Wednesday, June 26, was the first night of chuckwagon action at the 83rd annual Ponoka Stampede — the first leg of chuckwagon racing’s unofficial “Triple Crown.”
The night kicked off with the first heat of the All Pro Canadian Chuckwagon races followed by the World Professional Chuckwagons.
The racing was fast with close finishes. The fast time of the night was 2019 Saskatoon World Chuckwagon Races Champion Chanse Vigen with at 1:15.68.
Coming off barrel No. 1 in the fifth heat, Vigen, driving the High River Autoplex, RV and Marine outfit, placed first on the night by 24 one-hundredths of a second over Layne MacGillivray. Logan Gorst (Morskate Manufacturing) and Luke Tournier split third and fourth on the night, with Obrey Motowylo rounding out the top five for the night.
Locally sponsored drivers Luke Tounier, Eagle Builders, came in third, Chad Fike flying the Family Meats banner was 10th, Evan Salmond for Calnash Trucking was 13th and Mitch Sutherland, sponsored by Siding 14 Brewery finished in 21st place.
The top eight in the aggregate after Saturday night’s run will go into the semi-final round on Sunday in heats eight and nine. The top four times from the semi-final round on June 30 will go into the TrailBlazer RV Centre $50,000 Tommy Dorchester Championship Final Heat where the winner will take home the 2019 Ponoka Stampede Championship.
See full results from night one below:
Day 1 Results | |||
Rank | Driver | Sponsor | Total Time |
1 | Chanse Vigen | High River Autoplex, RV and Marine | 1:15.68 |
2 | Layne MacGillivray | Service Plus Inn and Suites | 1:15.92 |
3 | Logan Gorst | Morskate Manufacturing | 1:16.11 |
3 | Luke Tournier | Eagle Builders | 1:16.11 |
5 | Obrey Motowylo | Topline Oilfield Hauling Ltd. | 1:16.13 |
6 | Cody Ridsdale | Rai-Lynn Trucking Ltd. | 1:16.15 |
6 | Vern Nolin | Crowbourne Capital Corp. | 1:16.15 |
8 | Mark Sutherland | Friends of Sutherland Racing | 1:16.20 |
9 | Jason Glass | Birchcliff Energy Ltd. | 1:16.43 |
10 | Chad Fike | Family Meats 2011 Ltd. | 1:16.46 |
11 | Darcy Flad | Wetaskiwin Ready Mix | 1:16.48 |
12 | Chance Flad | Multi Rack Systems | 1:16.49 |
13 | Evan Salmond | Calnash Trucking | 1:16.50 |
14 | Ross Knight | The Orville Hays Group | 1:16.67 |
15 | John Walters | Pidherney’s | 1:16.71 |
16 | Troy Dorchester | PureChem Services | 1:16.73 |
17 | Doug Irvine | Irvine’s Saddles and Western Wear | 1:16.77 |
18 | Kirk Sutherland | Red Deer Motors | 1:16.83 |
19 | Codey McCurrach | King Oilfield Contracting Inc. | 1:17.00 |
20 | Bob Van Eaton | Horseshoe Paving Ltd. | 1:17.02 |
21 | Mitch Sutherland | Siding 14 Brewing Company | 1:17.03 |
22 | Mike Vigen | Reinhart Oilfield Services Ltd. | 1:17.19 |
23 | Kelly Morin | Central Alberta Tile One | 1:17.24 |
23 | Roger Moore | Wild West Meats | 1:17.24 |
25 | Jordie Fike | Viking Projects | 1:17.27 |
26 | Wade Salmond | Vold, Jones and Vold Auction Co. Ltd. | 1:17.51 |
27 | Troy Flad | 5 Star Propane Ltd. | 1:17.82 |
28 | Layne Flad | Quick Moves Concrete Pumping | 1:17.86 |
29 | Curtis Morin | Watts Projects Inc. | 1:18.09 |
30 | Chad Harden | Ja-Co Welding and Consulting Ltd. | 1:18.84 |
31 | Gary Gorst | Crystal Kids | 1:19.02 |
32 | Blaid Flad | Stagecoach Saloon | 1:20.21 |
33 | Josh Hrynyk | Quick Mats Ltd. | 1:21.44 |
34 | Dustin Gorst | Sims and Associates Insurance Services | 1:22.09 |
35 | Roy Romanow | Wild West Suites | 1:23.55 |
36 | Kurt Bensmiller | Versatile Energy Services | 1:35.73 |
* Kirk Sutherland drove for Layne Flad. |