Sign up for the meadowlakeNOW newsletter

Wayne Knight wins 2017 CPCA championship

Aug 21, 2017 | 5:24 PM

This Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association season has been a positive one for St. Walburg’s Wayne Knight, as he took top spot in the CPCA finals in Lloydminster this past weekend. 

Knight’s cumulative points total for the season was 1211.85, with Kris Molle in second with 1161.5. Loon Lake’s Ray Mitsuing ended up in third overall with 1,122 points.

The longtime racer has been driving professionally since 1984, though horses and chuckwagons were part of most of his life. He said participating in the sport is a lot of work, but the fun part makes it all worth it.

“There’s a lot of work for a minute of a half enjoyment a day,” he said. “The best time is when you’re in that wagon seat.”

As for this season, Knight said he felt fortunate with his horse team’s performance. There were few adjustments, and only had to swap out one horse in Turtleford and Meadow Lake. This year’s performance yielded him a championship belt buckle and a new truck.

“It’s just a good feeling to have the horses working well,” he said. “It’s a bonus to be first. The supporters and the fans make all the difference, and that’s everyone’s fans, not just [mine]. Our volunteers mean a lot to us. Help with this work is much appreciated. Also [thanks to] the different sponsors we’ve had. It’s a tough economy so it means a lot that these people invest in us.”

He said now the season has wrapped up, the next steps will be to rest his current horse team and begin training new horses for next year.

“If you just turn them out now, they don’t do well,” he said. We’ll be keeping them in the barn for a couple weeks, otherwise we’ll be driving horses, I’ve got six new ones to get into training. Then it will be another season again.”

 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath