9-5-06 News Release

Ronnie Fields from Oklahoma took a big step toward a trip to the Wrangler Pro Rodeo Summer Tour Finale when he won the second round, the Tour Round, and the steer wrestling average at the 84th Ellensburg Rodeo on Labor Day weekend.

Fields was the rodeo’s biggest single event money winner, taking home more that $6,800.
Fields won the steer wrestling event at the Winter Tour Finale last May in his home state of Oklahoma, but he had been quiet at the Tour Rodeos prior to Ellensburg. He arrived in Kitsap County with only 14.5 Tour Points, but left with 42.5. He left Ellensburg third in the PRCA’s Steer Wrestling World Standings.

Jason Lahr from Kansas moved up to 16th and within $450 of the top 15 when he finished second in the Tour Round. Oregonian Shawn Greenfield from Lakeview was second in the average and moved up to sixth in the world. Greenfield has won more than $59,000.

Ellensburg was the ninth stop on the Wrangler Pro Rodeo Summer Tour, and provided another venue for the PRCA’s All-Around leader Trevor Brazile from Texas to strut his stuff.
Brazile won the all-around with earnings of more than $5,600 in three different events, and he won both the average and the Tour Round in the tie-down roping.

“Today I came back far enough down in the pack, I was fifth, so I knew I had to do something,” said Brazile, who was riding his standout horse Texaco. “I had a calf I had to be pretty aggressive on and I didn’t need to play it safe at all. He wasn’t one of the slower ones. It let me try the barrier pretty good and let everything happen pretty snappy and made it a lot of fun.”

Brazile roped his Tour Round calf in 7.7 seconds, edging PRCA rookie Cody James who placed second with a 7.8. Hermiston, Oregon’s Brad Goodrich was second in the average. Goodrich is not in the PRCA’s top 20 in the tie down roping, but is third in the Tour Standings as he tries to qualify for his seventh Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Most of Ellensburg’s event champions swept both the Tour Round titles and the average in their events.

Bull rider J.W. Harris set an arena record with a 95-point ride on Big Bend Rodeo’s Fire Bird to not only win the Tour Round but the two-head average title with 176 points. He won more than $6,500. Jess Davis from Utah won the average and the Tour Round in the bareback riding, Brandie Halls from Wyoming pulled off the same feat in the barrel racing.

The bronc riding average went to Cody Wright from Utah, who is now fifth in the World Standings. The Tour Round belonged to Bryce Miller from South Dakota. Team ropers Shane Schwenke from Montana and Jhett Johnson from Wyoming won the team roping Tour Round, the average went to the Texas/Canada team of Joe Beaver and Marty Becker.


The next stop on the Summer Tour is in Puyallup, Washington Friday through Sunday. The Tour will then visit the Pendleton Round-Up and the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque before the Finale in Omaha September 28-30. Puyallup is expected to pay out more than $220,000 this weekend.

The Columbia River Circuit also has big rodeos this weekend in Lewiston, Idaho and Spokane, Washington.

The leaders in the PRCA’s World Standings this week…

ALL-AROUND COWBOY
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas $226,488
*2. Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, Ga. 103,802
3. Clint Robinson, Spanish Fork, Utah 101,912
4. Cash Myers, Athens, Texas 84,887
5. Fred Whitfield, Hockley, Texas 81,993


BAREBACK RIDING
*1. Will Lowe, Canyon, Texas (69) $102,327
2. Andy Martinez, Pavillion, Wyo. (52) 95,671
3. Wes Stevenson, Kaufman, Texas (63) 69,942
4. Paul Jones, Elko, Nev. (72) 69,357
5. Jess Davis, Payson, Utah (75) 65,891


STEER WRESTLING
1. Dean Gorsuch, Gering, Neb. (47) $88,567
2. Luke Branquinho, Los Alamos, Calif. (54) 76,308
3. Ronnie Fields, Oklahoma City, Okla. (50) 72,719
*4. Lee Graves, Calgary, Alberta (48) 68,039
5. K.C. Jones, Decatur, Texas (57) 60,905


TEAM ROPING (HEADING)
1. Travis Tryan, Billings, Mont. (47) $73,236
2. Matt Sherwood, Malad City, Idaho (47) 71,545
3. David Key, Caldwell, Texas (47) 66,660
*4. Clay Tryan, Billings, Mont. (44) 60,005
5. Jay Adams, Logandale, Nev. (51) 54,945


TEAM ROPING (HEELING)
1. Walt Woodard, Stockton, Calif. (45) $72,351
2. Kory Koontz, Sudan, Texas (45) 66,157
3. Allen Bach, Weatherford, Texas (50) 62,537
*4. Patrick Smith, Midland, Texas (44) 60,005
5. Randon Adams, Logandale, Nev. (51) 54,945


SADDLE BRONC RIDING
1. Cody DeMoss, Heflin, La. (62) $122,207
2. Dan Mortensen, Billings, Mont. (69) 121,917
3. Chad Ferley, Oelrichs, S.D. (65) 90,608
4. Rusty Allen, Lehi, Utah (61) 87,187
5. Cody Wright, Milford, Utah (67) 82,687


TIE-DOWN ROPING
1. Cody Ohl, Hico, Texas (43) $119,517
2. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas (55) 118,060
3. Blair Burk, Durant, Okla. (63) 80,902
*4. Fred Whitfield, Hockley, Texas (54) 76,708
5. Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, Ga. (55) 73,475


BARREL RACING
1. Brittany Pozzi, Victoria, Texas $110,809
2. Mary Burger, Pauls Valley, Okla. 91,825
3. Kelly Maben, Spur, Texas 66,377
4. Lindsay Sears, Nanton, Alberta 62,845
5. Layna Kight, Summerfield, Fla. 60,961


BULL RIDING
*1. Matt Austin, Wills Point, Texas (72) $130,998
2. Sonny Murphy, Herriman, Utah (73) 101,749
3. Wesley Silcox, Payson, Utah (60) 97,954
4. Zeb Lanham, Sweet, Idaho (65) 81,644
5. Dustin Elliott, North Platte, Neb. (61) 78,129


Discussion continues regarding the decision by the Board of Directors of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association to create it’s own barrel racing subsidiary, known as the Professional Women’s Barrel Racing Association…

The PRCA issued this Press Release on September 5, 2006…

PRCA set to bring women’s barrel racing under PRCA umbrella in 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS , Colo. – The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the oldest and largest rodeo sanctioning body in the world, will add another chapter in its illustrious history this November when women barrel racers become full card-carrying members of the PRCA subsidiary Professional Women’s Barrel Racing (PWBR).

The PRCA Board of Directors voted Aug. 16 to form PWBR, which will be featured in the 2007 rodeo season. The 2007 season starts Nov. 13, 2006.

The formation of Professional Women’s Barrel Racing is aimed at streamlining the approval process for PRCA rodeo committees, and improving efficiency for contestants across the board.

The decision was not made lightly, and occurred only after an extended effort to reach a compromise with the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), the current governing body for women’s barrel racing at PRCA-sanctioned events. Two years ago, the PRCA Board of Directors began looking at the financial numbers by events and realized that WPRA members were reaping many of the same benefits as PRCA members without assuming equal financial responsibility for those benefits.

An analysis was done in the early part of 2005, using 2004 numbers (as 2004 was the closest completed year when discussion began on this issue), that showed the PRCA paid out more than $964,000 to WPRA members at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the three ProRodeo Tour Finales, 12 circuit finals, the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, which also included a brand new Dodge truck to the winner, and various sponsorship programs, while their members contributed a little more than $480,000. The analysis also showed that WPRA members had the opportunity to run at over $3 million at PRCA-sanctioned events in 2004. The numbers were brought to the Board of Directors’ attention at both organizations in an attempt to work together to resolve this issue.

In 2005, the PRCA Board agreed to a one-year deal, in which WPRA members would be charged an additional $2 each time they entered a rodeo through PRCA’s Central Entry System, PROCOM. Both boards agreed to continue to work on a fair compromise to resolve the large deficit.

Members of the PRCA Board of Directors and PRCA Commissioner Troy Ellerman met with WPRA President Jymmy Kay Davis three times since that decision in an attempt to resolve the issue and asked for a proposal from the WPRA to be taken to the PRCA Board for consideration. To date, the PRCA has not received a valid proposal, so at the Aug. 16 meeting the PRCA Board was forced to take action as the 2007 rodeo season draws near.

“After repeated attempts to resolve this issue, our Board was given no choice,” Ellerman said. “We feel that this is a step in the right direction for the PRCA and women barrel racers everywhere to be treated equally and fairly across the board within the rodeo industry. I know of at least three occasions in the past when the WPRA Board of Directors asked the PRCA Board to allow them to become members, and each time the Board did not feel the timing was right. I commend our Board in taking this step for continued equality for all contestants.”

Therefore in 2007, only Professional Women’s Barrel Racing events will count toward PRCA world standings and Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification, as well as all other PRCA championship competitions. Only women will be allowed to have a card in the new PWBR subsidiary, which will be run by a separate seven-member board that will interact with the PRCA Board of Directors. Membership dues will mirror those of current PRCA members, which includes fees for insurance.

Pam Minick, who served as WPRA vice president from 1978-1992, feels this is a step in the right direction for the rodeo industry.

“Jimmie Munroe and I had discussions with Commissioner Cryer 16 years ago about it being part of the PRCA because there were several things that made sense about it,” Minick said. “At the time, it wasn’t a good time for it to happen because team roping wasn’t even an equal event at that time. Now that team roping is a standard event this is the time for it to happen. With most other rodeo associations, barrel racing is a standard event, and the only place it was separate was at the professional level. I think, at this point, the PRCA is acknowledging that it’s an important event, and that should be a compliment to the WPRA.”

Carolynn Vietor, who served as the WPRA president from 1996-2002, feels this move was a long time coming.

“I have discussed this at length with the two Commissioners that I served under, and I felt that it was inevitable and knew it was coming,” Vietor said. “In the years past, there were some issues that were not thoroughly addressed, or I think it would have happened before now. I think we owe the PRCA everything and have always felt that way. It’s their rodeo and their arena, and we’ve been allowed to compete there. I think we’ve provided a wonderful event and I hope it can continue at the same level of popularity and professionalism under the PRCA.”

Patti Roberts, who served two years prior to Davis taking over in 2004, believes this is the best decision for the business of barrel racing.

“I’ve tried to look at it from a business sense because I think that, for the women who are making a living at it, it is a business,” Roberts said. “In the business world, there are mergers and all kinds of business practices that occur to make things better, and my view from a business standpoint is to support the event and support the opportunities that women will have to make the event the best it can be.

“It’s not a new idea. Before I was president when I was on the Board, Carolynn Vietor had conversations regarding the same thing with Commissioner Cryer. Back in the 1970s, the WPRA actually came to the PRCA and presented a case to be joined together, and the timing wasn’t right. Obviously, the PRCA Board felt the timing was right and that this is the best direction for the sport to go.”


You can also log on to the WPRA’s website, wpra.com, features several new statements regarding this issue as well, including a letter to it’s members by President Jymmy Kay Davis.