A look in from the racing action at the NACC in Lloydminster. (Submitted photo/CVM Photography)

By Martin Martinson

Chuckwagon champs

Gorst, Laboucane big winners at North American Chuckwagon Championship

Jul 18, 2022 | 5:08 PM

The North American Chuckwagon Championship wrapped up over the weekend, bringing an end to nine days of high-flying chucks action at the Lloydminster Exhibition grounds.

Meadow Lake’s Dustin Gorst took home the Day 9 Dash for Cash winning the $45,000 prize and also received the Safe Driver Award, while St. Walburg’s Jamie Laboucane won the overall aggregate for a second straight year to take home a Nissan Pathfinder.

Meadow Lake’s Dustin Gorst won the Day 9 Dash for Cash with a $45,000 prize. (Submitted photo/CVM photography)

Featuring a number of the top names in the sport from both the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA) and World Professional Chuckwagon Association (WPCA), the competition was tight throughout the week and into the final races.

Gorst won the dash with a time of 1:15.79, just edging out Wade Salmond (1:15.82), Laboucane (1:15.88) and brother, Logan Gorst (1:16.19), in an experience he said he’ll remember for some time.

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“A guy wants to make sure he wins a big one in his career, and I was fortunate enough to make the dash, lucky enough to pick barrel one, and we made it count,” Gorst said. “I’m just very happy, [there were] some tears of excitement when celebrating with the barn-hand and my wife, and it was a good day.”

Laboucane won the aggregate with a total time of 10:25.50, beating out Logan Gorst (10:26.51) and Dustin Gorst (10:28.71) to top the heap for the second straight year since the NACC began last summer. He told Pattison Media what it means to repeat as victor.

“It’s just awesome,” Laboucane said. “This event is a big nine-day show with lots of money up and lots of good competition, so for me to take [the aggregate] the last two years, it’s I think a pretty big accomplishment. I’m just so proud of my outriders and my barn crew and my horses; they did me proud.”

The full results from the NACC can be found here.

The CPCA season schedule will resume next weekend, July 22-24 in Little Pine, SK.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1