You can’t let opportunity pass you by when you drive a chuckwagon on the biggest stage in the world. Okotoks’ Mark Sutherland took advantage of having the one-barrel on Monday as he clocked in the third-fastest time of the night at 1:11.84 — winning his heat by nearly 1 ½ seconds — and more importantly pulling himself up to fourth-place in the aggregate after four days of racing at the Calgary Stampede. Sutherland had finished 26th the night before when he had the four-barrel and got tucked behind some slower wagons. “I made a pretty decent turn, but tonight I had wagons all around me and no where to go — and I just sat there I couldn’t run full speed,” Sutherland said on Sunday. He said he had to rebound with a good time on Monday night when he had the one-barrel. Sutherland was able to run full-speed the opening night of the Stampede on Friday, turning in a blistering 1:11.13 to top all drivers and win day money. “I was pretty pleased with the first night,” Sutherland said with a chuckle, about his run from the two-barrel. “Sometimes you get lucky. The horses worked well and I was able to out-turn the guys, stole the rail and run fast.” The top eight drivers after the July 13 races advance to the two semifinal heats on July 14 Although Sutherland sat in the top four as of Monday, there’s no room for mistakes. “If I stay penalty-free I am guaranteed to make the top eight, but that’s the key can I stay penalty free,” Sutherland said. “We’ll see what happens, I have the horses to do it, it’s up to me.” The other two Foothills area drivers have some work to do. Jason Glass is sitting in 14th place with an aggregate time of 4:53.08 after Monday’s races. He is 1.15 seconds behind Mike Vigen for the eighth-spot. He’s got to be Mr. Clean – no penalties — to jump up to the final eight. He said there’s still time to get there. “We’re only three days in,” Glass said after Sunday’s races. “There will still be lots of changes to come [in the standings]. You still have to be running fast, the horses are working and running hard.” Glass didn’t take full advantage of getting the one barrel on Sunday. He was 21st on the evening. “Tonight, I had a little bit of trouble going up the top barrel the horses ducked on me a little bit so I had to do some driving to get around my barrels, but then they ran really well,” Glass said. “But there is a lot of running left. “We have still had three decent nights. The main thing is not to knock over those barrels. We will take it and carry on.” Blackie’s Jordie Fike took advantage of having the one barrel on Monday. He clocked in at 1:12:12, to finish fourth overall on the evening. It was much needed as it bumped it up to 18th in the aggregate at 4:54.51. It couldn’t have happened at a better time and Fike was looking forward to the one spot. “I’m happy I am going to the one-barrel, we kind of took a lickin’ on the three and four barrels,” Fike said after Sunday’s races. “Monday is a big night, I need it bad.” He was 27th in the aggregate before Monday’s races. He’s optimistic, insisting he can still crack the top eight. “It’s very possible, I need to start running and guys are starting to knock themselves over,” he said. “Clean is key here, but I still have to be faster.” The redraw was held after Monday night, as drivers will now compete against those who have turned in similar times in Calgary. The leader after Monday’s races was Kurt Bensmiller, who has won three of the last four Calgary Stampedes.
