King of the chucks on a winning streak
Manny Everett
Times Contributor
When the dust settled after five days of racing, Kelly Sutherland drove his Strathmore Station and Travel Lodge outfit off the number one barrel to the 2011, and his third, World Professional Chuckwagon Association Dodge Pro Tour Championship, taking home a buckle and a new Dodge truck.
Monday night’s race saw Sutherland face off in the sudden death final heat against brother Kirk, Grant Profit and Troy Dorchester, who rounded out the top four drivers on the Dodge Pro tour in front of a capacity crowd.
The final was fast and tight but Sutherland held on to win with a time of 1:13.70, which ended up being the second fastest time of the day.
He won the Strathmore Heritage Days Stampede the day before, with a four day aggregate time of 4:58.30, edging out Kirk Sutherland for the top spot, and his fourth Strathmore title, another record. Reo King and Chase Vigen were his outriders for both races.
This win leaves him tied with Grant Profit for the top spot in the WPCA world standings with 879 points.
Sutherland is on something of a roll, having won the Ponoka Stampede and the Calgary Stampede earlier this year.
He kicked off training this year in Grand Prairie and said that his “horses were healthy and sound for the season” even if it was a bit of a slower start than expected. By the time Sutherland got to Ponoka, his horses were ready and pumped to run where he picked up $40,000 and a truck.
The Calgary Stampede started slowly for him but “half-way through the 10 day show Lady Luck smiled and (Sutherland) won another Rangeland Derby” which was his record-breaking 12th win in Calgary.
Yet even with all these wins he said the best thing for him this season was that his wife Debbie was healthy enough to be at his side for both Calgary and Strathmore’s chuck races.
Starting his career in 1969, in his 42 years as a chuckwagon driver Sutherland has won 17 vehicles. Jokingly, wife Debbie said, “(He) never ceases to amaze me—and grandkids are now starting to acquire the trucks he keeps winning”.
Grant Profit has held the number one in the WPCA world standings for most of the season by himself, before Sutherland joined him in a tie for first place. This is the first time Profit has remained in top spot for this long.
Last year, thanks to a winning streak that included wins in Strathmore, Drumheller and Edmonton, he jumped from 30th to third by the end of the season and continued his strong performances in the 2011 season. He said it’s just a matter of how the horses run on any given track and staying clean throughout the season.
He was quick to point out where the credit is really due, humbly saying, “Chuckwagons are like curling, the skip gets all the credit but the front end does all the work”.
Profit, proud of his crew, family and thankful for his longstanding friendship with Don and Sheila Adams, his sponsors from Ja-Co Welding and Associates says that his is “the easiest job, I just get to drive the team”.
Dorchester said that he “had a good strong year and was pleased with eighth after Grand Prairie. I have had the opportunity to run a lot of different, steady and good horses.”
“Tonight I am using a different team and giving the horses (that he) most used a night off to prepare them for Bonnyville,” he said.
Next year marks Dorchester’s 20th year in chuckwagons and he believes things will stay strong and just hopes for clean hard runs.
Good luck and safe penalty free runs for all the chuckwagon drivers and teams as they head off to their final four tour stops, starting in Bonnyville on Thursday and then Dawson Creek, Rocky Mountain House and finally Drumheller at the end of August.