HARRISBURG, Pa. – The PRCA First Frontier Circuit Finals wrapped up in the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg on Saturday, Jan. 13. The final round helped determine who would be heading to Pocatello for the national finals, as well as determining the winner for the finals themselves. Some results strengthened leads on the season while others saw the leader board on the season change in the last round.
In steer wrestling, only four of the 12 qualifiers managed to post times in all three rounds. Kirk Trumpower (Clear Spring, Md.) had the fastest time of round 3 with a 4.2 second time. That, combined with his two earlier rounds, also made Trumpower the winner of the Finals, sending him to Pocatello.
Heading to Pocatello with him will be Greg Bennett (Lake Luzerne, NY), who put up a 4.9 second time in round 3 and a total of 15.9 seconds on three head. Bennett took the year-end title.
In bareback bronc riding, Luis Escudero (El Paso, Tx) had his hands full of buckles following round three, as he made a clean sweep. Posting a finals-high score of 81 points in round three, Escudero won all three rounds, the finals average and the year end title. The third round score came at a price, however, as Escudero took a few extra laps around the arena after he hung up on Cowtown Rodeo’s Casper. It took the pick up men, and a herd of cowboys jumping down from the chutes, to corral Casper and get Escudero’s hand free, but he managed to walk away from the wreck under his own power.
Qualifying for Pocatello in alongside Escudero in bareback is Jason Martin (Pittsgrove, NJ). Martin had led the year end standings heading into the circuit finals, and posted qualified rides in each round but Escudero’s scores were enough to overtake him.
In team roping, the teams heading to Pocatello are the teams of: Carmine Nastri (header, Ballston Spa, NY) and Shawn Quinn (heeler, Schuylerville, NY); and Darren Morgan (header, Fort Edward, NY) and Mike Charles (heeler, Auburn, Pa.).
Nastri and Quinn captured the finals average and year end title. Heading into the finals, they were already leading the standings and fast times in all three rounds (7.2 sec. in round 3) cemented their position. Morgan and Charles won round three with a time of 6.2 seconds, and finished second in the standings.
In saddle bronc, it was all about Tim Sloan (Whitehall, MT), as he took both the year end and finals average buckles. Sloan put up three impressive scores, winning round one and leapfrogged to the number one spot. He entered the finals third in the overall standings.
Also heading to the finals in Pocatello will be Dennis Rossignol (Catonsville, Md.), who also put up scores in all three rounds.
Saddle bronc rider David Rubel (Grantsville, Pa.) was named “Rookie of the Year” for the First Frontier Circuit. Rubel, entering the finals in second place in saddle bronc, won round two, but failed to make a qualified ride in round three.
At the opening of the finals, saddle bronc rider Bill Lewis (Elizabeth, Co.) was first in the year end standings, but was injured in a buck-off in round one. Lewis broke his neck in the wreck, and had surgery later that weekend to fuse the C-3 and C-4 vertebrae.
In tie-down roping, Saturday’s round three proved a rough night for the cowboys, with only four qualified times standing. Chris Brennan (Ashburnham, Mass.) won round three with an 8.6 second time, followed by J.R. Myers Jr. (Felton, Pa.) at 9. 5 seconds. Third in the round was Zach Kilgus (Mt. Morris, Pa.) with 11.1 secs. And fourth was Troy Reynolds (Hudson Falls, NY) at 12.1 seconds.
Myers entered the finals leading the year-end average and managed to hold onto his lead and earning a spot in Pocatello. Kilgus also posted solid times in all three rounds, won the finals average.
The bulls definitely beat the cowboys in the finals, with only six of the 12 riders making a qualified ride over the weekend and only one, Will O’Connell (Zwingle, Ia.) putting up a pair of scores. O’Connell’s 63-pointer in round one and 74 in round three were enough to send him to Pocatello with the finals win. Tyler Miller (McClure, Pa.) won the year end average, holding onto the number one spot that he had at the start of the finals.
The highest bullriding score of the weekend came in round three, when Jason Power (Woodstown, NJ) earned 83 points on All American Rodeo’s “L-K Driller.”
The First Frontier Circuit’s coveted All-Around title for the year went to Darren Morgan. Zach Kilgus took the All-Around win for the finals.
