SUTHERLAND TRIO IN RANGELAND HUNT
KELLY SUTHERLAND IS ONE OF THREE FAMILY MEMBERS INCONTENTION
They’ll crown the GMC Rangeland Derby aggregate champion tonight and there’s a good chance it could be a driver who answers to the name Sutherland.
Ten-time champion Kelly Sutherland, his younger brother Kirk and Kelly’s son Mark were still in the chase for the Richard Cosgrave Memorial Award and GMC pickup truck valued at $50,000 through seven nights of the 10-day run.
Which meant all three were still in the top eight after Thursday’s action saw the trio take care of business in a big way. Kelly won his heat by a half-length over Kirk in a time of 1:15.60 to inch into fifth place, just .37 back of fourth-placed Kirk, who also jumped up a spot. Mark also nailed No. 1 in his race to remain eighth.
Still leading the parade, however, is Neal Walgenbach with an aggregate time of 7:43.80 and the Stettler cowboy held it despite incurring a one-second penalty for a late outrider. Less than a second back is three-time champion Buddy Bensmiller at 7:44.72 and camped third for a second straight night is Jason Glass at 7:44.83.
Walgenbach goes to the No. 3 barrel tonight while Bensmiller moves to No. 4 and Glass to the No. 1.
While Kelly is the man who has generated most of the Sutherland success since he took up the reins in 1969 and made his Calgary debut that same year, 53-year-old Kirk has been known to knock at the door of the sport’s richest prize.
Since he started driving in 1976, he has won six shows on the World Pro circuit and several with the Western Chuckwagon Association. More importantly, the resident of Grande Prairie joined Kelly in the 1987 Calgary championship dash to form the first and only brother pairing to ever square off for the prestigious title. They did it again in 2008.
Neither won either of those dashes.
Now, they’ve been hooked again in heat eight of this final four-day run to tonight’s aggregate with Mark, a finalist last year, doing his thing one heat earlier.
“I don’t know if you’d call it a rivalry,” says the man track announcer Les McIntyre has dubbed Captain Kirk, “but any time I’m hooked with Kelly, I know I’m going to be in the money.”
Kirk won his first show in 1976 and his last show in 2006 after taking six years off from the sport between 1996 and 2002. He scored a big win by taking home the $50,000 cheque at the Edmonton Chuckwagon Derby in 2006 and has only added to his horsepower in a bulging stable ever since.
“Drove five outfits all spring, cut those down to four for the start of the tour, put three together for Ponoka and have pretty much settled on two for this show,” says the father of four, including kick boxing champion Misty.
“The one outfit has a young lead team and both have new wheelers. Just some young blood injected into the old ones.”
Kelly and Kirk used to have most of the fun together, but now that Mark is proving he can play with the big boys, the good-natured ribbing reaches a lot deeper. Especially when the three all had a chance to win Drumheller last year and were hooked in the same race.
“I got a penalty and Kelly won it,” sighs Kirk.
Of course, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the three to advance to Saturday’s semifinals that are set aside for fastest eight wagons after tonight. While that in itself would be something, it would also give them a chance to fill three of the four spots in Sunday’s $150,000 championship dash.
Now that would be historic, as two brothers and a nephew have never filled that race.
“Yeah, that’d be something,” agrees Kirk, “but that’s a long ways off and we’ve still got some running to do. But I guess it’s within reach if we all run our races.”
THIS AND THAT: It’s safe to say there’ll be a new winner this year now that defending champion Chad Harden has fallen far off the pace, five penalty seconds his biggest downfall . . . Former finalist Rick Fraser, the No. 6 man overall, had the fastest run of the night at 1:15.08 . . . A reminder Walgenbach’s auction of his horses, wagon and equipment will be held Sunday at 11 a.m. in front of his stable on the east side of H barn . . . Nine wagons started Day 7 with clean penalty slates. The fastest of those nine will be declared the clean drive award champion and scoop an extra $5,000.
- by John Down, Calgary Herald
