SAND SENTRY

STI Sponsored driver Hugh Sinclair off the barrels at High River, AB

It was 27°C and sunny as the finals of the Battle of the Rockies wrapped up on a hot Sunday afternoon in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. The final four running for the Battle of the Rockies championship included rookie driver Chanse Vigen, 2-time show winner in 2012 Kirk Sutherland, defending Battle of the Rockies champion Hugh Sinclair, and 2012 Calgary Aggregate runner-up Colt Cosgrave. It originally appeared that Kirk Sutherland had won his third show title of 2012, but a late penalty over the protest hour changed the outcome. When things finally settled, it was Hugh Sinclair, driving the Specialized Tech Inc./Friends of Sinclair Racing outfit, and along with outriders Reo King and Chance Flad, who emerged as the champions of 2012 Battle of the Rockies championship for the second consecutive year.

Sinclair had the fast time of the winner-take-all final after posting a penalty free run of 1:14.08 from barrel position number 1. Rookie driver Chanse Vigen, in his first career championship final, placed second with a penalty free run of 1:15.02 from barrel 4. Kirk Sutherland, who was thought to have set a track record after a run of 1:13.41 from barrel 2, was assessed a two-second penalty and was pushed back to third place in the heat with a total time of 1:15.41. Colt Cosgrave ended up in fourth place overall with a penalty free run of 1:15.90.

In what was an exciting 2012 professional chuckwagon racing season, Jason Glass won his fourth career World Chuckwagon Championship, Chad Fike won his first career World Outriding Championship, and rookie driver Chanse Vigen and sophomore driver Mitch Sutherland will be making their first trips to the Calgary Stampede in 2013.

It a reasonably closely contested world championship run, Jason Glass won the title by a 68 point margin over runner-up Kirk Sutherland, with Jerry Bremner placing third overall in the year round race. Chad Fike, who had all but clinched the outriding title prior to the start of the final race meet, made it official by winning the championship over Chance Flad and Dustin Gorst.

Congratulations to the 2012 World Champions, driver Jason Glass and outrider Chad Fike, and many thanks to all the corporate partners, support staff and chuckwagon fans all along the 2012 WPCA GMC Pro Tour. Enjoy a safe and prosperous off-season, and we will see you all in 2013.

Billy Melville
Original article at http://wpca.com/news_detail.aspx?ID=571