After four days of WPCA racing in Medicine Hat, Chanse Vigen came out top of the pack for the second year in a row.
The 41-year-old from Calgary won off barrel one in the 12th heat in his Volker Stevin Canada outfit, tying Rae Croteau Jr. from Rapid View, Saskatchewan at the finish line ahead of Dewberry’s Kurt Bensmiller. A penalty knocked Croteau Jr. (1:06.82) out of the running and gave Vigen (1:01.82) the victory by 47 one-hundredths of a second over Bensmiller (1:02.29). Vigen says “Kurt has won a lot over the last ten years, so he is probably the most decorated driver out there. Yeah, two tough competitors but we got the barrel draw we wanted and like I said the horses are rounding into form, so I was pretty confident today.”
Vigen is not sure what it is but there is something about the Medicine Hat show. He says “the horse really like the track here. We love our spot. We love Medicine Hat in general. So, it has been good to us.”
Preston Faithful from Frog Lake First Nation finished the weekend first in the world standings, with Croteau and Bensmiller not far behind. Jason Glass from High River is sitting fourth in the world.
96.5 The Ranch is the radio broadcast home of the 2025 WPCA Pro Tour and more live World Professional Chuckwagon Association racing can be heard from this Friday through Sunday (June 20-22) as part of the Wainwright Stampede.
With files from Kassandra Patterson, Vista Radio. Special thanks to Arnie Jackson for sending audio as well.
