Outriders Tiegan Larouche and Tyler McKenzie flank CPCA championship driver Danny Ringuette and his girlfriend (centre and centre left) on Championship Sunday as emcee Heather Klages presents Ringuette with the trophy. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
It was a big weekend for Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA) driver Danny Ringuette as he won his first-ever Canadian championship.
Going into Sunday’s dash, Ringuette knew a penalty-free run was needed as he lined up against Logan Gorst, Luke Tournier and DJ King.
Tournier would be the first to cross the finish line at Halstead Downs on championship Sunday with a time of 1:15.63, but a 1-second penalty for the wagon starting ahead of the horn gave him a time of 1:16.63.
With the clean run he needed, Ringuette crossed the line at 1:16.24, claiming the Canadian title.
“Luke was strong all year, and I got lucky tonight,” said Ringuette on Sunday.
“It feels good, to be honest; I don’t really have words. This is what we all strive for, this is what we all want to do, win one of these, and I can’t take anything away from Luke because he ran a heck of a second half of the year.
“You gotta be good to be lucky and lucky to be good.”
Outriding for Ringuette were Tiegan Larouche and Tyler McKenzie, a pair he’s worked with for the majority of the season.
“Tyler McKenzie came back and I was his first call,” he said.
“He rode every run for me since the third show of this year. Tiegan’s rode for me most of the year, too, and he’s doing a heck of a job. They’re both all-stars and they’ve been awesome.”
Ringuette also noted his horses did a heck of a job throughout the weekend.
“Tonight I had two first-year wheelers on, a first-year left leader, and an old right leader. They really ran their hearts out and I’m happy with my barn,” he said.
“The horses are the real athletes, the real stars in this. They deserve more recognition than me … I’m really happy they did it for me tonight, and all year.”
Ask any chuckwagon driver and they’ll tell you running clean is the key to success; Ringuette is no different.
“Consistency, consistency, consistency, that’s the name of the game,” he said.
“We had a couple of bad days here, but we had enough points to get into the dash, and like I keep on saying, we got lucky.”
A native of Bonnyville, Alta, this was Ringuette’s ninth year driving after making his first appearance in the wagon in 2014 after many years as a barn hand.
