Pikes Peak trip anything but a bust for Beers/Smith
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With their regular partners otherwise engaged at the Calgary Stampede, Brandon Beers and Patrick Smith hooked up for one week to see what they could do at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo.
Let’s just say it wasn’t a bust.
Beers and Smith captured the first round in 4.2 seconds and shared the second round win with Travis Tryan and Michael Jones by posting another 4.2-second run. With the average title added on, the first-time pair walked away from this Wrangler Million Dollar Tour silver tier event presented by Justin Boots with $8,379 each.
“We all know each other from rodeoing,” Smith said. “I’ve watched him rope a lot, but we haven’t entered any rodeos together. It’s one of those deals where, if both guys do this for a living, we have a pretty good idea of what we need to do.
“We made a really good run on our first steer, which was a little bit stronger, and then came back with one you’d want to come back with. He was a really good steer, and we made a good run on him, too. You don’t ever expect to win both rounds, but sometimes everything lines up for a real good day, and you hope you’re at a good rodeo like Colorado Springs when it happens.”
Saddle bronc rider Jesse Kruse claimed his second Wrangler MDT silver-tier title in as many weeks – he won at Prescott, Ariz., July 5 – to move into first place in the Tour standings. He joined reigning World Champion Bull Rider J.W. Harris as the only cowboys to lead both the PRCA World Standings and the Tour standings in their events.
Kruse, of Great Falls, Mont., had an 89-point ride on Frontier Rodeo’s Griz to win the event by four points over 2005 World Champion Jeff Willert.
Utah’s Jessy Davis took an important step in his comeback from reconstructive shoulder surgery by sharing the bareback riding title with Steven Peebles of Redmond, Ore. Each had 87-point rides and earned $4,846.
The other champions at the Norris-Penrose Event Center were steer wrestler Casey McMillen (7.6 seconds on two head), tie-down roper Brett Livingston (17.2 seconds on two head), 2007 World Champion Bull Rider Wesley Silcox (91 points) and barrel racer Tiffany Fox (34.33 seconds on two runs).
On July 9, the rodeo donated $1 for every fan wearing pink and $5 for each of the 60 contestants wearing pink in the arena to the Renee’s Friends Fund to provide nonmedical services for breast cancer patients in the Pikes Peak region. The total donation this year was $5,600.
“We are honored and excited to be a part of such a project,” said Tough Enough To Wear Pink Chairwoman Pam Dawson. “It is great to see the whole concept of cowboys being so tough; yet strong enough to wear pink to honor all the women and men survivors who continue to battle breast cancer.”
Induction weekend raises funds in support of ProRodeo Hall of Fame
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The second week in July is traditionally the ProRodeo Hall of Fame’s grandest celebration of the sport, the week when the hall inducts its latest class of rodeo legends and pays homage to all those who have come before them.
It is also the week in which the rodeo community bands together to show its support for the maintenance and growth of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy.
A golf tournament, roping event, the July 10 Cowboy Ball and tickets to the July 11 ceremony, in which Dan Mortensen, Ted Nuce, Ace Berry, Walt Arnold, Leonard Ward and Erv Korkow were inducted, raised a combined $35,000 to sustain the Hall.
The July 9 screening of the Lane Frost documentary film at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame brought in $1,000 for the Lane Frost Memorial Scholarship Program.
The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund also received donations on July 11 as an adjunct to the induction ceremonies.
Liz Kesler, the wife of the late legendary stock contractor Reg Kesler, and Buster Black presented donations of $10,000 to the JCCF and $5,000 to the Hall of Fame on behalf of the Cowboy Reunion organization. The Cowboy Reunion is an annual gathering of those associated with the PRCA and their families, and rodeo enthusiasts, held annually in Las Vegas during the final weekend of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
“We greatly appreciate the Cowboy Reunion’s donation to financially assist injured cowboys, which we hope allows them to return to competition,” said JCCF Program Manager Cindy Schonholtz.
“The Cowboy Reunion has been very generous to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame throughout the years,” said the Hall’s Director of Operations, Tanna Kimble. “The individuals who are in that organization are the people who make ProRodeo so fantastic. The Hall is extremely grateful for the Cowboy Reunion’s financial support.”
For more information on the Hall of Fame, visit ProRodeoHallofFame.com. For more information on the JCCF, visit ProRodeo.com
Upcoming PRCA Rodeos
July 14 Snake River Stampede, Nampa, Idaho, begins
July 15 Franklin County Fair PRCA Rodeo, Hampton, Iowa, begins
July 15 Painted Pony Championship Rodeo, Lake Luzerne, N.Y., begins
July 15 Kansas’ Largest Night Rodeo, Pretty Prairie, Kan., begins
July 15 Woodward (Okla.) Elks Rodeo, begins
July 16 California Rodeo Salinas, begins
July 16 Great Northern Stampede, Havre, Mont., begins
July 16 Bryan (Texas) Breakfast Club Lions Club PRCA Rodeo, begins
July 16 Cattlemen’s Days Rodeo, Gunnison, Colo., begins
July 16 Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo, Mitchell, S.D., begins
July 17 Mesquite (Texas) Championship Rodeo, begins
July 17 Charles B. Davis Memorial, Ringgold, Ga., begins
July 17 Marias River Stampede, Shelby, Mont., begins
July 17 Steamboat Springs (Colo.) Pro Rodeo Series, begins
July 17 Wapello (Iowa) FFA PRCA Rodeo, begins
July 17 Buckeye Stampede Pro Rodeo, begins
July 17 Taber (Alberta) Pro Rodeo, begins
July 18 Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, begins
July 18 Cowtown Rodeo, Woodstown Pilesgrove, N.J.
July 18 Moose Mountain Rodeo, Kennedy, Saskatchewan, begins
July 19 C.M. Russell Stampede, Stanford, Mont., begins
Rodeo News and Notes
Peebles tops traveling partner to earn title in Casper
CASPER, Wyo. – Steven Peebles was born in Salinas, Calif., lived there until he was 14, and has always wanted to win the California Rodeo Salinas.
He goes into the opening session there July 16 with a load of confidence.
Over the July 9-12 weekend, Peebles shared the bareback riding title with Jessy Davis in Colorado Springs and won the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo with 172 points on two head, topping travel partner Jared Smith by six points.
Since the start of Cowboy Christmas, Peebles has won more than $22,000 and moved from 31st place in the PRCA World Standings to 13th, while driving about 6,000 miles in the process.
“It sounds crazy, but I crave it,” Peebles told The (Salinas) Californian. “It’s almost like an addiction. I love it. We’re going to hit about 75 rodeos this year. I’m not going to be home (in Redmond, Ore.) very much.”
Local favorite Seth Glause, of Rock Springs, Wyo., was the all-around champion at the Casper fairgrounds. He shared the saddle bronc riding average title with Jesse Wright – each scoring 164 points on two head – and earned money in the bull riding as well.
The other champions at Casper were steer wrestler Tommy Cook (14.3 seconds on three head), team ropers Chad Masters and Jade Corkill (18.1 seconds on three head), tie-down roper Justin Maass (17.2 seconds on three head), bull rider Beau Schroeder (172 points on two head) and barrel racer Sherry Cervi (34.45 seconds on two runs).
Americans sweep titles on Calgary’s Showdown Sunday
CALGARY – It was a day for American cowboys to celebrate the joys of NAFTA.
On Showdown Sunday, all six championships – and all six $100,000 checks – were won by Americans and brought back across the border for infusion into the U.S. economy.
Bareback rider Will Lowe was the only repeat champion. He won his $100,000 prize by scoring an 87.5-point ride on Duane Kesler’s Alley Trail on the last ride of the competition, bumping Ryan Gray off the top spot by a half-point.
The saddle bronc riding standings were even a little tighter, with Taos Muncy riding Duane Kesler’s Cool Alley for 87.5 points to edge Chet Johnson and Dustin Flundra by a half-point each.
The other champions were tie-down roper Ryan Jarrett (7.0 seconds), bull rider J.B. Mauney (92.5 points), steer wrestler Trevor Knowles (3.3 seconds) and barrel racer Tammy Key-Fischer (17.26 seconds).
Wisness, Akins honored with Nothin’ But Try Scholarship grants
The Nothin’ But Try Scholarship program was expanded this year, adding two more cash awards for college rodeo competitors who have faced adversity and yet kept pushing forward to reach their goals. For the fourth consecutive year, a $2,500 scholarship was awarded in honor of the late PRCA cowboy Shane Drury, and two additional $500 grants were issued this year under the names of two other PRCA members, the late Levi Wisness and Lee Akins.
A committee of 12 rodeo notables, including Stran Smith and Ty Murray, awarded the Shane Drury scholarship to Winn Ratliff of McNesse State University (Lake Charles, La.). The Levi Wisness scholarship went to Jake Woolstenhulme of Utah Valley University (Orem, Utah), and the Lee Akin award to Aaron Skinner of the College of Southern Idaho (Twin Falls). All three are PRCA permit holders.
The PRCA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the largest and oldest rodeo-sanctioning body in the world. The recognized leader in professional rodeo, the PRCA is committed to maintaining the highest standards. The PRCA, a membership-based organization, sanctions more than 600 rodeos annually, and there are nearly 30 million fans in the U.S. The PRCA showcases the world's best cowboys in premier events through the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour presented by Justin Boots, and its subsequent Playoffs, the Xtreme Bulls presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, the PRCA's bull riding tour; and the world-renowned Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Action from PRCA-sanctioned rodeos and its premier events appears on ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPN Deportes. Each year, PRCA-sanctioned rodeos raise more than $26 million for local and national charities. www.prorodeo.com
Copyright 1996 - 2008 Rodeo Attitude, LLC., All rights reserved.