Yogi harnesses inner focus to top big rig competition

After several years of unsuccessful nominations, Katanning’s Glenn “Yogi” Kendall has won Scania’s Truck Driver Competition.

Yogi competed against a field of 12 finalists from around Australia including the competition’s first female competitor.

Cameron Henry from Victoria placed second and one of Yogi’s close friends, Scott Savroy finished third.

All of the finalists had to undertake 10 manoeuvring activities in a Scania G 480 prime mover, a dog-leg reversing test in a G 480 B-double, and test out driving Melbourne’s traffic-infested roads in a G 480. There was also a written component where each of the finalists had to answer 30 road rule questions.

Yogi said he was excited to have finally won the competition.

“It’s amazing, unbelievable,” he said. “I felt I got one of the first tests wrong, so I had to stop and take stock then focus on every element of the manoeuvring.

“The switch to a state-of-the-art Scania was one of the biggest things to get to grips with during the tests.”

Yogi said the event was a way to meet other like-minded passionate people who want to push themselves forward in the industry.

He walked away with $5000 in prizes, while second took $3000 and third took $2000.