CROUTEAU JR. TAKES STOMPEDE XXXIII CHUCK TITLE
RAE CROUTEAU JR. FLANKED BY OUTRIDERS KEN FLANAGAN (LEFT) AND RYAN MCNEILL
By TERRY FARRELL
Daily Herald-Tribune
Rae Croteau, Jr. said after his opening-night win last Wednesday that all he had to do from that point on was keep it clean.
He had no way of knowing how prophetic those words were.
Racing under the Tomco Group of Companies tarp, Croteau ended a near-perfect week at the Grande Prairie Stompede with a win Sunday in the biggest heat of the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association’s Stompede
He beat Reg Johnstone (Happy Trails RV), Cliff Cunningham (Basnett Truck Service) and hometown favourite Kirk Sutherland (Emco Corporation) in the feature heat.
Croteau was the only one to run a clean heat in the final race of the night.
“It wasn’t the prettiest barrel turn ever but we made it around the top and come out clean and other guys had a bit of problems, so it worked out well for us,” said the 2010 Stompede champion.
“My major focus this year is just to be consistent. I’ve got the horse power … You don’t have to go out and win every heat, but if you’re clean and other guys have troubles around you, you’re going to be on top at the end of the day, regardless.”
As well as it worked out for Croteau, it was quite the opposite for Sutherland.
While he was the only other Dash rig not to knock over a barrel, his problems were much more severe.
One of his horses broke a leg during the barrel turns. It made it to the south end of the track, but once all the other wagons had passed, collapsed and had to be put down.
“It’s tough – we don’t like to lose our horses, we work with them and everything and it’s sad,” said Sutherland. ”They want to win as much as we do, but it happens and you’ve got to carry on.
“I’ve had him about three or four years. He was a good solid old horse and he put in everything we wanted (of him) every trip.”
Sutherland said conditions were not a factor.
“The track, the infield, everything was good – it’s nothing to blame, it just happens. That’s how it goes,” he said.
As for Croteau, he had another spell of prophecy Sunday morning.
“This outfit had rested for two days and I just woke up today and I said ‘I think we’ve got a pretty good chance.’ I was pretty much positive we were going to do it,” he said. ”I didn’t want to be too cocky or arrogant or nothing, but I just had that feeling.”
It’s a feeling with which he is becoming familiar. At a relatively tender age of 28, this was Croteau’s ninth career WPCA victory. The $15,000 winner’s portion of the Dash is the largest single payday of his young WPCA career.
Although Croteau was the only one to cross the finish line clean, he liked the fact that he also crossed first. It was close. He was timed at 1:20.40, 0.12 seconds ahead of Johnstone and 0.17 up on Cunningham.
“We did get them at the wire by a nose – even though I am the only guy to run through penalty free, I’m pretty happy that I won the race also, and didn’t win just because I was penalty-free,” he said.
Johnstone had a five-second penalty for knocking over a barrel, while Cunningham was assessed 10 seconds for knocking over two barrels.
“I’m just really happy to have a great start to the spring,” said Croteau. ”I’ve really got to thank my two generations, grandfather and father for teaching me everything. Also Tomco Group, they were behind me right from the start of this spring. It’s a great feeling to have a group of guys who are excited for the meet and that you can come through for them like this and get their name out and be the champions.”
