NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN Jason Glass leads the pack through a windy heat on Day 1 of the World Professional Chuckwagon Association's stop in Medicine Hat on Thursday, June 13, 2019 at the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede Grounds.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Mother Nature stole the show on Thursday night at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede grounds.
A sustained bout of heavy wind kicked up a dust storm for the ages just after the sixth heat tore around the half mile of hell to kick off the World Professional Chuckwagon Association’s four-day stop in Medicine Hat. While the weather – quickly accompanied by lightning in the distance – forced the show to grind to a halt, Jason Glass still managed to squeeze in a victory in the seventh heat of the evening.
“It was windy, but we’ve been in worse,” said Glass, who won Heat 7 in 1:04.84 on the Birchcliff Energy wagon. “The horses worked great. We had a major headwind coming at us so going down the backstretch I think that might have slowed us down a little bit, but other than that the horses worked great, it was just windy.”
The WPCA reported Heats 9 through 12 were cancelled due to unsafe conditions for fans, horses and competitors, though times from Heat 8 were not reported by press time. The WPCA will make a decision on how to proceed with the schedule prior to tonight’s races at 7 p.m.
Troy Dorchester finished with the top unofficial time through the first seven heats at 1:03.65 in Heat 5, while Heat 2 winner Curtis Morin followed up at 1:03.90 and Doug Irvine won Heat 6 in 1:04.20.
Kelly Morin opened the evening with a victory to remember. Despite being docked three seconds for a missed barrel and a late outrider, the Morin Lake, Sask. product still managed to break ahead of the pack and secure enough distance to hold on for the win.
“It’s been a while,” Morin said of winning a heat despite penalties. “The horses really turned and they started hard. I was lucky to get the rail and they just ran all the way home. It was a good run.”
Morin finished in 1:03.12 – making his unofficial time 1:06.12 after penalties – while competitors Blaid Flad and Roy Romanow finished with unofficial penalty-free times of 1:07.79 and 107.95, respectively.
“Unfortunately an outrider was late and caused some penalties but that’s the way she goes sometimes. I’ve just got to regroup in the morning and do it all over again,” said Morin, who drove the Ollie’s Trucking wagon. “It’s still early in the season so I think it’s going to be a good one if I can stay clean and keep running hard.”
Obrey Motowylo won Heat 3 in 1:04.22, while Bob Van Eaton took Heat 4 in 1:04.99.
