Shiozawa looking to give home fans a repeat victory at the DNCFR
POCATELLO, Idaho – Matt Shiozawa remembers everything about his win at last year's Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, presented by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, as being special.
Shiozawa is not necessarily saying it was the biggest moment of his career – he's been to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeos three times and won the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo – but it was hard to match for the sheer drama of the situation.
Shiozawa was born in Pocatello, lives in nearby Chubbuck, and had the full-throated support of the crowd when he set an arena record of 7.3 seconds on the last run of the tie-down roping competition to win the title over Wes Lockard.
"To have the hometown crowd cheering for you and then to perform like that … it was a significant deal," Shiozawa said. "There was such a great response from the fans. The place just blew up. It was a really cool moment. The prize money alone is a big deal and then to have the use of a Dodge Ram truck for a year, that's just a great bonus for all of the champions."
It's a moment he would love to experience again April 8-11, when he and saddle bronc rider Chad Ferley return to Pocatello as the only defending champions in the field for the $500,000 DNCFR in Holt Arena, on the campus of Idaho State University.
Shiozawa will be among the favorites in a field that includes reigning World Champion Stran Smith, 2008 PRCA Overall and Tie-Down Roping Rookie of the Year Tuf Cooper and four other past DNCFR champions – Cutter Parsons, Brad Goodrich, Casey Branquinho and Nate Baldwin, from nearby Blackfoot, Idaho.
Each of the 12 PRCA regional circuits sends its year-end champion and its circuit finals rodeo average champion to the DNCFR, setting a field of 24 competitors in each of the rodeo's seven events.
Everybody competes in two rounds, and the top eight in the average advance to the semifinals on April 11, where all past times and scores are tossed out. The top four go on to the finals, where once again all times and scores are discarded. The winner of the final is the DNCFR champion.
Shiozawa doesn't figure the crowd's expectations for him (and for Baldwin, for that matter) will be scaled down at all this time around. There is still some added pressure to perform.
"It (the DNCFR win) has come up frequently when I'm in town," Shiozawa said, "and it's always been positive. Not everybody is totally familiar with rodeo, but they all understand the win, the way the format works and the drama of it. Winning last year doesn't change anything. They will be rooting for Nate and me to win. And this is special for me. I have roots here. I have family and friends here."
Ferley, the 2006 world champion, will be defending his DNCFR title against a field that includes reigning World Champion Cody Wright, Rusty Allen, J.J. Elshere, Jesse Kruse and Bradley Harter, all of whom are among the top 20 in the PRCA World Standings.
There are six reigning world champions in this year's field: Smith, Wright, team ropers Matt Sherwood and Randon Adams, steer wrestler Luke Branquinho and bull rider J.W. Harris. The only world champions absent from Pocatello are bareback rider Justin McDaniel and Canadian barrel racer Lindsay Sears.
Roughstock cowboy Clovis Crane, of Lebanon, Pa., is poised to make some history at this 23rd annual DNCFR. He is the first cowboy to qualify to compete in three events in the same year. He was the First Frontier Circuit's year-end champion in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He was also the circuit's all-around champion.
There will be nightly Webcast coverage of the DNCFR (6:30 p.m. MT) through www.prorodeolive.com, anchored by Steve Kenyon, with color commentary from ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee Clint Corey. For results and nightly stories on the rodeo go to www.prorodeo.com, the official Web site of the PRCA.
Woolsey takes over Xtreme Bulls Tour lead with victory in Laughlin, NV
By: Bob Welch
LAUGHLIN, Nev. – A bull rider must face bulls of all types and ride them well for success in ProRodeo. At an Xtreme Bulls Tour event, presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, that fact is amplified by the caliber of bulls bucking. Success only comes to those who can ride bulls into their hand, away from their hand, rank ones and the rider-friendly types.
Steve Woolsey, who just won the Laughlin, Nev., stop on April 5 by riding three bulls for 261 points, knows that well. Unlike some places on the Xtreme Bulls Tour, the Laughlin stop features two rounds for all 40 bull riders, followed by a final round for the top 12.
“When I go into one, I like to think that I’m going to ride all three every time,” he said. “It doesn’t always happen at these deals. You have to draw three that fit you pretty well. It takes a lot of luck, talent and the draw. I was just lucky that it all worked out today.”
Woolsey started solidly in the first round with an 82-point mark – tied for third in the round with 2000 World Champion Cody Hancock behind Bobby Welsh with an 88.5 and Jarrod Ford, who had an 85.
Then, in the second round, Woolsey began to ratchet up his performance – and set the pace. He drew Silverado’s Bob, a bull he had been bucked off twice previously. In the first round, Bob broke his normal pattern and went left. When he saw that he had drawn the bull, he figured Bob would have his normal trip and go right – away from his hand. However, as the chute opened, Bob briefly caught his horn and Woolsey knew the bull would go left again, and he knew he would ride him.
“I would have liked to think that I would have ridden him either way,” he said. “I have been on him twice away from my hand and he bucked me off both times, and then he went into my hand today. That probably had a lot to do with riding three. I like to think that I ride pretty decent away, and into my hand, but on a bull like that when you have that big of a corner – and his past like that – it’s harder to get set down away from your hand rather than into your hand because you don’t have anything to lift on.”
Regardless of the reasons, Woolsey rode him for 89 points – best in the second round and good enough to also lead in the average on two, with a 171.
Going in to the short round, Woolsey stayed away from the ultra-tough eliminator-type of bulls like Silverado’s Buckeye and Pecos and drew Bar T Rodeo’s Coffee Break. Yet the bull was no day off.
“They said he was going to be up and down and come around to the right, and that’s pretty much what he was,” Woolsey said. “It just worked out. He went out a little bit in the middle of that ride and tried to drop me down in there, but I just hung on long enough to make it work.”
As the ride neared the whistle, Woolsey did lose position, yet the judges rewarded him with a 90-point ride – edging second-place finisher Hancock by 16.5 points. Yet for Hancock, second place was a victory. Last year in Laughlin, he was jerked down and suffered facial fractures and a concussion and was out of competition for two months.
Similarly, Woolsey has fought back from injury.
“I had some trouble there in 2006,” he said. “They tried killing me off in San Antone, and it’s been a fight to get back, but I feel like I’ve been riding just as good as I did in ‘05 when I was runner up for the world.”
In San Antonio, while riding with a borrowed set of spurs, he lost his grip on the bull, was jerked off, hung up and hit his head twice on the bull before finally being knocked unconscious when he hit the corner post of the chute after coming free.
“I had swelling of the brain, and it messed up my equilibrium,” he said.
Now, with $14,889 in his pocket from Laughlin and his equilibrium restored, he looks to be among the favorites in a competitive field of bull riders for a world title. The win at Laughlin pushed him ahead of Douglas Duncan into first place in the Xtreme Bulls Tour standings by $307.
“It’s awesome, I was second in San Antone at the Xtreme Bulls and I’ve been second a lot of places,” he said. “But I hadn’t had a win, so this is really good. I can’t wait for the rest of the summer.”
ON TV
Laughlin Xtreme Bulls coverage will air on ESPN2 at 1 p.m. Eastern time on May 3, and re-air at noon ET on May 16 and June 20 on ESPN Classic.
Former Pendleton Round-Up champion Stovner dies in tractor accident
Saddle bronc rider Charley Stovner, a PRCA member since 1979, died April 1 from injuries sustained in a tractor accident on the family's property in Council, Idaho. He was 53.
Stovner shared the 1982 Pendleton Round-Up title with ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee Mel Hyland and dominated the Northwest regional rodeo associations, winning the saddle bronc riding title in the Idaho Cowboys Association in every year but one from 1986 to 1996.
He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Danna, a professional barrel racer; sons, Carl, 23, and Luke, 20; mother, Eva North; sisters, Heidi Kruse and Tammany Whitlock and their families.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made in Stovner's name to RBCI Rodeo Bible Camps of Idaho. Donations may be sent to Cliff Schinn, 3239 Highway 71, Cambridge, ID 83610 or to any US Bank for deposit into the Charley Stovner Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Inaugural PRCA Championship Rodeo Camp set for April 10-11 in Hinton, Okla.
By: Johnna Espinoza
Is another Billy Etbauer or Will Lowe among us, or maybe a Justin McDaniel, Taos Muncy or Steven Dent?
A free ProRodeo day camp in Oklahoma may help identify and encourage just that – the next generation of rodeo stars.
The inaugural PRCA Championship Rodeo Camp is set for April 10-11 in Hinton, Okla. The introductory clinic will focus on bareback and saddle bronc riding.
Saddle bronc rider Bobby Griswold and roughstock hands Dustin Murray and Shank Stevens are among those scheduled to instruct.
“We want to help provide future rodeo athletes access to instruction and training,” said Cindy Schonholtz, PRCA industry outreach director. “Some cowboys may not have a parent or older sibling with ProRodeo experience and may not have access to instruction.
“Learning how to use rodeo equipment or relating to horses is something not all kids have access to, and we want to give them that opportunity.”
Topics covered, along with learning about rodeo equipment, will be chute procedure and working with pickup men.
Activities will be held at the Cross Tie Arena owned by J.R. Tilleman, and run from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. both days.
Interested students are encouraged to register. Space is limited, and necessary paperwork must be completed prior to participation.
For more information and to register, call Julie Jutten at 719.528.4729. Also, be sure to visit ProRodeo.com regularly, as more information will be posted as it becomes available.
Upcoming PRCA Rodeos
April 8 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, presented by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, Pocatello, Idaho, begins
April 9 Clark County Fair & Rodeo, Logandale, Nev., begins
April 10 Ardmore South of the Arbuckles PRCA Rodeo, Ardmore, Okla., begins
April 11 Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo, Oakdale, Calif., begins
