Henry Yoder New National Federation of Professional Bullriders Champion

By Cindy Meyers, Rodeo Attitude
Posted Sunday, April 5, 2009

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For Henry Yoder it has been a long drive from discovering his love of bull riding to taking center stage at the National Federation of Professional Bullriiders Federation Finals but as the final bull bucked in round six on Saturday, April 4th Henry had secured the year-end championship. When I say “drive” there is a double meaning to that word. In order to win this honor Henry has had to drive many, many miles attending events in several Midwestern states. Along the road he has made many friends - contestants, personnel and fans. Just one of the awards of a life as a bull rider. Attending events does not insure a championship. To earn that title you must win or place at events consistently and that takes the second drive. A positive attitude and a determination to do the work necessary to develop the skills of a champion. Henry has spent hours working on his skills developing a unique sense of balance, muscle training and learning as much as he could about the bulls he rides. As he leaves St. Joseph with the top honor of the year it will not be an award he earned in one year but one he has been working on for several years and one he deserves to be proud of.

Henry will not be the only man leaving St. Joseph and the Federation Finals with a bright gold buckle. Jimmy Tubbs will be wearing one that reads Federation Finals Champion. Jimmy toped the weekend of bull riding by scoring 426.5 points the only man to ride 5 bulls. In an interview prior to Saturday night performance Jimmy, who has already appeared on the prestigious televised PBR Built Ford Series, will be packing up his skills and heading to Florida for a PBR Challenger Tour event with a goal of becoming a regular on the PBR Built Ford Tough Series. Jimmy will join a long list of NFPB members who have honed their skills at the outstanding events sanctioned by the NFPB to advance to the televised professional rodeo tour. Many of these riders continue to be members and regulars at NFPB events whenever they can.

No matter who we interviewed during our three days at the finals one thing seemed to be mentioned more than anything else. The Finals is more like a Family Reunion with some bull riding for entertainment. The number of riders and personnel that had not qualified to participate in the finals but were there to support their association and cheer on their fellow competition was phenomenal. The friendly family atmosphere was in the smiles of everyone you ran into. Friends creating each other with big hugs were repeated time and time again. It is almost ironic that the “Federation Finals” which are the cultimation of the 2008 season are held the first weekend in April truly when the 2009 season is about to begin in earnest. Winter is drawing to a close and in the upcoming months the NFPB will be sanctioning bull ridings acrossed the Midwest and these riders will once again become a “family” on the road when fellow competitors will share hotel rooms, transportation and meals. Competing against the bulls and ultimately against each other yet united in the common goal - riding bulls.

Round by Round Results and Average:

Average
1. Jimmy Tubbs 426.5 pts
2. Ryan Schumacher 337 pts
3. Kenny Hickman 334.5 pts
4. Danny Schlobohm 331 pts
5. Henry Yoder 328 pts
6. Seth Reynolds 255 pts

Round 6
1. Corey Davis 89 pts
2. Ryan Schumacher 88 pts
3. Jimmy Tubbs 86.5 pts
4. Craig Sasse 86 pts

Round 5
1. Erik Hopp 88 pts
2. Jimmy Tubbs 87.5 pts
3. Timothy Vaughan 85 pts
4. Kenny Hickman 83 pts

Round 4
1. David Henderson 86 pts
2. John Susie 85 pts
3. Seth Reynolds 84.5 pts
4. Danny Schlobohm 83.5 pts

Round 3
1. Ryan Schumacher 86.5 pts
2-3 Craig Sasse 85.5 pts
2-3 Matt Moore 85.5 pts
4. Jimmy Tubbs 84.5 pts
4. Danny Schlobohm 84.5 pts

Round 2
1-2 Jimmy Tubbs 86 pts
1-2 Corey Davis 86 pts
3-4 Curtis Seamans 84.5 pts
3-4 Dusty Green 84.5 pts

Round 1
1. Seth Reynolds 86.5 pts
2-3 Henry Yoder 85.5 pts
2-3 Kenny Hickman 85.5 pts
4. Jim Kreke 84.5 pts

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