(Photo courtesy/Shellie Scott)

By Ben Tompkins

Melfort's own

Layne MacGillivray ends 2023 chuckwagon season with big win

Sep 1, 2023 | 12:31 PM

A Melfort chuckwagon racer has ended his 2023 season in one of the best ways possible, with a big win and an even bigger cheque.

Layne MacGillivray won the 2023 Century Downs World Chuckwagon Finals in Rocky View, Alta. this past weekend, which was the final stop on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association’s (WPCA) Pro Tour.

“It’s definitely good for sure,” said MacGillivray. “We kinda had a couple of shows leading into there that were a little bit weaker, so to have the show that we had in Century Downs definitely makes a guy feel good for next year.”

MacGillivray won the Century Downs “Winners’ Zone” Championship with another track record run of 1:18.86 from barrel position number 1.

His track record run was the fifth track record in as many days at the Century Downs World Chuckwagon Finals, as he made it a clean sweep weekend by also winning the Century Downs Racetrack and Casino Aggregate Championship after posting the best aggregate time of 5:25.10 over the first four days of the tournament.

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(Photo courtesy/Shellie Scott)

“Consistency is one thing that we’ve been pretty fortunate to be able to achieve over these last couple of years, we didn’t have the flashy outfit that was winning the day monies every night, we were ever just consistent every night, trying to end up somewhere in the top 10, top five, wherever it was and just kept picking away,” MacGillivray told northeastNOW.

“We ended up getting the day money the first day and then just kept going out and doing our job. The Century Track kind of favours us a little bit maybe because it is a little bit longer, so there’s a little more stretch run there to utilize your run I guess, so it was good.”

A great weekend indeed for the 48-year-old reinsman, who walked away with $35,000 ($30,000 for the title and $5,000 for the aggregate).

This capped off a season, which also included a championship at the ‘Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth’.

“We had a really good year, it was a little bit up and down and kind of started out a little bit slow, then we kind of got things rolling through the spring and into Ponoka and kept rolling through Calgary,” he added. “Then we kind of had a couple of bad shows, and then to finish off in the end with a win at Century Downs, it was really good, so all in all a successful year.”

Unfortunately, for the reigning World Champion, the Downs were just a little bit too much as MacGillivray was unable to defend his season tour title status, which went to Chanse Vigen.

MacGillivray explained that he knows he won’t win a world championship every year, however, it is always his goal and he will be working towards it next year, which will be easier with the experience his ‘extra horses’ got towards the end of the year.

“With the couple of bad shows that we had towards the late summer, we ended up using a lot of our barn, so we got some new horses in some races, which I was quite impressed with. That’s one thing that we can take into next year, is that we got a little more experience for those guys.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8