Another exciting season of professional chuckwagon racing commenced this past weekend in Grande Prairie, AB as the running of the Grande Prairie Stompede Championship attracted 36 of the best wagoners on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association battled it out for the show championship.
Among the drivers at the meet was Cremona's Jordie Fike, who placed in a tie for 10 th place. When the five day racing event was finished, Fike accumulated 117 points. His total matched John Walters.
A second year wagon-master on the WPCA circuit, Fike's aggragate total was 6:21.92. He started the first race of the season with a time of 1:16.40. His second turn around the barrels was recorded at 1:16.48. His fastest time recorded at 1:15.88 came in his third trip around the track. On his fourth run, he posted a time of 1:16.05. his final time was posted at 1:17.11
Running from barrel one in the $15,000 championship race, Rick Fraser won his third Grande Prairie Stompede championship by defeating Jerry Bremner by a mere 86 one-hundreds of a second, Fraser's winning time was clocked at 1;14.09. Reg Johnstone placed third while, Cochrane driver, Grant Profit, finished fourth after taking a penalty for a false start.
For Fike it was a positive start for his sophmere season. In his rookie season, last year, Fike captured the 2010 WPCA Rookie Driver Award, which featured a class of highly skilled reinsmen including, Sean DeBolt, John Walters and Evan Salmond.
Racing amongst the world's best chuckwagon drivers can at times be intimidating but Fike's improvement during his rookie season has proven he belongs with the big boys of wagon racing. After placing 20th in the world standings, Fike became on the fourth rookie driver in history to qualify for the world famous Calgary Stampede.
Prior to emerging onto the WPCA, Fike honed his skills for two years racing on the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association circuit, which was a rewarding adventure as he won the Most Improved driver award in 2009 as well as the Most Sportsmanlike Driver in 2008. He also won the CPCA 's most prestigious derby, the Saskatoon Exhibition Derby.
Racing chuckwagons is something Fike was meant to do as he is a fourth generation driver on the WPCA. His grand father, Ron David, was one of the most popular driver on the circuit todate.
This coming week, the wagoners will turn their outfits into Medidine Ha, AB to compete
in the Medidine Hat Exhibition and Stampede starting on June 9 and finishing on June 12, 2011. Fans can catch all the action by tuning into the Chuckwagon Radio Network which will be bradcasting the races on Classi Country AM 1060.
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