the Ontario ‘home team’, which also captured the Team Award.
The event, which pits winners from each provincial truck driving championship in a single-, national competition, is sponsored by the Ontario Trucking Association and Canadian Trucking Alliance.
Guy Broderick, a driver trainer for APPS Transport Group a former OTA Road Knight, represented OTA at the event and presented the Grand Champion award.
On top of a driving skills competition, all 29 competing drivers wrote a 50-question exam about trucking safety and knowledge and then completed a pre-trip inspection of a tractor-trailer.
“Pride and professionalism are the best choice of words to describe the drivers of the 2016 National Professional Truck Driving Championships,” says Broderick. “Watching their skills as they master a course most car drivers would have trouble with, I’m impressed with the level of safety and knowledge they must know to compete at this level. They are masters at what they do every day while they drive Canada’s economy. It was an honour to represent OTA and present this award.”
Placements for the National Professional Truck Driving Championships are as follows:
Straight truck
1st place — Stewart Jutzi of Erb Transport — Ontario
2nd place — Danny Maltais of L. Simard Transport — Quebec
3rd place– Dean Grant of Agrifoods International — B.C.
Single-single
1st place — Evan Hirst of Canadian Freightways — B.C.
2nd place — Clary Ward of XPO Logistics — Ontario
3rd place — Claude Guerin of Bourassa Transport — Quebec
Single-Tandem
1st place — Bryon Winfield of Home Hardware — Ontario
2nd place — Steve MacPhee of Day & Ross Transportation — Atlantic
3rd place — Greg Muzychka of Canadian Freightways — Manitoba
Tandem-tandem
1st place — Shawn Matheson of Home Hardware — Ontario
2nd place — Mario Desjardins of L. Simard Transport — Quebec
3rd place — Denis Roberts of TST Overland Express — Manitoba
B-Train
1st place — Robert Smith of Tim Hortons — Alberta
2nd place — Rob Stevens of Home Hardware — Atlantic
3rd place — Murray Manuliak of Bison Transport — Manitoba
Team Award
Ontario
Rookie of the Year
Robert Smith of Tim Hortons — Alberta
Grand Champion
Bryon Winfield of Home Hardware — Ontario
