14th Annual Missouri State Fair Bullriding Thrills Fairgoers

By Dan Dunham, Rodeo Attitude
Posted Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Fourteenth Annual Missouri State Fair Bullriding was held August 20th and 21st as a part of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, MO.  The Extreme Bullriding Tour brought with them the top riders of the Bullriders Of America (BOA) and the National Federation of Professional Bullriders (NFPB) along with the rank bulls of the Double S Bull Company's "Attack Pack" and the Walkowe and Jackson Bucking Bulls.

On Friday as the clock rolled around to the 7:00 PM starting time a large black rain cloud rolled in over the fairgrounds.  The forecast was for no rain and although the cloud was there the weatherman's prediction held out and the rain never came.  By 6:30 the pre-event activity was underway in the arena.  The first group in the arena were the presenting sponsor for the event, the Missouri Lottery, who threw t-shirts to lucky members of the crowd.  They were followed by the flag of the National Federation of Professional Bullriders as announcer, Sedalia's own, Chris Pyle, informed the audience that this event had been designated as a B & W Challenge event.  The NFPB in partnership with B & W Turnover Ball Hitches have selected an elite group of events for this honor and any money won by members of the NFPB is applied to the B & W Challenge Standings with the high money winner of the year to receive a $1200 bonus.

Each night opening ceremonies included presentation of the American flag by Hannah Hilsabeck, Miss Extreme well as the presentation of the riders and production staff.  Special mention was given to the fact that Runt Regath was working his 13th Missouri State Fair Bullriding as the bull wrangler and that this was also Jarred Lamma's 12th time as a bullfighter at this event.  It was also announced that this would also be Jarred final appearance as he ceremonially cut the strings on his protective vest at the end of the weekend.  Jarred was joined in the arena for cowboy protection by Jeremy Muntz and Nick Neimeier who had their work cut out for them as the rank bulls were dumping cowboys to the arena floor.  Funnyman for the night was Allan Dessel of Hugo, OK who thrilled the audience to his "Dance Revolution" act and his witty chatter with announcer, Chris Pyle.                       

As Friday nights event unfolded it was clearly the bulls night out as only eight men covered in the long go and no one met the challenge of the bulls in the short-go.  Andy Smith won the first nights event with a score of 87.5.  Right on his heels were Mason Lowe and Willy Ropp finishing in a dead heat with only a half point of separation, for 2nd and 3rd.

Saturday from 11 AM to 1 PM several bull riders led by reigning 2008 Extreme Bullriding Tour Champion, Jimmy Twedt, and including Friday nights winner, Andy Smith, along with bullfighter, Jeremy Muntz, funnyman, Allan Dessel and both Miss Extreme, Hannah Hilsabeck, and our Extreme Princess, Abby McDonald were on hand at Gene's Hats and Boots in downtown Sedalia to sign autographs and visit with fans.  A special thanks to Reva for presenting Abby McDonald with a beautiful pink shirt.

After Friday's event you could feel the drama building and when it was "Go Time" on Saturday night, one of the largest crowds ever to attend this event was buzzing and both the riders and the bulls were restless. The scene was set for some hot competition.  Steven Lile was up for the challenge and did not disappoint the crowd, he was the only rider to cover both his long-go bull and his short-go bull on Saturday night giving him the win with a combined score of 162.  Steven was among the lucky riders for the night with only six men covering in the long-go.  That made a total of only fifteen qualified rides all weekend!

Saturday night was a Tough Enough to Wear Pink event and the crowd really showed off their pink with many members of them dressing in pink.  All the cowboys and staff wore pink ribbons plus many wore pink shirts, bandanas and other pink items in support of the Tough Enough To Wear Pink campaign to find a cure for breast cancer.  With a generous contribution by Ron Koehly of $1000 the man leading at the end of the long-go was given the opportunity to ride 443 Buck Cherry owned by Double S Bull Company in the short-go for a chance to win the $1000.  Danny Schlobolm won the long-go and made a valiant 6 plus second ride falling short of the buzzer.  Although he did not ride the bull, for his efforts he became the proud owner of set of Henderson Custom Spurs that are sure to come in handy in future events. Since Danny did not cover 443 Buck Cherry Ron awarded the 3 foot check in the arena to Hannah Hilsabeck and Abby McDonald to be given to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  Hannah and Abby also conducted a 50/50 drawing for the benefit of the foundation each night raising another $406.50 for a grand total raised for brest cancer research of $1406.50.  A very sucessful Tough Enough To Wear Pink event!

The big winner of the weekend was Andy Smith who earned money both nights finishing as the high points winner and the overall event champion earning him the beautiful Bob Berg Design trophy buckle.  Although Willy Ropp only finished fourth on Friday night he was able to hold on to his lead in the Extreme Bullriding Tour Standings and the chance to win the M & M Custom Camper.

In bull riding you often hear the expression its not if but when you will get injured.  The injury report for this event is as follows:
Cody Redman - Possible broken jaw
Jody Newberry - Facial lacerations requiring stitches
C. J. Waller - Broken Leg
Tyler Adrian - Re-injured free hand - new stitches added to old stitches.

For the first time the Double S Bull Company Junior Bullriding competition was added to the schedule of activities.  Although there were no qualifying rides all weekend watching the young bullriders have a shot at the junior bulls drew loud applause from the audience.  The standings in this years competition remain the same with John Young leading the way, Gumby Wren in 2nd and Cody Redman sitting in 3rd.

Each night fans were entertained during intermission by 2001 Extreme Bullriding Tour Entertainer of the Year, Becky Reeves.  Fans also had the opportunity to purchase gorgeous bling items from vendor, Michele Kelber of Back At The Ranch and T-shirts and other items from James Johnson from "Say I Won't".  A big thanks to Tammy Crase and Elana Olson for selling the Extreme Bullriding Tour merchandise and the BOA girls for selling BOA merchandise.  A special thanks to Twillman Feeds for providing the bulls with high energy feed.  

Each night fans had the opportunity to meet riders and personnel at the Rodeo Attitude Autograph Session.  Many fans took advantage stood in long lines and the riders and personnel greeted each and every one!

After fourteen years the Extreme Team seems to just put on better and better events!  See you all next year for number 15!

Enjoy pictures from this event at www.hsearsrodeophotos.com