Lexington, KY - After the excitement of being in the Bronze Medal position after the dressage phase in the three-phased 2005 FEI World Driving Championship Pairs in Wals-Siezenheim, Austria, fate turned the other way for a moment, leaving the U.S. Driving Team to finish seventh out of 18 teams competing. Combining penalty scores from the dressage, cones and marathon phases, Austria's home team was destined to win, with a final score of 248.58.

"We put on a really good show," said Lisa Singer, who at 11th place, was the highest-ranked American individually. "We were really working together. I think we're really strong and I think we can be even stronger in the future."

Normally used to competing against a smaller field, our U.S. Drivers went up against 78 competitors from across the world this time around, presenting a slew of new challenges and a wealth of experienced opponents.

"This was my first competition of this caliber," shared Alan Aulson excitedly. "It was stupendous, and the level-you're dealing with the best of the best. It was a tremendous learning experience and a challenge at the same time. Overall, I'm very happy." Now, Alan says he's looking forward to the "homework" he'll be taking with him as he gets ready for next year.

"Our drivers have been in Europe training and competing for most of the summer," concluded Wendy Wares-Cooke, USEF director of high performance driving. "They have given it their all and now they're ready to go home and give their horses a well-deserved rest!"

Results from the 2005 FEI World Driving Championship Pairs, September 8-11, 2005

Team Competition

1. Austria (Georg Moser, Albert Pointl, Rainer Pointl), Score: 248.58

2. Hungary (Karoly Hodi, Vilmos Lazar, Zsolt Selyben), Score: 257.76

3. Germany (Reinhard Burggraf, Rudolf Huber, Sebastian Warneck), Score: 262.29

4. Poland (Adrian Kostrzewa, Jacek Kozlowski, Przemyslaw Sroka), Score: 280.75

5. The Netherlands (Ben Gosschalk, Riny Rutiens, Mieke van Tergouw), Score: 283.10

6. Switzerland (Beat Auer, Beat Schenk, Daniel W�üthrich), Score: 290.82

7. United States (Fritz Grupe, Lisa Singer, Mike McLennan), Score: 296.13

8. Czech Republic (Ladislay Jirgala, Jiri Nesvaciliun, Jaroslav Pavel), Score: 306.20

9. Italy (Francesco Aletti-Montano, Rocco Cordera, Claudio Fumagalli), Score: 312.06

10. Great Britain (John Attenborough, Dick Lane, Fred Pendlebury), Score: 314.33

Individual Competition

Competitor, Country, Horses/Ponies, Score

1. Rainer Pointl, Austria, with Favory, From and Galbrino, Score: 129.15

2. Karoly Hodi, Hungary, with Szikla, Felleg and Maestoso Jobbagy, Score: 130.09

3. Vilmos Lzar, Hungary, with Mithos, Prado and Pluto, Score: 131.38

4. Albert Pointl, Austria, with Baron 4, Ambros 13 and Alegro 2, Score: 131.59

5. Sebastian Warneck, Germany, with Rocky S, Condor S and Wum, Score: 133.28

6. Georg Moser, Austria, with La Salle, Lanero and Lombard 9, Score: 134.15

7. Beat Auer, Switzerland, with Famir III, Szelloe and Csillaq IV, Score: 138.85

8. Zsolt Selyben, Hungary, with Favory-Nori, Vezer and Convi, Score: 141.52

9. Riny Rutiens, the Netherlands, with Nike, Quito and Ringo Star, Score: 141.92

10. Sandor Nagy, Hungary, with B�üszke, Fabula and Napoly, Score: 142.45

11. Lisa Singer, United States, with Count on Me, LR Ami Bengali and Avolon Avante Garde, Score: 142.74

For complete results, please see http://www.wdc-pairs-05.at

For more information, please contact Sarah Lane, Public Relations Manager, on (859) 225-6974 or via e-mail at slane@usef.org. USEF press releases can be found on our website, www.usef.org .