Drought ends for Sutherland in Strathmore

 

Laurence Heinen – Times Contributor

 

He didn’t draw the barrel he wanted, but Mark Sutherland had the race of his life on Monday in Strathmore.

Sutherland won a thrilling final heat at the Strathmore Heritage Days Stampede to be crowned as the 2010 Dodge Pro Tour champ.

“I’m just happy it worked out for me,” said Sutherland, who captured his first World Professional Chuckwagon Association title in 18 years of racing.

“You’re about to meet the most patient man in the chuckwagon business,” exclaimed track announcer Les McIntyre before Sutherland was presented with the keys to a brand new Dodge truck.

“I feel pretty damn happy I’ve got a brand new Dodge, I can tell you that,” proclaimed Sutherland, with wife Dina and daughter Kiera by his side, although his son Dayton had to miss the event due to a hockey camp he was attending. “I think I might take that down to Seattle right here on our week off, take my daughter and my wife down there.”

As one of the top eight drivers prior to the start of Heritage Days, Sutherland qualified for the WPCA Dodge Pro Tour Championship. Due to his performance through the first four days of driving, Sutherland qualified for Monday’s sudden-death final along with his father Kelly, Jerry Bremner and Troy Dorchester.

Prior to the start of racing action on Monday, the younger Sutherland drew barrel No. 4 while his father started on No. 3. 

“It’s not the barrel you want when you’re racing against the King,” noted Mark, who fell behind his competitors before turning on the afterburners down the final stretch to win the race. “Dad was running out of horsepower and he did something he normally doesn’t do and that’s open a hole. He could have easily stayed there and I wouldn’t have had the distance to pass Troy.”

Heritage Days rodeo and chuckwagon chairman Pascal Del Guercio commended Sutherland for pulling off a come-from-behind victory.

“What Mark did was he ducked in behind and then came out at the end and saved his horses,” Del Guercio said. “It was good driving on his part to win that.”

Bremner, who started on the No. 2 barrel, actually crossed the finish line first in a time of 1:17.62, but was assessed two seconds in penalties, first for a false start and then for failing to stop at the bottom barrel on the re-start.

“It’s a misfortune because nobody likes to lose that way,” said Sutherland, who has had his fair share of troubles in the past, including at the 2009 Calgary Stampede when he finished first in the dash for cash before being assessed a similar penalty. “I’ve done it for $100,000. Nobody likes to get that penalty. It’s an unfortunate part of the sport. You should have your horses so they don’t move. It was a tough deal for him because he had a good run.”

Sutherland finished the race in 1:17.68, just .06 of a second ahead of Dorchester and less than half a second ahead of his dad.

The majority of the fans in the stands stuck around to hear the final results and cheered loudly when Sutherland made his way back to the infield to claim his first professional title.

“I knew a lot of people in the stands, a lot of well wishers,” said Sutherland, who also thanked his sponsor Tri-Mak Electrical for sticking by his side. “I was thankful for that. Everybody likes the underdog and clearly I’m the underdog. The other guys are champions.”

Monday’s second last heat also featured a photo finish with Kirk Sutherland edging out Jason Glass and Kurt Bensmiller by .1 of a second, while Grant Profit finished just .13 behind.

“It was a long time ago that I recall a heat being 7/1000th of a second apart first to third and we were even closer here tonight,” Del Guercio said. “And there was two heats of those, not just one.”

While Sutherland won Monday’s feature heat, Profit was crowned as the Heritage Day aggregate champion by virtue of compiling a total time of 5:04.26 in the first four days of racing. 

It was Profit’s first WPCA show title since 1999 to end an 11-year drought for the veteran Cochrane driver. Kelly Sutherland finished second, Jason Glass placed third, while Kirk Sutherland was fourth in the aggregate.