Texas cowboys Billy Bob Brown and Kirby Blankenship will go down in Cheyenne Frontier Days history as they claimed the 2023 team roping title.
Brown backed into the box on the heading side with a long awaited championship title in mind. Blankenship followed his partner’s lead as they stopped the clock at 8.0 seconds flat to secure the No. 1 spot in the Short Go.
“Thank you Jesus. I don’t know what else to say, my family’s here, Kirby’s been doing a great job. We decided pretty late to come out here, we’ve been at home for four years and wow, thank you Jesus,” Brown said.
After the duo successfully completed their run, half of the field remained as Brown and Blankenship patiently waited while each team took their shot at the coveted title.
“You just have to stay strong, stay after it, do your job and everything’s gonna come,” Blankenship said.
Brown and Blankenship advanced out of Semifinal 1 in the sixth and final slot with a 9.8-second run, but paid it off in the Finals, where each cowboy secured a check for $9,200 bringing their total earnings in Cheyenne to $10,600.
Reigning World Champions Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira were two tenths off the pace to take second.