Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour finale set for Oct. 24 in Indianapolis
Mississippi bull rider and Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour standings leader Chance Smart hopes to take care of a little unfinished business as the 2008 ProRodeo season heads toward its final crescendo.
While he qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2007, Smart fell short in two other categories: winning the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour national championship and the bull riding world title. He’ll get his first shot at redemption at the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour, presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, season finale on Oct. 24. The two-performance contest is held in conjunction with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) national convention in Indianapolis.
Smart, the top-ranked rider in the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour standings with $57,687, leads good friend and traveling partner Bobby Welsh by $12,000 heading into the event. After the final bull bucks in Indianapolis, cumulative earnings from the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour season will determine this year’s national champion.
Last year, Smart rode all three bulls in Indianapolis, but watched another good friend, Kanin Asay, earn the national championship. Six weeks later, Smart registered six qualified rides at his first Wrangler NFR, but ended up third in the final world standings.
Smart has led the Crusher Rentals PRCA World Standings since mid-February, when he won $67,807 at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and a pair of Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour events.
“I did all I could do last year, but I came up short,” Smart said. “So, I decided to use that to motivate me this year, with the goal of winning what I didn’t last year. So far, it’s worked out well.”
Smart, who eclipsed the $100,000 barrier in late March, saw his frantic pace slow to a crawl during the summer, when he went two months (June-July) without a check and missed nearly three weeks with a torn groin muscle, sustained at California Rodeo Salinas in July.
Still, he holds a $34,000 advantage over Welsh in the Crusher Rentals PRCA World Standings and $34,162 over reigning World Champion Wesley Silcox, who won’t ride in Indianapolis as he competes sparingly due to sustaining multiple fractures of his right leg on Aug. 24 at a Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour event held in Bremerton, Wash.
Sitting fourth is B.J. Schumacher, the 2006 world champion bull rider who has won the past two Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour-stop titles in Indianapolis. Last year, Schumacher won the bull riding title at RodeoHouston and led the world standings for most of the season before a red-hot Silcox took charge at the Wrangler NFR en route to his first world title.
Now, Smart, the longtime front-runner, realizes the perils that can go with occupying the top position.
“You’d think people chasing you would be easy,” Smart said. “Or, you could figure since you’re out in front, that’s where you’re going to stay, so you don’t have to worry. When I wasn’t riding well in Salinas, Matt Austin (2005 world champion) told me to always ride like you’re in second place. Lately, I’ve done better with that frame of mind.”
Smart and Schumacher headline the field that also includes previous Dodge Xtreme Bulls National Champions Zeb Lanham (2006) and Mike Moore (2003). If everything goes right, either Moore or Lanham could surpass Smart to become the Tour’s first two-time champ.
“It would mean a great deal to win it again,” said Moore, the fifth-ranked bull rider in the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour standings with $40,777 who missed most of the summer season after sustaining a fractured hip at the Greeley (Colo.) Independence Stampede in late June. “That would secure my spot in the Wrangler NFR and a chance at a world title, which has always been my top goal.”
Action gets underway with the first performance at 4:30 p.m. EDT, followed by the second round at 8:30 p.m. and a final round immediately following. All 40 riders will compete in both rounds, with the top 12 cowboys returning for the final round.
And Smart hopes to be there, standing tall in the end. If it doesn’t work out again, he’ll be cheering for another longtime friend.
“Bobby (Welsh) was my first traveling partner when I hit the road full time,” Smart said. “This year, it looks like it’s between me and him, and I’d be tickled to death if he won it. That way, it would stay in the family.”
Remaining Wrangler NFR personnel selected
Voting for the bullfighters, pickup men and barrelman for the 50th Wrangler National Finals Rodeo concluded Oct. 3, with some familiar faces among the selections. Bullfighter Darrell Diefenbach has been selected to work his seventh consecutive Wrangler NFR and plans to be in Las Vegas despite breaking his leg on Oct. 4 at the Heartland ProRodeo Championships in Waco, Texas. He will be joined in the arena by Clay Collins, who has been selected to work his second straight Wrangler NFR. Kelly Jennings will serve as the alternate.
Gary Rempel earned his sixth career selection as Wrangler NFR pickup man and will be working the arena with first-time selection Dan Etbauer, a longtime PRCA saddle bronc rider. Bobby Marriott, a pickup man at the 2006 Wrangler NFR, was selected as the alternate. Troy “Wild Child” Lerwill will work his third consecutive Wrangler NFR as barrelman and will be backed up by alternate Keith Isley.
The crowd will also be entertained by specialty acts Niki Moran, John Harrison and Isley during the commercial breaks and throughout the 10-day rodeo that runs Dec. 4-13.
Sinton, Texas, rodeo postponed concludes
Hurricane Ike may have forced the San Patricio ProRodeo committee to postpone its rodeo by about a month, but the rodeo was held over the weekend in Sinton, Texas, and now the books have closed on the 2008 regular season. A couple of postseason championships, and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, are all that remain on the 2008 calendar.
When Hurricane Ike pounded the Gulf Coast, it wrought havoc on a huge area, forcing postponement of outdoor events including the San Patricio ProRodeo, originally scheduled to start Sept. 12 – just hours before Ike made landfall.
Event winners at the San Patricio ProRodeo were Tilden Hooper, Carthage, Texas (bareback riding); John Hill, Fairfield, Texas; Kyle Drushel, Port O’ Connor, Texas, co-champions (steer wrestling); Matt Petrus, Skidmore, Texas, and Dee Rampy, Bertram, Texas (team roping); Dean Wadsworth, Ozona, Texas (saddle bronc riding); Kody Curry, Athens, Texas (tie-down roping); Kim Ulbricht, Hockley, Texas (barrel racing); Dave Samsel, Haslet, Texas (bull riding). Petrus, competing in the tie-down roping along with team roping, won the all-around title.
Visit ProRodeo.com and click on the Early Rodeo Results link to view complete results from the San Patricio ProRodeo.
NILE ProRodeo helps kick off 2009 schedule
A good start is no guarantee of a gold buckle or even a Top 15 finish in the postseason, but eight contestants can say that they got off to a good start in the 2009 season with event wins at the PRCA NILE Rodeo on Oct. 18 at MetraPark in Billings, Mont. The NILE ProRodeo, with a total payoff of nearly $170,000, was among the larger 2009 rodeos contestants have been able to attend.
Top finishers were Cody DeMers, Kimberly, Idaho (bareback riding); Lee Graves, Calgary, Alberta (steer wrestling); Travis Caldwell, Shepherd, Mont., (tie-down roping), Kaleb Asay, Powell, Wyo., and Rusty Allen, Eagle Mountain, Utah, co-champions (saddle bronc riding); Brady Tryan, Huntley, Mont., and Chase Tryan, Helena, Mont., (team roping); Shelley Murphy, Helena, Mont. (barrel racing); and Brian Guthrie, Cheyenne, Wyo. (bull riding).
Among the highlights, DeMers scored 88 points on bucking horse Gus to clinch the bareback riding top spot.
The 41st Northern International Livestock Exhibition, also known as the NILE, is a gathering place for farmers and ranchers, along with a livestock show and rodeo.
The 2008 ProRodeo season concluded on Sept. 30, except for a couple of postseason championships, and the Hurricane Ike-postponed San Patricio ProRodeo held over the weekend in Sinton, Texas.
Visit ProRodeo.com and click on the Early Rodeo Results link for results from the past weekend.
Tickets on sale for NFSR
Tickets for the 50th National Finals Steer Roping, which will be held Nov. 14-15 in Hobbs, N.M., are currently on sale. Call 800.952.2210 or visit www.nationalfinalssteerroping.com for tickets and information. Tickets are $65 for VIP seating, which includes access to the hospitality room before and after the event, $20 for lower-level reserved seating and $15 for upper-level seating. General admission tickets are $10. The VIP tickets give pass holders the opportunity to meet the contestants, enjoy outstanding food and hear the Dennis Snyder Band in one of the Lea County Event Center Banquet rooms.
Wrangler NFR free-to-ride shuttle buses set to go
(PRCA note: The countdown has begun for the 50th Anniversary of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Dec. 4-13, in Las Vegas. An informative Wrangler NFR item will be included in each weekly News and Notes through Dec. 1.)
The best way for fans to avoid the parking headache and traffic congestion during the Wrangler NFR is to take a complimentary shuttle bus to and from the host hotels to the site of the Wrangler NFR at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“It is the easiest way to get in and out – that’s the key thing,” said Tim Keener, Las Vegas Events director of event operations.
And, for the second year in a row, it’s free. Along with round-trip rides from host hotels, the shuttle bus program also offers one-way trips from the Cowboy Christmas Gift Show at the Convention Center to the Thomas & Mack Center.
“From two years ago when it was a $5 deal one-way, our shuttle has gone up 125 percent in ridership,” Keener said.
The shuttle bus schedule may be clipped out of the Oct. 10 edition of The ProRodeo Sports News, THE Voice of ProRodeo. It also is available on ProRodeo.com and will be in the official Wrangler NFR events schedule. Signs in hotels will direct rodeo fans to bus pick up points. Guests also may ask the hotel concierge for the Wrangler NFR shuttle bus pick up location.
The ride is essentially “door-to-door” service, since rodeo fans can board a shuttle bus and return to any of the host hotels from the Thomas & Mack Center.
“When you have nearly 50 buses running constant round trips, it empties it out,” Keener said of the Thomas & Mack Center crowd.
Las Vegas Events, UNLV and the city try to work well together to minimize traffic and parking challenges during the 10 days of the Wrangler NFR, but reducing cars on the road helps a great deal.
“The more we can get people to use the shuttles, the easier it is going to be on everybody,” Keener said,
Upcoming PRCA Rodeos
Oct. 23 Dodge Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo (Kansas City, Mo.) and Steer Roping Finals (Bucyrus, Kan.) begin
Oct. 23 Dodge Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo (Ogden, Utah) begins
Oct. 24 Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour finale (Indianapolis)
Oct. 24 First Chance Bonanza (Brookings, S.D.) begins
Oct. 24 State Fair of Louisiana ProRodeo (Shreveport, La.) begins
Nov. 1 A Tribute to Chris LeDoux (Casper, Wyo.)
Nov. 7 Adirondack Stampede Charity (Glenn Falls, N.Y.) begins
Nov. 7 2008 Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Championship, Ariat Playoffs, Dallas round begins
Nov. 8 2009 Heartland ProRodeo Series: Brawley Cattle Call Rodeo (Brawley, Calif.) begins
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