IN THIS RELEASE YOU’LL FIND:
1. Peebles stays red hot in Fort Worth 2. Healthy again, Stall makes Rapid progress 3. Beaver fifth man to pass $3 million mark 4. News & Notes from the rodeo trail 5. Next Up 6. 2014 World Standings Leaders 7. 2014 Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings 8. 2014 PRCA Xtreme Bulls Standings |
1. Peebles stays red hot in Fort Worth FORT WORTH, Texas – Bareback riders of the PRCA be warned – Steven Peebles is officially on fire. The 24-year-old is in the best stretch of his six-year PRCA career, and he continued to roll with a big win at the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo on Feb. 8. Peebles started 2014 the same way he ended the 2013 season – riding extremely well and brimming with confidence. After winning his first Wrangler Champions Challenge, presented by Justin Boots, event in Rapid City, S.D., on Feb. 4, Peebles used his performance in Fort Worth as an encore. His 328 points on four head was enough to edge three-time and defending World Champion Kaycee Feild by four points. “This is the highest my confidence has ever been,” said Peebles, who also won Fort Worth in 2011. “It’s hard to explain in words what winning here again means. I didn’t know any of my horses when I got here, and it was a crapshoot. I got on the horses blind and didn’t worry about what they did, and rode the best I could.” Peebles won the first round, took third in the third round and split the win with Feild and Bill Tutor in the finals. In all, the Redmond, Ore., cowboy earned $10,879, and moved into first place in the Feb. 10 Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings. After suffering several major injuries the past three seasons – including a hip problem he’s still battling – Peebles is feeling close to fully healthy for the first time in a long time, and it shows. “It’s been a few years since I’ve had a full season, and it feels awesome,” he said. “I’m excited to have a full winter and spring run. I’ve been craving a gold buckle bad, and finishing second last year gives me that extra fight for this year.” Peebles finished second in the 2013 world standings, and second in the 2013 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo average race. He made $116,386 in the 10 nights in Las Vegas, and now has his sights set on overtaking Feild – the current king of bareback riding. “Kaycee has turned bareback riding into a new sport, and he’s like a machine,” said Peebles, who has made the WNFR all five years he’s been in ProRodeo. “I know that if I want to win a gold buckle, I need to perfect my craft like he has. I feed off Kaycee and I love how he rides, and I do watch him. We’re great friends, but we’re also competitors. Everybody wants a gold buckle, and it pushes us to all be better.” With the momentum of his finish last season, and winning two big rodeos in five days’ time, Peebles is ready for an encore to his breakout 2013 campaign. He’s keeping his thinking simple. “You can really get to overthinking things, and you get too much involved in the standings,” he said. “It all comes down to riding your horses the best you can. I try not to think and just have fun and ride as best I can.” Other winners at the $597,986 rodeo were steer wrestler Seth Brockman (12.6 seconds on three head), team ropers Drew Horner and Buddy Hawkins II (15.9 seconds on three head), saddle bronc rider Cody Wright (243 points on three head), tie-down roper Chant DeForest (26.6 seconds on three head), bull rider Joe Frost (234 points on three head) and barrel racer Shelly Anzick (49.87 seconds on three runs). Wright was the only repeat champion, and he barely held off his 18-year-old son, Rusty, to manage it. |
2. Healthy again, Stall makes Rapid progress RAPID CITY, S.D. – Bull rider Brett Stall knows what it takes to make it to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The Detroit Lakes, Minn., cowboy finished 12th in the world standings in 2012.Last year, however, Stall could not repeat history as he placed 25th in the world. Stall’s journey back to Las Vegas was derailed when he missed four months after having hip surgery in February. “I came back in late June and I made a run for it (the WNFR), but I didn’t make it where I wanted to be,” Stall said. Now, a healthy Stall is aiming to get back to the WNFR, and he took a small step toward reaching that goal at the Feb. 1, 6-8 Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo. Stall had a winning ride of 86 points on New Frontier Rodeo’s Big E. “It was righteous,” said Stall of his victorious ride at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. “I can’t even put this in words. I would like to take the Rapid City arena around and pack it around with me after the ride I had (on the rodeo’s opening night).” Stall came to Rapid City 38th in the world standings, but he rocketed up the standings to 13th after pocketing $4,597. Although Stall had an outstanding ride, he didn’t think his score on Big E would hold up through another four performances. “I had never been on him before, and I honestly didn’t think I would win with that score,” said Stall, 24. “It’s awesome and unreal to come back healthy and get a paycheck like this. I’m getting to ride bulls. I’m healthy, craving it and having fun.” Stall has a simple game plan to get back to the Wrangler NFR. “I’m just going to keep nodding my head and chasing my dream, doing what I love,” said Stall, who joined the PRCA in 2010 and made his lone appearance in Las Vegas in 2012. The other champions at this $194,668 rodeo were bareback rider Caleb Bennett (83 points on Sutton Rodeos’ American Graffiti), steer wrestler Dean Gorsuch (4.6 seconds), co-champion team ropers Riley Minor and Brady Minor, and Garrett Tonozzi and Dugan Kelly (4.2 seconds each), saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy (83 points on Sutton Rodeos’ Campfire), tie-down roper Trevor Brazile (7.7 seconds) and barrel racer Jessica Miller (12.65 seconds).
|
3. Beaver fifth man to pass $3 million mark COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -With his fifth-place finish in the average at the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo Feb. 9, Joe Beaver became just the fifth man in rodeo history to surpass $3 million in career earnings.Paired with team roping heeler – and godson – Reno Gonzales, Beaver tied for sixth in the finals and each man earned $3,175 for placing fifth in the average, with a time of 18.4 seconds on three head. “I had no idea I was close to $3 million, and then my good friend Chuck Doebbler called me after the rodeo and told me,” Beaver said. “I quit really competing (full time) so long ago that it was something that hadn’t crossed my mind anymore. This shouldn’t have taken so long; I was at $2.8 million about six years ago.” Beaver – who was only $1,514 short of the mark entering Fort Worth – joins the exclusive club of Trevor Brazile, Cody Ohl, Fred Whitfield and Billy Etbauer as the only men to make $3 million in PRCA history. Brazile is the only man in history to earn more than $5 million. “That’s a pretty elite group right there,” Beaver said. “That is what makes this so cool, that I join those guys. I’m pretty much done rodeoing, but I still go with Reno, and if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would’ve reached this mark.” Beaver – an eight-time world champion – made $2,191,749, and won five world titles, in tie-down roping. The 48-year-old has made $338,898 in team roping and $34,247 in steer roping. He says not to look for him to make a run at $4 million. “Oh man, no way,” Beaver said with a laugh. “I’m good where I’m at, and I still run rodeo clinics. The TV (commentary) is more my deal nowadays.” Rich Skelton – an eight-time team roping world champion, and 20-time Wrangler NFR qualifier – is the man who is the closest to making the group a half-dozen. Skelton currently has $2,654,843 in career earnings. |
4. News & Notes from the Rodeo Trail Riding to the front: A group of PRCA saddle bronc riders, including five-time Reserve World Champion Cody DeMoss and two-time Linderman Award winnerJesse Bail, volunteered their time during last week’s Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo in Rapid City, S.D., to hang out with Children’s Western Wish Foundation visitor Tucker Varns of nearby Spearfish. Varns, 15, was born without a left ventricle and has thus far undergone four open-heart surgeries and four pacemaker surgeries. Being around rodeos and horses has always been the one thing that could be counted on to calm and sustain him through all of his health issues; getting to spend time with some of his rodeo heroes made for a special day. “It just warms my heart,” his mother, Dixie Varns, told the Rapid City Journal. ”Just to know that they (the cowboys) have a lot going on, but they take the time to answer his questions. It’s just overwhelming.” … Joe Baumgartner, a four-time PRCA Bullfighter of the Year and 2013 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee, will serve as Grand Marshal of the 59th annual Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up parade on April 19. A long-time resident of Red Bluff, Baumgartner was a fixture at the Round-Up until his retirement in 2011; his nomination for the ProRodeo Hall of Fame was submitted by Red Bluff committeeman Harvey Camacho … Jack Daines, founder of the Alberta Rodeo Circuit and the Daines Ranch Rodeo in Innisfail, is on the mend from surgery for bladder cancer and is hard at work on promoting his 54th annual event this June … Connie Weishaar, the mother of Badlands Circuit team roper Seth Weishaar, suffered two broken heels and another broken bone in her leg on Feb. 4 when her Ram truck was involved in a head-on collision on an icy South Dakota road. “Her seatbelt and the airbag saved her life,” Seth Weishaar said. “I’ve seen a picture of the truck and it’s hard to believe anybody survived the crash.” Connie Weishaar was trapped behind the wheel for two hours and had to be rescued by an emergency response team with the Jaws of Life before being sent on to a Rapid City hospital for treatment. The accident occurred when the westbound truck containing seven-time World Champion Jake Barnes and fellow team roper Junior Nogueiraapparently lost adhesion on an icy bridge and collided with Connie Weishaar’s truck. Barnes, Nogueira and the horses they were hauling escaped without injury … Nominations for the fifth annual California Rodeo Salinas Hall of Fame induction class will close on Feb. 28. The forms can be found at www.carodeo.com by clicking on ‘Get Involved’ and then ‘Entry Forms & Applications.’ Categories for induction include: Committee Members, Livestock, Contestants, Contract Personnel/Performers, Notables, Supporters/Contributors and Staff. Each year the inductees are honored at the Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon during Big Week. The luncheon will take place on Thursday, July 17 at 11:30 a.m. on the Director’s Patio at the Salinas Sports Complex at 1034 N. Main St. For further information, call 831.775.3100 … About 5,500 elementary students from the Belton, Texas, area were treated to a sneak peek of the 27th annual Bell County PRCA Rodeo on Feb. 5 with a mini-rodeo that included barrel racing, team roping, clown acts, bull riding, and freestyle motocross … The Lynden (Wash.) PRCA Rodeo is shifting from its traditional weekend schedule to a Tuesday-Wednesday format (Aug. 12-13) this year, according to a Feb. 5 statement issued by the Northwest Washington Fair and Event Center … The Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, Miss., had attendance of more than 48,000 people in 2013, and brought in an estimated $20 million to the Mississippi economy. The 2014 edition of the rodeo is ongoing, ending Feb. 12 … The annual Simon Bucking Stock Sale in Guthrie, Okla., again surpassed the high-selling bucking stock record Jan. 14-15 at the Lazy E Arena. Bucking horses ruled the sale with the highest-priced animal award going to a bareback horse owned by Joe Simon selling for $45,000. The same horse also won the Bareback Futurity. The second-highest seller was also a horse owned by Simon, which was second in the sale’s three-year-old Futurity, and sold for $34,000. QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I won a rodeo in Pampa (Texas) and didn’t go back to the screw gun.” -Three-time World Champion Bull Rider Tuff Hedeman, telling the Rio Rancho (N.M.) Observer about the turning point moment when he went from being a $40-a-day screw gun operator to a full-time rodeo cowboy. |
5. Next Up Feb. 10 San Antonio (Texas) Stock Show & Rodeo ongoing Feb. 10 Dixie National Rodeo, Jackson, Miss, ongoing Feb. 14 Coors ProRodeo, Gillette, Wyo., begins Feb. 14 Southern Miss Coca-Cola Classic Rodeo, Hattiesburg, Miss., begins Feb. 14 Brighton Field Day Festival & Rodeo, Okeechobee, Fla., begins Feb. 14 San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo begins Feb. 15 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, Tucson, Ariz., begins Feb. 16 Seminole Classic Xtreme Bulls, Okeechobee, Fla. |
6. 2014 World Standings Leaders
|
7. 2014 WINDHAM WEAPONRY HIGH PERFORMANCE PRCA WORLD STANDINGS Unofficial through Feb. 10, 2014
*2014 Barrel Racing (through Feb. 10, 2014) Barrel racing standings, provided by the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), are unofficial, subject to audit and may change. Unofficial WPRA Standings are published by the PRCA as a courtesy. The PRCA is not responsible for the verification or updating of WPRA standings.
|
8. 2014 XTREME BULLS TOUR STANDINGS Unofficial through Feb. 10, 2014
|
The PRCA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the largest and oldest professional rodeo-sanctioning body in the world. The recognized leader in ProRodeo, the PRCA is committed to maintaining the highest standards. The PRCA, a membership-based organization, sanctions approximately 600 rodeos annually, and there are more than 30 million fans in the U.S. The PRCA showcases the world’s best cowboys by televising the sport’s premier events, including the Wrangler Champions Challenge and the world-renowned Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on CBS Sports Net (DISH channel 158, DirecTV channel 221). The Justin Boots Playoffs and Championships, Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo, All American ProRodeo Finals, and the PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour will be aired on MAV-TV (DISH channel 248, DirecTV channel 214). PRCA-sanctioned rodeos raise more than $26 million for local and national charities. For comprehensive coverage of the cowboy sport, read the ProRodeo Sports News, the official publication of the PRCA, and for daily updates of news and results visit the PRCA’s official website, www.prorodeo.com. |
PRCA Weekly Press Release – Feb. 10, 2014