COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For some PRCA bull riders, Xtreme Bulls can be a ticket to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. That certainly was the case for 2007 Xtreme Bulls National Champion Kanin Asay, who picked up $72,126 of his $144,823 pre-NFR earnings at Xtreme Bulls events last year and finished second in the final Crusher Rentals PRCA World Standings.
Asay, of Powell, Wyo., followed in the footsteps of Zeb Lanham in 2006, Matt Austin in 2005, B.J. Schumacher in 2004 and Mike Moore in 2003 as Xtreme Bulls National Champions, and it’s no small wonder that two of those cowboys – Schumacher and Austin – earned world bull riding titles in 2006 and 2005, respectively.
The 2008 Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour presented by B&W Trailer Hitches begins this weekend in Rapid City, S.D., at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, kicking off a nine-stop season that culminates in Indianapolis on Oct. 24. Forty of the PRCA’s most talented bull riders will square off against some of the PRCA’s rankest bulls and a share of a $40,000 purse, starting with the first round on Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. MT. The top 12 riders return for the final round on Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
If last year’s action was any indication, this season’s tilt will not lack for excitement.
Among the highlights of the 2007 Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour were a pair of big paydays for 2007 World Bull Riding Champion Wes Silcox. The Payson, Utah, cowboy earned titles in Reno, Nev., and Ellensburg, Wash., paydays that ultimately played an integral role in claiming his first world bull riding title. Other big moments from the 2007 season included two Tour-round victories by a pair of world champions in Schumacher (2006) and Cody Hancock (2000); and an infusion of young talent, headlined by season champion Asay and Chance Smart, who won the Tour-stop title in Houston.
The Xtreme Bulls stop kicks off the 10-day Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo, which in 2008 is featuring a new saddle bronc rodeo during the first weekend, a relocated and expanded Western Art Corner and a new performance horse sale, just to name a few. The Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo, which twice has been selected as PRCA Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year, runs Jan. 31-Feb. 3.
