What an incredibly exciting Australian World Cup Qualifying Series this has been! The lead has changed hands a few times and the competition has been exceptional, with strong performances from our top riders.

The second last round for 2019/20, was held at Boneo Park last Sunday and with only one round remaining, Chris Chugg has one hand firmly on the title. Chugg, who finished fifth on Sunday, scored nine points, however as only the best six rounds contribute to the series total, he dropped the seven points earned at the Melbourne Royal round to advance his cause by just two points to 94. He leads the series by a margin of nine points.*

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The big mover of the weekend was Jamie Kermond who took out the round, earning the maximum 17 points, however, dropping a Gatton score of six netted him 11 points which was enough to take him into second place on 85.

Holding down third place is Billy Raymont, who despite earning seven points on the weekend for finishing seventh, was unable to advance his overall point score as seven points was not among his best six rounds to date. Tom McDermott, dropped from third to fourth as his ten points earned only netted him a single point to advance to a total of 81. This took McDermott out of the title race for 2019/2020. The rest of the field are led by Russell Johnstone and Katie Laurie who share fifth place back on 62 points.

Currently, there are 22 combinations entered for this Sunday’s final qualifying round which means that the maximum 20 points will be awarded to first place, giving both Kermond and Raymont a mathematical chance of snatching the title. If either of these were to take out the round, they would net 11 and 12 points respectively, taking either of them to a total of 96, which would place them just two points ahead of Chugg. To take the title, Chugg will need to net just three points from the round and with a drop score of nine, he will need to score 12 points on Sunday to take the title.

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In summary (based on our unofficial calculations), assuming that at least 20 combinations start in Sunday’s final round, for each of the top three to win the series, the following needs to happen:

Chris Chugg: Needs to finish in the top 4 to take the title.
Jamie Kermond: Needs to win the round and have Chris Chugg finish fifth or worse.
Billy Raymont: Needs to win the round and have Chris Chugg finish fifth or worse.

We caught up with Chugg and Kermond to find out how they are both feeling going into this final round:

“I’m feeling quietly confident of posting a good result on the board for the final World Cup qualifier for our league. The horse is in good form and has been very consistent. The big picture is of course the World Cup Final in Las Vegas but also the year to come which should be an exciting one!” Chris Chugg.

“It was a huge weight of the shoulders last Sunday to secure our MER and it was great to get the win. Second, 3rd and 4th in the overall are really tight but I’m pretty sure Chuggy has the series wrapped up. Napa is feeling great and is in top form so we will see what happens. My plan for 2020 is the Olympics not the WC final so I’m not too concerned with the overall but hopefully Australia can have 2 combinations representing us at the final.” Jamie Kermond.

So no doubt, it will be a battle on Sunday afternoon between all these top competitors. We will be ring-side to watch and report on all the action and when the dust settles on Sunday evening we look forward to reporting on the final round of what has been an absolutely fascinating season.

The unofficial standings after Round 10 are as follows:

*Unofficial Results.