Recap: Preston Faithful wins Percy Derocher Memorial Cup Championship

The Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA) made a stop in Meadow Lake over the weekend for the Percy Derocher Memorial Cup Championships. The event marked one of very few public gatherings in the community since public health guidelines were lifted early in July.

Fans from all over the region came together to cheer on their favourite chuckwagon drivers in their final event ahead of the season finals set to take place in Lloydminster on Wednesday. Heading into the weekend, several Meadow Lake riders were looking to string together strong performances to maintain momentum and improve their spot on the leaderboard.

Day 1 Highlights

The second heat on the night would see Jamie Tom of Lashburn, Sask. emerge with the best total time of the race despite finishing third on the track. Despite originally finishing as the top two riders in their run, both Frog Lake, Alta.’s Louis Stanley and Cold Lake, Alta.’s George Machatis committed penalties, resulting in a win for Tom.

King raced in place of Calvin Fiddler who is currently recovering from an injury. The Fiddler team would finish second in the heat.

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A penalty-marred fourth heat would see Evan Magee from Saskatoon win the run despite having all drivers receive penalties.

Wetaskiwin, Alta.’s Barry Hodgson claimed victory of the seventh heat of the day after Lane Tournier from Duck Lake, Sask. was penalized for a false start and wagon starting ahead of horn, resulting in two seconds being added to his final time.

Luke Tournier won the eighth heat after Dewberry, Alta.-native Dallas Dyck and Brad McMann from Chauvin, Alta. both suffered five-second penalties.

King finished third to Edmonton’s Preston Faithful and St. Walburg, Sask.’s Ross Knight who finished first and second, respectively.

Logan Gorst, who raced against Ryan and Todd Baptiste of Cando, Sask. all weekend, would finish second in the final heat of the night, but committed two penalties that added seven seconds to his total time, resulting in him placing third.

The fastest run of the night belonged to Lloydminster’s BJ Carey with a heat time of 1:01.74.

Day 2 Highlights

Carey finished the first heat of the day with a lead after the run, but would see a two-second outrider missed barrel penalty increase his total time above heat winner Jaycee Myette by 0.3 seconds.

Tom would win on the track, but lose in total time to Machatis after receiving two penalties adding three seconds to his run.

The Fiddler team led by King would finish first on the track, however, a two-second penalty caused by an outrider failing to finish would lead to Colby Stanley taking the heat.

Glen Myette would drop the fifth heat of the day to Kale Lajeunesse after being penalized for being late into the barrels.

The sixth run saw Robby Ethier of Grandora, Sask. claim victory over Randall Stanley and Loon Lake, Sask.’s Dale Mitsuing, while Stanley received a two-second stove not loaded penalty.

King finished the ninth heat of the day in first place without receiving any penalties.

Gorst finished his run in second place, but received a five-second penalty for knocking over a barrel.

Preston Faithful finished the day with the fastest time of 1:01.79.

Day 3 Highlights

Carey and Jaycee Myette tied for the lead in their heat after Carey received a one second penalty for a late outrider.

Louis Stanley received four penalties worth an additional 13 seconds on his total time in the second heat.

Despite a fast run around the track, McMann received two penalties worth 11 seconds that would see McMann drop to third. Dyck and Luke Tournier claimed the first and second-best total times in the eighth heat.

Gorst finished his run with the fastest time over the Baptiste brothers without receiving any penalties.

Jamie Laboucane from St. Walburg, Sask. recorded the best run of the day with a time of 1:01.09.

Summary / Look Ahead

A very strong weekend led to Preston Faithful finishing the event with the best all-around time, claiming victory in this year’s Percy Derocher Memorial Cup Championships.

Gorst entered the event sitting at the top of the leaderboard with the most points while King resided in the top 10 with the seventh-most points. Ahead of the action, Gorst told meadowlakeNOW the key to a successful weekend would require penalty-free races.

Two penalized performances on day one and two held back Gorst from maintaining his lead over the Baptiste brothers in the season standings, but a strong day three run would soften the blow and keep Gorst near the top of the rankings.

Gorst said he knows what adjustments need to be made ahead of the finals to regain his momentum and secure a spot in the dash. He added a new horse was added to his team that participated in its first race on the weekend. He expects to use this horse in Lloydminster.

“My wheelers are starting to set up, I’ve just got to stay clean and go a step past the barrel before I turn. I’m trying to stay up there in the point standings, but I didn’t do what I said I was going to do, now I have to gain some points. We’ll have to go hard in the Lloyd finals,” Gorst shared.

Following the weekend’s action, Gorst has slid to fourth place behind the Baptiste brothers and Laboucane. He will need to maintain his position to earn a spot in the season-ending dash.

The finals are expected to begin on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Lloydminster Exhibition Grounds.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp