Round two of the 2006 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo saw the race for world titles heating up this evening in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Centre.
The roughstock cowboys had the eliminator pens this evening, which proved to be both exciting and challenging for them.
Jess Davis (Payson, Utah) and Wes Stevenson (Kaufman, Tex.) rode a pair of Kesler Rodeo Co. horses to the top two spots in the bareback event.
Davis was 86 points on the superstar mare Painted Smile and Stevenson was 80 points on Sports Select.
Davis was very excited when he found out about his draw for the evening.
“I was nervous, but pretty excited because I think it was one of the better horses to ride,” he explained. “He felt pretty dang good right out of there, and then I pulled him and set him and I was like, ‘Ok, this is going to be good.’ On the second jump, I missed his neck and he made me pay for that one. He hit me in the head so hard, and then I just had to have the eye of the tiger. It’s just like if you’re going to get in a fight or something, you want to be the aggressive one.
“When he was coming around at the end, he was covering some ground, and I had to really speed it up.”
Andy Martinez (Pavillion, Wyo.) rode another Kesler bareback horse, Sky Reach, for 74 points.
In the saddle bronc event, Glen O’Neill (Didsbury, Alta.) bucked off of Andrews Rodeo, Inc.’s Faded Star.
“Yeah, he wasn’t very friendly,” said the 2002 world champion. “He did everything he could to get me off tonight. He was throwing his head back and spinning and not really helping me. I just did what I could. He was an eliminator, that’s for sure.”
Dan Mortensen (Billings, Mont.), who made his first appearance at the Canadian Finals Rodeo last month, won the saddle bronc riding on Calgary Stampede’s Knight Rocket.
“I think I’ve seen him about four times this year,” said the six-time world champion. “He threw Billy (Etbauer) off once in Hermiston, Ore., and I saw him at the Calgary Stampede, in the short round in Puyallup and one other time. So, I had seen the horse and I knew he was good. It was the eliminator pen, so you’ve got to bear down and be ready for anything to stay on.”
They matched up for 87.5 points and $16,022. Mortensen is third in the world standings, only $3,692 behind the leader, Chad Ferley (Oelrichs, S.D.).
Rod Hay (Wildwood, Alta.) rode Mosbrucker Rodeo’s Paper and Fire for 81 points, good enough for fourth place in the round. He sits sixth place in the world standings.
Lee Graves (Calgary, Alta.), recovering after a shaky first round effort, split second place in the second round with Fowler, Colo.’s Wade Sumpter. Their matching 4.1-second times were worth $11,112 apiece.
“Those are the kind of starts I want every night,” exclaimed the reigning world champion.
His game plan for the ten days is pretty simple, and the exact same one he used en route to a gold buckle in 2005.
“It’s like ten great rodeos. I just come down here each night a try and win some money. I just come down here and do what I do, and that’s bulldogging.
“If you can get some momentum going in these first three rounds… it’s like a snowball. You’ve got to start somewhere.”
Graves is currently sixth place in the world standings.
Barrel racer Lindsay Sears knocked a barrel over and finished 14th for the second night in a row.
Notables: Shawn Greenfield (Lakeview, Ore.) won the steer wrestling with his 3.7-second run. Both Greenfield and Lee Graves are using Greg Cassidy’s champion horse Willy in Las Vegas.
Kelly Maben (Spur, Tex.) won the barrel racing with a 13.72-second run.
Hico, Tex. cowboy Cody Ohl won the tie-down roping in 7.2 seconds.
Zeb Lanham (Sweet, Ida.) was 94.5 points on Broken Arrow Rodeo’s Smokeless War Dance to win the bull riding. |
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