'Smart' start for Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Bull Rider

By Courtesy PRCA
Posted Monday, May 19, 2008

Mississippi bull rider highlights first half with six-digit success

Here's an indication of bull rider Chance Smart's unbelievable and unprecedented start to the 2008 ProRodeo season: he watched B.J. Schumacher win the $50,000 Shootout Round at RodeoHouston but still held an advantage of nearly $52,000 over the second-ranked and 2005 World Bull Riding Champion in the Crusher Rentals PRCA World Standings the following week.

Smart hit the $100,000 plateau by the end of March, the earliest in one event in ProRodeo history.
Much of Smart’s totals came in a remarkable, 17-day span in San Antonio, when he won $67,807 between two Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour stops and the four-round San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo. He won the first Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour title on Jan. 31, riding two bulls for 178 points and pocketing $19,415.

He then won two rounds and finished second in another en route to winning the rodeo’s bull riding average title, good for $33,098. He also finished a close second in the two-head average at the second San Antonio-hosted Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour stop, winning another $15,294 to complete his onslaught in the Alamo city.

Smart's lead of nearly $57,000 is by no means insurmountable, especially at this point of the season. Last year, Schumacher used his RodeoHouston haul to occupy the top spot for the remainder of the regular season but was caught by Wesley Silcox at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

This year, Silcox, of Payson, Utah, is No. 2, but his victories at the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour stops in San Antonio (Feb. 16) and Laughlin, Nev., prove he can make the big ride when it counts. Schumacher sits third in the Crusher Rentals PRCA World Standings, just $600 behind Silcox. Three-time Wrangler NFR qualifier Mike Moore of Kankakee, Ill., won the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour stop in Houston and is ranked fifth in the standings heading into the summer.

In the two other roughstock events of bareback riding and saddle bronc riding, RodeoHouston’s champions – bareback rider Steven Dent and saddle bronc rider Billy Etbauer – each carried leads of nearly $20,000 into the summer run

RodeoHouston, which ran from March 3-22 at Reliant Stadium, for the second straight year continued its bracket-style format and record $50,000 payouts to the champions, setting the stage for high drama on the event’s final day. The rodeo paid $1,300,000 to a total of 267 contestants, with the champions of the Shootout Round virtually punching their tickets for the Wrangler NFR in the process.

Dent, of Mullen, Neb., picked up $53,500 in Houston, or more than 75 percent of his earnings for the season. Three world champions lurk within the top 15 – Kelly Timberman (2004) of Mills, Wyo., is ranked No. 3; Bobby Mote (2002, 2007) of Culver, Ore., is No. 6 and Will Lowe (2003, 2005-06) is within striking distance at No. 8.

Etbauer, who won a historic sudden-death round in Houston after he and Rod Hay, of Wildwood, Alberta, had identical scores in the Shootout Round, carried $55,000 out of Reliant Stadium to certainly lock up his 20th consecutive Wrangler NFR berth – extending his own record. His RodeoHouston victory vaulted him past J.J. Elshere of Quinn, S.D., who started the year strong with average victories at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo (Rapid City, S.D.) and the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Cody Wright, of Milford, Utah, is ranked third and recorded Texas victories in Odessa and Austin, then shared another in Logandale, Nev. Bradley Harter, of Weatherford, Texas, sits fourth and has won a season-best eight titles this season, highlighted by Wrangler ProRodeo Tour triumphs in San Francisco, Clovis, Calif., and Laughlin, Nev.

The most notable roughstock injury of the first half came when reigning World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Taos Muncy suffered multiple fractures in his right leg during the “Wild Ride” portion of the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up. Muncy, who suffered the injury April 21, was expected to miss up to four months.

Order of information: Event (Days) BB SB BR
October
Waco (5-13) Stevenson DeMoss, C. Glause
Pasadena (7-9, 11-13) Cannon DeMoss, C. Knibbe
Billings (17-20) Wall Willert Bail
January
Odessa (4-5, 9-12) Gunderson Wright Asay
Denver (12-13, 17-27) Schmidt Kelts Jones
Fort Worth (18-Feb. 3) Jayne Hay Haught
February
Rapid City (31-3) Schmidt Elshere Curtis
San Antonio (1-16) McDaniel Elshere Smart, C.
Jackson (7-13) Whitcher Muncy Traweek
Kissimmee (16-17) Timberman Wilson Smart, T.
Tucson (16-17, 21-24) McFarland Etbauer Duncan
San Angelo (21-March 1) Timberman Bello Knibbe
March
Austin (3-15) Lowe Wright Samsel
Houston (3-17, 19-22) Dent Etbauer Schumacher
Montgomery (6-9) Lowe Reynolds Cormier
Pocatello (19-22) Harris, C. Ferley Limas
Laughlin (27-30) Mote Harter Proctor
Huntsville (28-29) Harris, C. Rathmell Harris, J.W.
April
San Francisco (4-13) Jones Harter Baize
McDaniel
Logandale (10-13) Timberman DeMoss, H. Wing
Wright
Oakdale (12-13) McFarland Jones Smith
Red Bluff (18-20) Gray Ferley Helmuth
Brunson
Corpus Christi (24-27) Havens Harter Michaelis
Clovis (25-27) Casper DeMoss, H. McClain
May
Guymon (2-4) Schlegel Etbauer Maverick
Johnson, C.
Redding (15-17) Davis Miller, S. Clemons