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An Update on the Wrangler Pro Rodeo
Tour
1. ‘Grand’ entry: San Francisco makes Wrangler
Tour debut
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The 2007 Wrangler
ProRodeo Tour heads to new territory when the
Grand National Rodeo Horse and Stock Show in San
Francisco plays host to the eighth stop of the
21-venue Tour. The eight-performance rodeo
starts April 6-7 at the Cow Palace in nearby
Daly City, then resumes April 9 and finishes
with the final three shows from April 12-14.
In 2006, the Grand National changed six decades
of tradition by moving its rodeo from November
to the spring season. The event had been one of
the final PRCA rodeos of the season, often the
last chance for cowboys and cowgirls to earn
money for qualification to the Wrangler National
Finals Rodeo. After years of trying to compete
with the Oakland A’s, San Francisco 49ers,
Halloween and other assorted oddities in the
late fall, officials with the Grand National
Rodeo in 2005 decided to stop battling the
calendar.
The rodeo took a year off in 2005 to accommodate
the date change. After holding its last November
rodeo in 2004, the new era of spring rodeo in
the Bay Area started on April 7, 2006.
Day-to-day attendance for the rodeo was up from
the 2004 event, and contestant entries increased
by nearly 250 compared to the late-fall rodeo of
2004. The timing of other lucrative rodeo in
California, such as Red Bluff, Oakdale and
Clovis, just to name a few, doesn’t hurt,
either.
For the next two weekends in San Francisco,
cowboys and cowgirls will not only compete for
part of a purse that exceeded $230,000 in 2006,
but earnings that apply toward the Wrangler
ProRodeo Tour and inclusion into the newly
formed playoff system later this summer. This
year’s Wrangler Tour consists of 21 rodeos
through August. Contestants can choose 15 out of
the 21 rodeos to count toward their official
Tour Rodeo count.
At the conclusion of the 21st rodeo, the top 35
contestants in total Tour money and the “wild
card,” event champions from the Dodge National
Circuit Finals Rodeo, will move on to the first
Tour Championship event Aug. 14-18 in Caldwell,
Idaho. From there, the field will be trimmed to
a single champion after the three subsequent
playoff events in Puyallup, Wash.; Omaha, Neb.;
and Dallas. Fox Sports Network and CBS are
scheduled to televise the Championship events.
Last year, California team roper Lance Brooks of
Hanford was the only cowboy from the Golden
State to celebrate an average title in front of
his home-state fans. He joined forces with Jett
Hillman of Jones, Okla., to claim the crown.
Other Grand National Rodeo champions from 2006
were bareback rider and 2002 world champion
Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore.; steer wrestler Joey
Bell Jr. of Malakoff, Texas; saddle bronc rider
Matt Hebbert of Hyannis, Neb.; tie-down roper
Blair Burk of Durant, Okla., bull rider Dave
Samsel of Haslet, Texas; and barrel racer Denise
Adams of Lufkin, Texas.
The Tour Standings leaders...
WRANGLER PRORODEO TOUR
BB: Will Lowe $24,894
SW: Shawn Greenfield $24,476
TR (head): Coleman Proctor $16,375
TR (heel): Jake Long $16,375
SB: Anthony Bello $28,673
TD: Jake Hannum $27,038
LBR: Brittany Pozzi-Pharr $28,983
BR: Richard Echols $27,681 |
