Chanse Vigen – Second Consecutive and Fourth Day Money Overall On Night 8 In Calgary
Photo By Shellie Scott
It was another spectacular night of chuckwagon racing in downtown Calgary as night 8 of the Calgary Stampede Cowboys Rangeland Derby was run under a comfortable 22°C and a few clouds. Tension is in the air as wagon drivers are trying to gain a spot in Sunday’s Championship Final Heat. As the sun set in Calgary, it was Chanse Vigen – for the second consecutive night and the fourth time in eight days – who posted the fastest time of the night.
Coming off barrel number 2 in the 9th heat, Vigen, driving the Subsurface Construction Corporation outfit won top money by 65 one-hundredths of a second over Layne MacGillivray after posting a penalty free run of 1:11.03. Kurt Bensmiller with an incredible eighth consecutive top-five run was third, with Ross Knight and Kirk Sutherland, who were racing in the same heat, brought the capacity crowd to their feet when they ended up in a dead heat and split fourth and fifth on the night.
With just one run to go to secure a spot in Sunday’s final, Kurt Bensmiller is in a comfortable spot, leading the overall aggregate standings with an eight-day total of 9:32.31. That puts him 3.15 seconds ahead of 2022 finalist Layne MacGillivray, with Chanse Vigen is hanging on to third place overall. Ross Knight has now moved up into fourth place overall, but finds himself just shy of two and three-quarter seconds out of that ever so important third place, with Mark Sutherland in fifth place overall after eight nights, but a little better than three and a quarter seconds from a possible spot in Sunday’s final.
The top 3 in the aggregate after Saturday, July 15, 2023, will go into the championship final heat. The winner of the championship final heat will be declared the 2023 Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby Champion.
Live coverage of day 9 of the 2023 Calgary Stampede Cowboys Rangeland Derby can be heard Saturday night, July 15, 2023 on WPCA Radio starting 7:45pm Mountain time on Real Country 910am and can be seen on Sportsnet One starting at 8:30pm local time. Check your local listings.
Billy Melville
