It was a perfect Friday night at the Ponoka Stampede, as night three produced the best overall night of racing all season long in front of a capacity crowd at one of chuckwagon racing's biggest events.  

When times were tabulated for the night, it was 2014 ponoka stampede champion Kurt Bensmiller who emerged as the day money winner after posting a 1:15.01 from barrel number 1 in the final heat on the evening.

Layne Macgillivray placed second in the third performance while Doug Irvine and Gary Gorst followed in third and fourth place respectively, with Chad Harden completing out the top five on the night.

In the race for the top eight, Kurt Bensmiller now leads the overall aggregate ahead of Gary Gorst, with defending champion Colt Cosgrave, Kirk Sutherland and Chad Harden in close pursuit.

Logan Gorst, Layne MacGillivray and Layne Bremner complete the top 8, with Evan Salmond and Rick Fraser just on the outside looking in.

Okotoks Mark Sutherland had a good night earning 10th overall while his son Dayton was in 35th.

High River's Jason Glass was in 28th and Jordie Fike was in 34th