BONNYVILLE - It just proves that it’s not over until it’s over… including the inquiry.
Kurt Bensmiller took two wagons into the World Professional Chuckwagon Association’s Bonnyville Chuckwagon Championship, and even running in the mud for two nights out of three, his Reita Creek Scoreboards second wagon led the way with a total time of 3:55.66 for those three runs, just under five seconds ahead of Chanse Vigen’s Prairie Tech Oilfield Services wagon with 4:00.48 and his own Versatile Energy Services first wagon with 4:00.84.
According to the track announcer, “No man alive has ever driven two wagons in the same race,” but brother Chance Bensmiller was right there to help, and took over the reins of the Reita Creek outfit for Sunday’s $25,000 championship dash, as the weekend’s rain moved off to the east and the sun peeked out over a slow but much improved track than the two previous nights.
Chance pulled up to the third barrel, with brother Kurt on the second and Vigen coming off the first barrel to lead the way all around the track. Chance edged in between his brother and the rail before the final turn and gave Vigen strong opposition in the home stretch, but Vigen crossed the finish line in 1:23.51, the fastest run of the day, ahead of Chance by just 11/100 of a second, with Kurt more than a second behind at 1:24.69.
Those times were announced and the Vigen outfit came forward to accept their win, but it was cautioned that the race was under inquiry.
Following scrutiny by the judges, Vigen was assessed three seconds in penalties for wagon interference in the first turn and home stretch and one second for outrider interference in the first turn, and although Chance had received a one-second penalty for the wagon starting ahead of the horn, his final time of 1:24.42 gave the Reita Creek Scoreboards outfit the championship, with the Versatile Energy wagon moved up to second in the race.
The 1:24.42 run was also the fastest of the day, with Vern Nolin second fastest with 1:24:57 and ENT Oilfield Services and Layne McGillivray crossing the finish line in 1:24.68 under the Cougar Fuels tarp. 1/100 ahead of Kurt Bensmiller’s 1:24.69, Obrey Motowylo a close fifth with 1:24.71.
Bonnyville’s local favourite, Doug Irvine, dubbed “The Story from LaCorey," started the weekend with a fifth place run with his Sign Solutions second wagon, which placed second on Friday night but slipped down to seventh on Saturday, with that three day aggregate time of 4:08.98 putting that outfit in fourth place overall, his B & R Eckels first wagon sitting 12th in the aggregate.
When he came back through the infield after winning Sunday’s fifth race, he was greeted with a chorus of “Happy Birthday” wishes from the stands, with another round of wishes accompanying his second return to the barns in the eighth heat.
The WPCA Pro Tour is now on the way to Dawson Creek, B.C., where the five-day Battle of the North started on Wednesday.
