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Adamson wins third straight pony chuckwagon title

Lee Adamson needs just one more victory in the chuckwagon races at Westerner Days.The 48-year-old won his third straight Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships Sunday afternoon at the Westener, capping off five days of racing.
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Photo by MURRAY CRAWFORD/Advocate Staff

Lee Adamson needs just one more victory in the chuckwagon races at Westerner Days.

The 48-year-old won his third straight Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships Sunday afternoon at the Westener, capping off five days of racing.

The win gives him as many wins at Westerner Days as his father, Ray Adamson.

“My dad won this three times,” Lee said after the final race. “I have to get one more.”

He credited his team with the win as he was more than one second ahead of his nearest competitor Neil Salmond, 6:26.25 to 6:27.66.

“Red Deer is getting to be pretty good place for me,” said Adamson. “My outfit has done quite well all year. If they did their job I had to make sure I had to do mine.”

Adamson said his team is all papered thoroughbred horses. Most come from the track and are smaller. He said it has worked for his team because they’ve already been running and all he has to do is make sure they’re the right size.

Salmond, Adamson, Reed Rosencrans and Kevin Desjarlais sent the crowd home happy as the four in the final heat raced to a tight finish. Salmond and Adamons finished the heat on Sunday in a dead heat with equal times of 1:16.92.

Adamson was slow out of the barrels and was in last place heading into the first turn. By the time the teams came back to the grandstand, all four teams were jockeying for position in the final stretch.

The two leaders crossed at the same time.

“All four wagons were right there,” said Adamson. “That’s a great way to end a long week.”

Rosencrans came in third place over the weekend, his final heat time was 1:17.07 and his week total was 6:27.96.

The fourth and fifth place riders were in the second to last heat of the night as Dale Young hung on to take fourth over the hard charging Brian Miller, who took fifth.

Wood had the fastest time of the day Sunday, coming in at 1:16.51 bringing his week total to 6:28.45. Miller was withing striking distance of a top five finish coming into the day. But his heat time of 1:16.68 wasn’t enough to close the gap. He finished the weekend with a time of 6:28.66.