Chanse Vigen – Tops All On Opening Night In Ponoka
Photo By Shellie Scott
Tuesday night saw the running of one of chuckwagon racing’s biggest and most prestigious events – the Ponoka Stampede. It was a perfect night of chuckwagon racing where fast times and close finishes were the order of the evening. 2023 Grande Prairie Stompede Champion Chanse Vigen opened up the 2023 Ponoka Stampede with the fast time of the night with a 1:14.05.
Coming off barrel number 4 in the 8th heat, Vigen – driving the Wentworth Oilfield Services Ltd. outfit – placed first on the night by a large 1.02 second margin over last weekend’s Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede Champion Jamie Laboucane. Former Ponoka Stampede Champion Obrey Motowylo placed third, with Codey McCurrach and Mitch Sutherland placing fourth and fifth on opening night respectively.
The top 8 in the aggregate after Friday night’s run will go into the semi-final round on Saturday in heats 7 and 9. The top 4 times from the semi-final round on Canada Day – July 1 – will go into the $75,000.00 Tommy Dorchester Championship Final Heat where the winner will take home the 2023 Ponoka Stampede Championship.
Day 2 of the Ponoka Stampede can be heard on Wednesday night, June 28, 2023 on WPCA Radio starting 7:30pm Mountain time on Real Country 910am, and can be watched live on the watch.wpca.com streaming platform.
Billy Melville
