Chanse Vigen – First Place In All Categories On Night 2 In Ponoka
Photo By Shellie Scott
After all day and all night rains on Thursday resulted in an unscheduled and unexpected day off, day 2 of the Ponoka Stampede resumed on a beautiful Friday evening under sunny skies. Temperature was a warm 19°C, racetrack conditions were a little sluggish, some outstanding races were watched by the capacity crowd. Defending champion Chanse Vigen emerged out of the pack with the fast run of the night with a penalty free run of 1:15.86.
Coming off barrel number 4 in the 8th heat, Vigen – driving the Grind Energy Services outfit – placed first on the night by a large 1.14 seconds over former Calgary Stampede Champion Kris Molle. Luke Tournier was third, Day 1 winner Layne MacGillivray placed fourth, with Jason Glass rounding out the top five for the night.
The day money run vaulted Chanse Vigen from seventh place overall at the start of the day to the number one spot overall with a combined aggregate time of 2:30.15. That puts him 86 one-hundredths of a second faster than Layne MacGillivray. Luke Tournier sits third, with Kris Molle completing the top four after two runs. Kurt Bensmiller is on the outside looking in, sitting in fifth place overall 1.77 seconds out of fourth hole.
The cancellation of night two has eliminated the semi-final run on Sunday night. Drivers will get to turn all four barrel positions and the top four in the aggregate standings after Sunday’s night run on June 30 will go into the $75,000.00 Tommy Dorchester Championship Final Heat where the winner will take home the 2024 Ponoka Stampede Championship.
Day 3 of the Ponoka Stampede Championship can be heard on WPCA Radio live on Saturday night starting 7:30pm Mountain time on New Country 910. As well, race fans can watch the races live on the watch.wpca.com streaming platform.
Billy Melville
