PRCA Bareback Riding Bubble Report: Sept. 1

Mason Clements

With Jamie Howlett out the rest of the year with injury, the bareback riding bubble now has six cowboys who are in position to possibly snare the 15th and final spot in the Wrangler NFR.

Right now, Howlett is No. 15 and only leads Wyatt Denny by about $200, so Denny could quickly overtake him.

Screenshot via ProRodeo.com


Denny has made $48,407, with about $8,700 of that coming in August. Denny’s 21 85-point rides are by far the most he’s ever had in his career. The 26-year-old made the NFR three straight times from 2016-2018.

Mason Clements is in 17th place and he is another cowboy with NFR experience. Clements has competed on rodeo’s biggest stage three times, including last year. In 2021, his average score of 82.7 is more than a point higher than 2020, when he finished 10th.

R.C. Landingham has recently risen in the world standings as he was outside of the Top 20 just three weeks ago. He recently placed in three straight rodeos between Aug. 25-29 and all of those checks totaled around $5,500. Landingham also won close to $6,000 at the Cheyenne Frontier Days earlier in the summer.

After qualifying for the NFR on the last day of the season in 2020, Chad Rutherford is once again going to have to fight until the very end. He’s currently 19th in the world and about $3,000 out of 15th. Rutherford has won seven rodeos this year, the most recent was at the Gooding Pro Rodeo (Idaho) on Aug. 21 with a 90-point ride on Stevie Knicks.

Both about $4,500 back of 15th, Shane O’Connell and Will Lowe both have a little bit of work to do. Lowe has spent most of the summer between 15th and 21st while O’Connell was as high as No. 9 in the PRCA World Standings in June.

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