2024 Ponoka Stampede Champions
K & H Developments Outfit
L-R: Outriders Quaid Tournier and Rory Gervais, Driver Luke Tournier,
Ponoka Stampede President Rick Wierzba Presenting
Photo By Billy Melville
It was a classic lineup in the eagerly awaited $75,000.00 Tommy Dorchester Championship final heat, Chanse Vigen, Luke Tournier, Kurt Bensmiller and Rae Croteau Jr. would run for the championship at one of chuckwagon racing’s most prestigious events on the WPCA Pro Tour – the Ponoka Stampede. On one of the most exciting race nights of the year, and for the first time in his illustrious career, Luke Tournier – driving the K & H Developments outfit, and along with outriders Rory Gervais and Quaid Tournier captured the 2024 Ponoka Stampede Championship. It was the seventh time Luke Tournier has made the Championship Final Heat in Ponoka.
Tournier captured the Ponoka Stampede crown with a run of 1:16.25 from barrel position number 2 in the Championship Final Heat number 9. Rae Croteau Jr. was second from barrel position number 4, 23 one-hundredths of a second behind the champion Luke Tournier. Kurt Bensmiller placed third from barrel position 3, while defending Ponoka Stampede Champion Chanse Vigen knocked over a barrel and placed fourth from barrel position number 1.
On the day, Jamie Laboucane and his Pidherney’s posted a 1:15 .58 in the opening heat which held up as the best on the night, just 4 one-hundredths of a second ahead of second place finisher Wade Salmond. 2024 Ponoka Stampede Champion Luke Turnier had the third best time on the night, with Josh Hrynyk and Rae Croteau Jr. filling out the top five on the night.
The WPCA Pro Tour will now take a break for the Calgary Stampede Cowboys Rangeland Derby from July 5-14, 2024, and the North American Chuckwagon Championship (NACC) in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. Layne MacGillivray is the defending Cowboys Rangeland Derby Champion, while recently crowned Ponoka Stamped Champion Luke Tournier is the Defending NACC Champion. Calgary Stampede races will run each night at 8:00pm Mountain time. Live coverage of the Cowboys Rangeland Derby can be heard starting at 7:45 on Friday, July 5, 2024 on New Country 92.5. Television coverage can be seen live on Sportsnet One all ten nights starting at 8:00pm.
Billy Melville
