Chanse Vigen – Breaks A Fourteen-Year-Old Record On Night 1 In Ponoka
Photo By Shellie Scott
Thursday night saw the running of one of chuckwagon racing’s biggest and most prestigious events – the Ponoka Stampede. It was an absolutely perfect night for chuckwagon racing with excellent racetrack conditions and an entertaining evening of racing was witnessed by the capacity crowd in Ponoka. Chanse Vigen claimed the Alberta AG Centre Fast Time of the Night after opening the Ponoka Stampede with a track record run of 1:11.75.
Coming off barrel number 4 in the 4th heat, Vigen – driving the McWilliam Automotive & CBI Solar outfit – placed first on the night by a huge 2.1 second margin over Chad Fike. Two-time Ponoka Stampede Champion Kurt Bensmiller was third, D.J. King was fourth and Obrey Motowylo rounded out the top five on the night. Cruise Bensmiller, Kris Molle and Jamie Laboucane complete the top eight, with Evan Salmond in ninth and Layne MacGillivray and Layne Flad splitting tenth place on night one. Vigen beat the old track record of 1:12.19 set by Luke Tournier back in 2011 by 44 one-hundredths of a second.
The top 8 in the aggregate after Sunday night’s run will go into the semi-final round on Monday in heats 8 and 9. The top 4 times from the semi-final round on June 30 will go into the $75,000.00 Tommy Dorchester Championship Final Heat where the winner will take home the 2025 Ponoka Stampede Championship.
Day 2 of the Ponoka Stampede Championship can be heard on WPCA Pro Tour LIVE on Friday night, June 27, 2025. starting 7:45pm Mountain time on 96.5 The Ranch, or streaming options are available through the WPCA Website at wpca.com, iHeart Radio website/app or the Radioplayer Canada website/app.
Billy Melville
