A father and son may have never been as close than they were in the final heat of the Ponoka Stampede chuckwagon championship.
Kelly Sutherland beat his son Mark Sutherland from Okotoks by less than a horse’s head to claim the $30,000 winner’s cheque in the Tommy Dorchester Memorial sudden death final Sunday in Ponoka.
Kelly passed Mark in the final 50 yards to win in a time of 1:13.89 while Mark was 1/100th of a second behind at 1:13.90.
It was a family affair as Kirk Sutherland, Kelly’s brother and Mark’s uncle, was third.
“I lost by the bob of a head,” Mark said. “I ended up running two-wide outside of dad the whole way, and that means I run 150-feet farther.”
They turned in the two fastest times of the night.
Kelly — better known as “The King” — earned the No. 1 barrel for the final by having the fastest aggregate time over the first five days of the show. He took advantage of it and grabbed the rail after turning the barrels. Mark, however, had the lead.
“I needed to be ahead of him and keep him tight on the rail because the track is a little heavy along the rail,” said Mark, who came out of barrel No. 2. “He’s entitled to eight feet, but if you give him eight-feet six inches, dad is going to outrun you.”
Mark led the entire race until just before the finish line.
Kelly said having the No. 1 barrel was the key to winning.
“Mark has the best outfit on the grounds,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t win it without being on the inside of him. He knew it. I was lucky enough to be winning the show and I chose barrel one.”
When it comes to the 80 seconds of racing, family does not mean much to The King.
“It doesn’t matter who is out there, I’m out to win,” Kelly said. “It’s a huge disappointment whenever you’re second. It’s just a little bit easier to swallow when your son beats you.” Mark agreed.
“This was the first time all three of us have been in the final,” Mark said. “I’m disappointed. You go out there to win, not compete. I’m proud of dad, but in all honesty, I would have much rather won.”
There were some father-and-son exchanges during the race.
“On the backstretch, a seagull hit my horse,” Mark said with a chuckled. “I looked at dad and he looked at me and we laughed.”
Kelly, who won his eighth Ponoka Stampede, said he had never seen that before.
“Mark’s got a wing over his line and we’re going 45 miles per hour and he looked at me and we chatted, and I told him to kick it out,” Kelly said.
Although originally from Grande Prairie, now Okotoks is practically home to the King. He said he spends about five months a year at Mark’s place east of town training his horses.
Jason Glass of High River finished sixth in the aggregate at Ponoka.
“My horses just haven’t been starting,” Glass said. “This has been the most I have ever shuffled my horses around in my life, trying to get things jumping. We are running well, and turning the barrels, but we are just not starting.”
Jordie Fike of High River was 27th in the aggregate. High River’s Brian Mayan was 28th. Mayan fell out of his wagon and was run over after being interfered with by Dave Galloway in the first heat on Sunday. He was taken to the hospital and released Monday morning.
The top drivers from the World Professional Chuckwagon Association will now head to Calgary for the Stampede’s Rangeland Derby which runs July 8-17.
To see the World chuckwagon standings see Scoreboard on page xxxxx.
