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Fans ignored the cold and filled the arena at
the Madison County Fairgrounds for the annual New Year's Eve Bash and
Extreme Bullriding Tour Finale. There was more than cold in the air,
there was suspense. Who would leave the event as the new 2009 Extreme
Bullriding Tour Champion. The suspense went right down to the final
ride of the night. Willy Ropp and Jimmy Twedt started the event with
both men in striking distance of the title. When Willy rode his bull
his score was 79, not good enough for the event title leaving it up to
Jimmy who had the final bull of the night. Andy Smith held the lead
with 85 points and anything over that would give Jimmy the win and the
championship. Jimmy had drawn a new bull in the Double S Bull
Company Attack Pack, 622 Snowball's Chance, adding to the
excitement. The gate opened and in less than 8 seconds the question
was answered. As Jimmy hit the arena floor short of the 8 second
whistle Willy was assured the Bob Berg Designs gold buckle, a set of Henderson Custom Spurs
and the M & M Custom Camper awarded to the Tour Champion.
Although Jimmy had really hoped to be a three time winner of this title he
already is traveling in the camper he won in 2007. With his buck off
Jimmy was forced to settle with third in the year-end standings as Andy
Smith's event victory won him
$876.15 and the Reserve
Championship for the year.
The line-up of riders who competed was phenomenal
including not only the three men mentioned above who carry a list of accomplishments
they were competing against the reigning NFPB Champion, Henry Yoder and
Seth Reynolds fresh from the Championship Bull Riding tour and those were
just the 5 spotlight riders! In an interview with Todd Crase he
said, "It wasn't hard to find 5 riders to spotlight. We could
have spotlighted at least 10 riders easily".
Gumby Wren and John Young have dominated the Junior
Bullriding Division of the Tour all season. John Young was
the only rider to cover his bull winning $275 and giving him a $27.50 lead
over Gumby to take the Year-End Championship and the Bob Berg Designs gold
buckle presented by Double S Bull Company the sponsor of the Junior
Bullriding Division of the Extreme Bullriding Tour. Gumby's hard
work earned him the Reserve Championship in one of the closest races in
Extreme Bullriding history.
The Extreme Bullriding Tour 2009 has been
sanctioned by both the Bullriders Of America (BOA) and the National
Federation of Professional Bullriders (NFPB). Competing against the
riders all year has been the bulls of the Double S Bull Company Attack
Pack. Each event one bull has been selected as the Bull of the
Event. For the final event of the year 77 ATM was selected. 77
ATM was paired against Chas Skillett in the match-up that won him this
honor.
Those in attendance were thrilled with the antics of funnyman Allan Dessel
who was joined in the arena by bullfighters Jeremy Muntz and Cory
Griebel. The announcer for the night was Troy Goodridge. The
event was highlighted by a special tribute to Alyssa Vanderhoff (also known as
AJ) who died August 27th, 2009, when she lost control of her pick-up truck on a gravel road near her hometown of Marathon, Iowa. As one of the few
women bull riders in the Midwest AJ had become a fan favorite on the Extreme Bullriding tour where she competed regularly in the Double S Bull Company Junior Bullriding.
The crowd gave the tribute and her memory a standing ovation.
Throughout the year the Extreme Bullriding
royalty: Abby McDonald, Extreme
Bullriding Tour Princess; Hannah Hilsabeck, Miss Extreme; and Rachel Burton.
Miss NFPB, raised over $5,000 through the tour's Tough Enough to Wear Pink
50/50 Drawings for the benefit of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and its
fight against breast cancer. An end-of-the-year donation by Rachel Burton
and her family pushed the 2009 total over the $5000 mark. This brings their total for the past 3 seasons over $ 15,000.00.
Thank you to everyone who has helped support this great cause through the
Extreme Bullriding Tour.
The bull riding was followed by the annual
New Year's Eve Dance and lots of fun for everyone.
View photos for this event at PETE
HAMMER PHOTOGRAPHY.
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