BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
With the end of the ProRodeo regular season less than 60 days away, the importance of each ride and run has never been higher.
At this point, those not near top of the PRCA World Standings are running out of time to make moves. Last year, more than 90 percent of the athletes ranked in the Top 10 on Aug. 1 went on to make it to Las Vegas. The races for No. 1 and No. 15 are officially in full swing.
- Saddle bronc rider Brody Cress wins multiple rodeos as part of $23,000+ weekend. Looking for his eighth straight NFR appearance, Cress had his best weekend of the summer by winning the Home On the Range Champions Ride (North Dakota) and the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo (Kansas). Throw in a third place finish at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo (Colorado), and Cress was 5-for-5 with all five rides marked 86 or more for the weekend. Cress is now firmly in the Top 10 at No. 8 with $124,937.
- Steer wrestler Will Lummus cruises to comfortable win in Dodge City. Lummus put times of 4.4, 3.8 and 3.8 seconds on the board to win the rodeo by 1.3 seconds and move up to No. 4 in the World. Since July 1, Lummus has nine times of 4.2 or faster.
- Saddle bronc rider Statler Wright grabs two wins of his own as part of scoring hot last two weeks. From July 1-23, Wright had made just two checks of $1,000 or more. In his last seven rides since July 24, he has made more than $1,000 on all of them. This past weekend alone, Wright placed at three more rodeos on top of wins at War Bonnet Round Up (Idaho) and Mountain Valley Stampede (Utah) that paid $3,235 and $6,571 respectively.
- Bareback rider Rocker Steiner placed at four rodeos, wins two to ascend to No. 2 in the PRCA World Standings. Those two wins came at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo and Mountain Valley Stampede and both paid exactly $6,698. Those wins were well earned for Steiner as he did so with 90 and 89.5 points respectively. Overall, he cleared $23,000 on the weekend.
- Barrel racer Paige Jones wins Finals and Average in Dodge City to strengthen NFR chances. Jones was the No. 15 ranked barrel racer entering the weekend, but has plenty more breathing room after making more than $8,000 at the weekend’s highest paying rodeo.
- Reigning tie-down roping World Champion Riley Webb gets closer and closer to No. 1 in the World following two-win weekend. The relentless pursuit of Shad Mayfield from all directions continued over the weekend, this time from Webb, who as the champion of Dodge City as well as Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo. In the last two weeks, Webb has added $30,000 to his season earnings and is now No. 3 in the World, just $45,000 behind Mayfield.
- Saddle bronc rider Kolby Wanchuk makes season-best ride to win Douglas County Fair and Rodeo. Wanchuk’s was 91 points on Cat Walk of Summit Pro Rodeo to win $6,232 as part of a weekend where he won more than $15,000. He is No. 12 in the World after being No. 16 just two weeks ago.
- No current No. 1 has a lead of more than $35,000 in the standings. A year ago, four athletes entered the NFR with leads of over $75,000. Things are even tighter than they were last year, it could be as wide open of a National Finals as we’ve seen in years.
