Manitoba, APTA name best provincial drivers

WINNIPEG & MASSTOWN, N.S. — Ken Wiebe of Ram Messenger Service received all three of the most prestigious awards for professional truck drivers in Manitoba.

The honors include: Manitoba Driver of the Year; J.O Dutton Memorial Trophy; and he was also named Grand Champion at the Manitoba Professional Truck Driving Championships held at Red River Exhibition Park in Winnipeg.

He also won the original category he entered — the super b-train competition.

The J.O Dutton Memorial Award is presented for outstanding performance at the National Championships for the previous year.

Other winners in the competition’s six categories, include: John Klassen Ltd., Reimer Express Lines (Step Van); Peter Schlichter, Reimer Express Lines (2-axle straight truck); Brian Hrabarchuk, Con-Way Canada Express (Single-Single); Sheldon Werboski, Canada Safeway (single-tandem); Denis Roberts, TST Porter (tandem-tandem).

The winning Team was from Reimer Express Lines, consisting of John Klassen, Peter Schlichter, Gary Good, Rob Trager, and Trevor Mulder; the First Time Entrant Award went to Jim Tulipan of Bison Transport; and the Hal Bjornson Memorial Award for highest score went to John Klassen of Reimer Express Lines.

Over on the East Coast, The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association also recognized the top truck drivers in Atlantic Canada, with top honors in the five-axle class going to Rod Wood of Midland Transport Limited.

The best driver in the four-axle class was Herb Peters of Day & Ross Inc, while Roy Mattinson of Roy B. Mattinson & Sons Trucking was the best straight truck driver. The winner in the Step Van Class was James Daye of CleanX — The Dryclean Xpress. And the champion of the B-Train category was Jerry Thibodeau with Irving Oil Ltd, who also received the Rookie of the Year Award for outstanding performance by a first time competitor.

The team award for the highest scoring team was presented to Armour Transportation Systems. Top scoring Team members included Sandy Cooke, James Chambers, Alan Constantine, Chris Griffin, and Victor Poirier.

The winners of both the MTA and APTA competitions will represent their respective provinces at the 2006 National Driving Championships September 7th to 9th in Quebec City.