|
|
If you would like to receive Steve
Kenyon's Rodeo Profiles weekly Newsletter delivered straight
to your inbox,
click here.
2/13/2007
"San Antonio Heading Toward the Finish Line"
Story - Courtesy of the PRCA
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For the seventh time
in eight years, the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour makes
a visit to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.
This week, the sport’s top cowboys and cowgirls
are completing their quests for San Antonio
glory and earnings that will determine spots in
this summer’s highly anticipated playoff system
that commences after the 21-stop Tour.
Last year, those who experienced success in the
Tour round had good odds of walking away with
the lucrative average titles. In 2006, steer
wrestler Ronnie Fields of Oklahoma City; team
ropers Matt Sherwood of Queen Creek, Ariz./Walt
Woodard of Stockton, Calif.; saddle bronc rider
Rusty Allen of Lehi, Utah; tie-down roper Matt
Shiozawa of Chubbuck, Idaho; and bull rider Wes
Silcox of Payson, Utah, enjoyed a super Sunday
as they claimed both Tour-round and average
titles.
This year, the stakes are even higher for this
already lucrative rodeo after the overall purse
was raised to an all-time high of more than $1
million, the season’s first event to hit that
plateau.
Prior to the Wrangler Tour round, scheduled for
7:30 p.m. CT in the AT&T Center, ProRodeo’s top
40 bull riders will take the limelight for the
season’s third stop on the Dodge Xtreme Bulls
Tour, presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.
Competition is slated for 1 p.m.
On Feb. 1, reigning world champion bull rider
B.J. Schumacher started defense of his title by
winning the first San Antonio Xtreme Bulls
Tour-stop title, riding two bulls for 180 points
and checks worth a staggering $22,052.
Xtreme Bulls, the PRCA‘s world championship bull
riding tour, made its San Antonio debut in 2003.
Near-capacity crowds of 15,000 have taken in the
action in recent years, watching Jarrod Ford of
Greeley, Colo., and Matt Austin of Wills Point,
Texas, the 2005 world bull riding champion, win
Tour-stop titles there in 2006.
In San Antonio, each rider competes for part of
the $75,000 purse and placement in the Xtreme
Bulls rankings.
In Xtreme Bulls, every contestant competes in
the semifinal round, with the top 15 performers
advancing to the final round. The winner of the
two-head average wins that stop’s title. Dodge
Xtreme Bulls Tour earnings count toward the
world standings, which determines qualifiers for
the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Dec. 6-15 in
Las Vegas.
The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo follows the
Wrangler Tour’s first three stops in Odessa,
Texas; Denver; and Rapid City, S.D. The Tour
resumes Feb. 15 at the San Angelo (Texas) Stock
Show and Rodeo and continues Feb. 17 with the
beginning of La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in
Tucson, Ariz. |
|
