HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Circuit Finals of the PRCA’s First Frontier Circuit closed out on Saturday, Jan. 18.
The three night event, a central part of the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show, provided a packed house with the best in broncs, bulls, roping and barrels.
In the end, prestigious gold and silver buckles went home with the best of the event and year end title winners, and one of the circuit’s best cowboys rode his way into the PRCA circuit record books.
It’s not unusual to find riders competing in more than one event, and quite a few in the First Frontier Circuit compete throughout the season in two events. A handful even qualified for the Circuit Finals in two events.
Only one cowboy, however, qualified for the First Frontier Circuit Finals in three events. Clovis Crane, of Lebanon, Pa., competed in saddle bronc, bareback bronc and bull riding all season long, and qualified for the finals in all three.
Crane’s appearance in the finals last weekend was not guaranteed. He suffered a broken femur in early October. His toughness should never have been in question, however, for the rider who has been seen on the televised “Toughest Cowboy” competition.
Making it to and through the finals, however, was more than worth it for Crane. Although his physical pain was visible at times, he set what was said to be a PRCA circuit record, winning the year title in all three of the roughstock events, as well as the year’s all around title.
Good thing he brought a big truck, to carry all that hardware home.
Before Crane walked – or limped – off with his buckles, there was a lot of competing to be done for him, and dozens of other competitors.
Round Two – Friday. Jan. 17
A frigidly cold Friday night kicked off with BAREBACK RIDING, with six of seven riders putting up scores. Only round one’s winner, Clint Burton of Caldwell, Idaho, failing to put up a score.
Winning the round was Terry Lee Owens, Jr., of Lexington, N.C., who put up 78 points in the round. It was his second score of the finals, as he put up 79 points in round one. Cowtown regular Bob Cross, of Browns Mills, N.J., finished second in round two, also his second score of the finals. Third was won by Ken Feidler, Jr., of Windsor Mills, Md., at 72 points, his first score of the finals.
The other qualified rides in the round were Logan Willemsma of Guthrie, Okla., with 71 points, splitting fourth and fifth place with Luis Escudero of Vado, N.M.; sixth was Clovis Crane with 70 points.
In STEER WRESTLING, the night went more to steers than competitors, with only four of 12 steer wrestlers walking away with qualified times and pocketing checks in the round.
Round two went to Tom Farrelly of Cayuga, N.Y., who threw the steer in 3.7 seconds, managing to improve his time of 4.3 seconds in his second place finish in round one. Kirk Trumpower of Mercerburg, Pa., last year’s title winner, was second in the round with a 4.5 second time. Third was Casey Martin of Gettysburg, Pa., finishing in 5.2 seconds. The only other qualified run in the round was Jimmy Van, taking 4th in the round in 8.9 seconds.
In TEAM ROPING, seven-tenths of a second divided the first four teams.
The round went to the team of Bucky Nastri of Screven, Ga. And Derek Carey of Mechanicsville, N.Y., with a time of 6.1 seconds. Right behind them in second was the team of Cody Warner of Queensbury, N.Y. and Fred Brunelle of Schuylerville, N.Y., with a time of 6.3 seconds. Third place finishers were Chuck Smith of Townsend, Del., and Joe Williams of Perkiomenville, Pa. at 6.5 seconds, followed by the team of Brian Frattaroli of Newfield, N.J. and Fareed Miran of Aldie, Calif., at 6.8 seconds.
SADDLE BRONC riders improved over their round one performance in round two, with six of the seven riders putting points in the books. Chad Alesky of Monroeton, Pa., got his finals started in a big way, winning round two with an 80.0 point ride. A.J. Williams of New Providence, Pa. and Clovis Crane split second and third in the round, each with 70 points. That score gave Williams the lead in the average, following his 65-pointer in round one.
Fourth in round two was Dennis Rossignol of Woodbine, Md., riding for 69 points. Rounding out the round were David Rubel of Grantville, Pa. with 67 points and Shane Mortenson of Catlett, Va., with 58 points. Matt Bartsch of Warwick, Md. went scoreless, missing his mark-out.
TIE DOWN ROPING was split between the ropers and calves in round two. Winning the round was Chris Brennan of Ashburnham, Mass., at 10.1 seconds. J.R. Myers of Felton, Pa. followed in second with 10.6 seconds, as well as grabbing the early lead in the average. Third place was grabbed by Cory Clement of Pedricktown, N.J. at 11.9 seconds, followed by Tim Naylor of Hancock, Md. with 12.9 seconds.
The ladies took over the arena for the BARREL RACING. Nickie Stoltzfus of McClure, Pa. led the way with the only time under the 15-second mark, at 14.98 seconds, a strong time following up her third place finish in round one. Second place went to Kristen Weber of Chadds Ford, Pa. at 15.06 seconds. Third was Irene Feaser of Newburg, Pa. at 15.23 seconds. Keeping it in the family, Joyce Stoltzfus landed in the top four with her daughter-in-law Nickie for the second night in a row, as Joyce Stoltzfus’ 15.24 time gave her fourth place for the second night in a row.
Closing out the night, it all came down to the BULL RIDING. The night went to the bulls, as only three riders put up scores in round two. Leading the way was J.R. DeMarsh Jr., of Lake Luzerne, N.Y., whose 77-pointer in the round was a great follow-up to his 80 point win (split) the night prior.
Jason Power, of Franklinville, N.J., who won the Cowtown Rodeo season, took second in the round with 73 points. After his win in bareback riding, Terry Lee Owens kept the momentum going, taking finishing third in the round with 68 points on a fast spinning bull that had little or no buck. Owens got a reride option, but chose to keep the score and guaranteed payday.
Cody Christopher of Statesville, N.C. took a trouncing from his bull after bucking off early, and knocked out of competition with a broken collarbone.
ROUND THREE
In Saturday’s round three, the BAREBACK riders got the night off to a strong start in front of a sold-out crowd in the Farm Show Arena. The round went to Terry Lee Owens, Jr., with 78 points. He was followed by the round one winner, Clint Burton, with 76 points.
The bareback event was the only one that Clovis Crane didn’t know was his for the year-end title, but his split of 3rd and 4th place, at 74 points, clinched the year title for him. Matching him on the scoreboard was Logan Willemsma. Ken Feidler Jr. scored 73 points, followed by Luis Escudero with 68 points on a bronc that hopped, rather than bucked, its way down the arena, with Bob Cross posting 65 points.
Terry Lee Owens, Jr. took the buckle for the Finals Average, and Clovis Crane squeaked by him, adding the bareback year-end buckle to his collection.
In STEER WRESTLING, if it took five seconds to throw your steer, you left round three without a paycheck, in the fastest round of the finals. The blistering pace was set by Kirk Trumpower at 4.0 seconds flat. Right behind him was Jimmy Van of Equinunk, Pa., at 4.5 seconds, followed by Joe Bell Sr. of Greensboro, Md., at 4.7 seconds, splitting third and fourth place with Greg Bennett of Lake Luzerne, N.Y.
Kirk Trumpower ended the season, not only winning the night’s round but winning both the Finals Average and the Year-End title.
It was a tough night for TEAM ROPING, but those who did put up qualified times had great runs.
First place in the round went to JR Myers of Felton, Pa. and David Ballantyne of Elverson, Pa., with a time of 5.3 seconds, the fastest time of the entire weekend.
A half-second behind them was the night’s second-place team and round-one winners, Darren Morgan of Ft. Edward, N.Y. and Mike Charles of Auburn, Pa., at 5.8 seconds. Third place went to Cody Warner and Fred Brunelle, with a 6.6 second time, followed by Carmen Nastri of Ballston Spa, N.Y. and Shawn Quinn of Schuylerville, N.Y at 7.1 seconds.
Top header for the year was Darren Morgan. Top heeler honors for the year went to Joe Williams. For the Finals Average, top header was Cody Warner and top heeler was Fred Brunnele.
The year-end SADDLE BRONC title was already sewn up by Clovis Crane, but there was still round three to get through, both for the Finals Average and go-round money. Only two scores went up in round three, with Chad Alesky of Monroeville, Pa. His 73 point score was also enough for him to tie up the win in the Finals event average for the second year in a row. The other qualified score was posted by Dennis Rossignol of Woodbine, Md. with 68 points.
The 10-second mark was the time it took to win round three in TIE DOWN ROPING. Charles Goerlach of Ballston Spa, N.Y. put up a 10.0 second time for first place in the round. He was followed by JR Myers in second, who finished his run in 10.7 seconds. Third was multi-event qualifier Darren Morgan at 11.1 seconds, and another double-eventer Chuck Smith took fourth with an 11.4 point time.
JR Myers won both the tie down roping event average and year-end title.
In round two, only one time came in under the 15-second mark in the BARREL RACING, but in round three, if your time wasn’t under 15-seconds, you left without a check.
Jayme Edwards of Felton, Pa. took the round in 14.67 seconds. Second place went to round-two winner, Nickie Stoltzfus, at the 14.79 mark. Third in the round was Jennifer Romriell at 14.84 seconds, and the top four was rounded out by Kristen Weber at 14.98 seconds.
The round was an emotional one for Shannon-Lin Kampmeier of Woodbury, N.J., who competed on her horse, Easy, finishing in a time of 15.30. Kampmeier, who has made multiple trips to the Circuit Finals, is retiring her horse after 14 years of competing together.
The barrel racing finals average went to Nickie Stoltzfus, while Jennifer Romriell won her third year-end barrel racing title.
In the final event of the circuit finals, BULL RIDING, like saddle bronc, the year end title was already won by Clovis Crane, but everyone was riding hard for the finals average and round money. With Cody Christopher knocked out of competition by a broken collarbone in round two, that left 11 taking on the pen of buckers.
In the end, only two conquered the beasts. Already having the year average tied up, Clovis Crane took the last round with a 72 point ride. The only other score going on the board was Frank Laughlin of Belleplain, N.J., with 68 points.
The bull riding event average win went to J.R. DeMarsh Jr., of Lake Luzerne, N.Y., who split first in round one and won round two.
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