Adding some more horses was only part of the reason a Blackie chuckwagon driver had one of his best seasons in recent memory.
Another daughter to the team played a bigger role for Jordie Fike's calmer demeanour on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association tour in 2019.
“I think it just comes with maturity and having a family now and taking things as they come — I have my mind on other things besides the race at night,” the 32-year-old Fike said.
He and his wife Tamara, from High River, have two daughters, three-year-old Teal and four-month-old Lawni.
The family got to see the biggest race of Fike’s life on the weekend.
Fike finished fourth in the Winners’ Zone $50,000 Dash championship heat on Sunday at Century Downs in Balzac.
The format had the top 12 drivers in the world competing over the first four days in Balzac. The top four met in Sunday’s championship heat.
“It was pretty special for me,” Fike said. “We just squeaked into the top 12 and my horses really ran for me to get in the top four out of the top 12 guys in the world.
“I’m proud of my horses and happy with my outcome.”
It was the first final heat ever in Fike’s 10-year-career on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association tour, his previous best was a semifinal run at the Ponoka Stampede.
He was coming off the four barrel in the Winners' Zone dash on Sunday.
“We were on the outside and there were three wagons inside of me,” Fike said. “I pulled down the rail and followed (Kurt ) Bensmiller but I just didn’t have enough gas to get up there.”
None of the drivers in the championship heat could catch Bensmiller. He won the first-place cheque outlasting Luke Tournier, Ross Knight and Fike.
Fike was racing in good company.
Bensmiller’s performance in Balzac catapulted him to his third consecutive world championship and fourth in five years. The one he missed was won by Tournier in 2016.
Fike finished 11th in the 2019 WPCA standings. He was 14th last year. His best finish in the world standings was in 2014 when he was 10th.
While Tamara, Teal and Lawni are huge parts of the Fike team, they wouldn't perform worth a hoot if they were hitched to a wagon.
“My horse depth was better this year, I had a lot of run and was building on that,” Fike said. “Also just being confident in the horses I have helps — and I think the horses can feel the confidence through the lines too.”
However, being on the best chuckwagon circuit in the world means a driver can’t rest on his laurels. It will be a busy off-season for the man holding the reins.
“I am going out to get some more horses and let the ones we have rest for awhile,” Fike said. “We are going to work hard and build on that.”
Okotoks' Mark Sutherland and Chance Vigen also qualified for the Winners’ Zone $50,000 showdown by finishing in the top 12 but did not qualify for the final four.
Sutherland finished seventh in the final world standings while Vigen was ninth.
High River’s Jason Glass just missed making the top Winners’ Zone playdown at 13th.
He finished 14th in the world standings.
Dayton Sutherland, the 21-year-old son of Mark, finished 31st among the 37 drivers on the world standings (there was one retirement during the year). He will have to qualify for the 2020 WPCA tour by finishing in the top six at runoffs later this fall in Dewberry.
Dayton should bottle the water there.
Dewberry is where Kurt Bensmiller and Vern Nolin, who finished second in the world this season, call home.
The aggregate champion at Century Downs was Chad Harden.
To see the full results at Century Downs and the final world standings go to WPCA.com
