In mid-June, Jess Pope had nearly doubled up the field in the Bareback World Standings, but as things stand today, he is just $2,000 ahead of both Cole Reiner and Tim O’Connell. Here is a look at the current top 20 in the PRCA World Standings and how they have been performing over the last few weeks.
1. Jess Pope, $127,646
Jess Pope’s time at the top of the standings may be drawing to a close as both Cole Reiner and Tim O’Connell have made up nearly every dollar they trailed. Pope had a solid showing at the Dodge City Roundup where he placed second in the finals after an 87.5-point ride. He also took Iowa’s Championship Rodeo earlier this week.
2. Cole Reiner, $125,929
Reiner had a big month of July highlighted by a win at the Cody Stampede. He has had a strong start to the month of August as well with a second-place finish in Deadwood and a win at the Mountain Valley Stampede where he went 88 points.
3. Tim O’Connell, $125,216
O’Connell made a massive jump in the standings thanks to a win at the Cheyenne Frontier Days where he went 88.5 points in the final round. In total, O’Connel earned over $13,000. He would follow that up with a second-place finish in Deadwood and a win in Dodge City thanks to an 87-point ride.
4. Rocker Steiner, $115,908
Who knows how high Steiner would be in the world standings had he been healthy all season, but even after missing significant time, Steiner still sits inside the top five thanks to some big wins. Over the last few weeks, Steiner has placed second in Deadwood with an 85-point ride, won the Last Chance Stampede after a 92-point ride, and placed second in Mitchell, Nebraska.
5. R.C. Landingham, $110,175
Landingham is coming off one of his better years after finishing 11th in the PRCA World Standings. This season he is looking to best that mark. He is currently fifth in the world and is in the midst of a nice stretch of riding. He placed second at the Cheyenne Frontier Days and followed that up with two fourth-place finishes in a row.
6. Kaycee Feild, $103,471
The two-time defending World Champion once again finds himself in a great spot heading into the end of the season. Feild has been riding great all season and that continued to start August. He placed second in the opening round of the Dodge City Roundup with an 86.5-point ride, placed third at the Mountain Valley Stampede, and won the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo all in the first week of the month.
7. Caleb Bennett, $102,889
Bennett ended July with a bang after a win at the Central Montana PRCA Rodeo and a second-place finish at the Last Chance Stampede. He did the same to start August with a win at the Northeast Montana Fair and Rodeo where he went 85 points.
8. Tanner Aus, $102,874
Aus had a nice showing in Cheyenne where he placed third in the final round with an 86.5-point ride. To begin August he placed second at the Lea County PRCA Rodeo after an 87-point ride. Those two rides alone won Aus over $7,000.
9. Garrett Shadbolt, $100,758
Garrett Shadbolt has been on an absolute tear since the beginning of the Cheyenne Frontier Days. In Cheyenne, he won the most of any Bareback rider after placing third in the opening round, first in the Semifinals, and third in the Finals. In total, Shadbolt won over $18,000 at the rodeo. Since the end of Cheyenne, Shadbolt has three wins, a third-place finish, and a second-place finish.
10. Clayton Biglow, $97,910
Biglow hasn’t ridden since late July at the California Rodeo Salinas.
11. Cole Franks, $94,562
Franks had a solid end of July where he earned over $4,000 in Cheyenne and followed that up with back-to-back wins at Nebraska’s Big rodeo and the Deadwood Days of ’76 Rodeo where he went 90 points and 88 points respectively.
12. Leighton Berry, $87,857
After not riding most of July, Berry has gotten back into things nicely to start August. Berry won the Big Sky Pro Rodeo and placed second at the Richland County Fair and Rodeo to earn over $5,000 total.
13. Chad Rutherford, $79,174
Rutherford opened August with a second-place finish at Iowa’s Championship Rodeo where he went 82 points and earned just under $2,000. He traveled south to New Mexico where he won the Lea County PRCA Rodeo and earned nearly $5,000 thanks to his 88-point ride on Redzilla. The following day Rutherford was in Dalhart, Texas where he finished number two at the XIT Rodeo and Reunion.
14. Orin Larsen, $74,973
Orin Larsen is going to be battling for a spot at the 2022 NFR the rest of the way. With under two months left in the season, he needs more big wins like his one at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo last weekend to make sure he secures his spot. Larsen went 89 points on Cowtown to win over $3,000.
15. Ty Breuer, $71,180
Breuer’s last tree rodes have all resulted in checks of over $1,000. The first came at the Eagle County Fair and Rodeo where he placed second after an 85.5-point ride and earned $2,205. He followed that up with another second-place finish at the Northeast Montana Fair and Rodeo to earn an additional $1,200. In his most recent ride, he earned just over $1,000 thanks to a fourth-place finish at the Richland County Fair and Rodeo.
16. Tilden Hooper, $67,563
Hooper is in unfamiliar territory in 16th place. Since 2018 his worst finish is eleventh in the world. For the final stretch of the 2022 season, he will be living life on the bubble, looking to make his ninth career NFR. Hooper’s most recent big payday came at the Aulick Industries Champions Challenge where he took first place after an 87-point ride and earned $3,497.
17. Wyatt Denny, $64,926
Denny placed second in the first round at the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo to earn over $1,500 in early August.
18. Mason Clements, $60,507
Clements is coming off of one of his better showings at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo where he got the win thanks to an 89-point ride on Painted Playgirl.
19. Bill Tutor, $54,513
Tutor placed fourth at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo over the weekend with an 86-point ride.
20. Jayco Roper, $50,012
Roper won the Eagle County Fair and Rodeo to end a rough month of July. The win earned him just under $3,000.