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1/23/2007

Xtreme Bulls Tour Gets Underway, Lanham ready to defend title...

Courtesy of the PRCA...

Dodge Xtreme Bulls begins new season in Rapid City
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For some PRCA bull riders, Xtreme Bulls can be a ticket to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. That certainly was the case for 2006 Xtreme Bulls National Champion Zeb Lanham, who picked up $51,123 of his $99,250 pre-NFR earnings at Xtreme Bulls events last year.
Lanham, of Sweet, Idaho, followed in the footsteps of Matt Austin in 2005, B.J. Schumacher in 2004 and Mike Moore in 2003 as Xtreme Bulls National Champions, and it’s no small wonder that two of those cowboys – Schumacher and Austin – have won the last two bull riding world titles, respectively.
The 2007 Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour presented by B&W Trailer Hitches begins this weekend in Rapid City, S.D., at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, kicking off a 10-stop season that culminates in Indianapolis on Oct. 26. Forty of the PRCA’s most talented bull riders will square off against some of the PRCA’s rankest bulls and a share of a $40,000 purse, starting with the first round on Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. MT. The top 12 riders return for the final round on Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
If last year’s action was any indication, this season’s tilt should be even more exciting.
The 2006 campaign was a banner year for Dodge Xtreme Bulls. Television ratings were up 13 percent over 2005’s numbers, and Dodge Xtreme Bulls was shown on Thanksgiving Day for the first time ever. Winnercomm President and CEO Jim Wilburn said that three-hour programming block, which aired on ESPN2, will once again appear on the network on Thanksgiving Day this year.
In addition, Dodge Xtreme Bulls was carried on ESPN Classic for seven consecutive hours in November, and the property began a partnership with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) in an effort to enhance awareness of the FFA’s education and career programs.
J.W. Harris broke the Dodge Xtreme Bulls record with a 96-point ride on Flying U Rodeo’s Werewolf on his way to the title in Reno, Nev., on June 15, and JayC Bean and Jarrod Craig became just the third and fourth bull riders to win two Dodge Xtreme Bulls events in the same year. Bean, of Goldendale, Wash., won at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., in July and in Kissimmee, Fla., in October, while Craig, of Hillsboro, Texas, won in Ellensburg, Wash., in September and in Indianapolis in October.
Lanham praised the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Tour, which is licensed and marketed by Winnercomm of Tulsa, Okla., at the 2006 Wrangler NFR.
“They make us feel like professionals, and it’s what every cowboy dreams of,” Lanham said of the Tour. “To get to travel around and get on the best bulls for lots of money is great.”