A wet and cold winter seems to have some people staying home from some of the smaller jackpot ropings, however the rodeos and bigger ropings seem to be doing fine despite the economy. This has been somewhat of a surprise to some of us that predicted that ropings and rodeos would start showing signs of less entries. I guess folks in our circles don’t really think that times are all that tough as long as they are catching their end of the steer in a respectable time.
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March is always my favorite month with the Wrangler Timed Event Championship at the Lazy E Arena and many of the other big ropings going on. This year the Timed Event Championships will see some of the returning champions come back for another title plus some new talent has been introduced including Russell Cardoza of California. Russell proved he has what it takes by competing in the World's Greatest Roping contest the past couple of years. Now he will also show his talents in steer roping and steer wrestling at the five event competition.
For years K.C. Jones has competed at the Timed Event and has taken home his fair share of the money, but this year there is another K.C. Jones on the list and he is the one we know from steer wrestling fame as well as the host of fantasy rodeo during the WNFR. He is a very talented cowboy and should make a good appearance at this year's event. Trevor Brazile is again the favorite as he has dominated this event over the past several years.
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Team ropers Coby Siddoway and Matt Zancanella are leading the PRCA standings after winning the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. This was a big win for the team and got them off to a good start for 2010. Right behind them is Caleb Mitchell in the heading and Justin Hendrick in the heeling. Caleb placed well at San Antonio with Justin Copp as did Justin Hendrick heeling behind Tommy Edens. By the way, Caleb was the winner of the 2009 BFI along with heeler, Ryan Motes.
Trevor Brazile has taken command of the all-around by winning the tie-down roping at San Antonio, putting $16,593 in his pocket and bringing his all-around total to $47,017 as of this writing. This gives him a huge lead over the second place man in the all-around, Josh Peek who trails with $18,364 won so far.
Results of the Wildfire Roping which is hosted by Billy Pipes are featured in this issue of Ropers Sports News. As always, Billy does a first cabin job in making sure the roping is one of the best on tour for the open ropers. Billy has an outstanding staff that make things happen and show real dedication and pride when it comes to the Wildfire Event. Congratulations to this year's winners Clay Tryan and Travis Graves who won the roping and took home the briefcases filled with $100,000 for the team.
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I just got back from the Mike Cervi Memorial Pro Classic held in Tucson, Ariz. and what a roping George Aros produced with great talent and an excellent crew. The ropers that were entered were some of the top team ropers in the industry who roped over a 24-foot score out of a 24-foot box. I have always been one who loved a big arena, big strong cattle, long score and good ropers. That is just what I got to see at this year's Cervi roping.
The roping fans got to see some great runs in every round. The first round was won with a 7.12 run turned in by Adam Rose and York Gill. The second round was Kaleb Driggers and Adam Plyler with a time of 6.27. The roping was progressive after that point. In the short round another six second run was turned in by Clay Tryan and Patrick Smith, 6.68 which was good enough for $1,000 per man.
In the top fifteen that came back for the short round, Turtle Powell had two runs out of the top five spots as did Luke Brown. Turtle won second with Cory Petska with a 38.03 on five and Luke Brown won third and fourth with his partners, Martin Lucero and Paul Eaves. First in the roping went to the team that came back in the second call-back position, Jake Cooper and Jade Corkill who had a total of 37.73 on five. This was a back to back win for Jake as he won the roping in 2009 with his brother Jim Cooper. (See complete results on page 27.)
Mel Potter and his family do a super job in supporting this roping named in the honor of their late son-in-law Mike Cervi who was married to their daughter Sherry. Mike lost his life in a plane accident a few years back.
Also on hand at the roping were some names of the past like Pete Woolsey who was watching the roping with past World Champion George Richards. Pete is coming back strong after a heart attack and a bout with cancer. Vic Vieu was on hand as well and we got to visit about the difference between California and Arizona. Vic moved to Arizona a few years ago from northern California.
My old roping partner, J.B. Getzwiller and cousin Joe Getzwiller won the Gold Card roping over a field of many great ropers from the past and present. Joe Getzwiller and George Richards both got to watch their sons rope together in the Cervi roping and were proud when the boys came back in the top 15 teams.
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Make your plans now to attend this years Bob Feist Invitational to be held in Reno again this year in conjunction with the Reno Rodeo. This years date is June 21st starting at 8am. Make your room reservations now by calling the Silver Legacy at 1-800-687-7733 and be sure to mention that you are coming for the BFI. The code for special room rates is BFI10.
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The Bob Feist Invitational entries will not be handled out of the Ropers Sports News office this year. Linda Ishman will be taking the entries from her home in Springtown, Tex. She has worked with the BFI the past several years.
Entries will close (April 30) later than they have in the past to accommodate all of the spring divorces in the roping world. In the past, the teams would enter early and by the end of spring rodeos, partners no longer roped with the partner they had entered the BFI with, causing a split in a team, which made for an extra team over our 100 team limit.
Entries will be mailed out April 1st. See ads on pages 10-11. |
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