By Betty J. Estep
President - Wild West Stampede

Another year has come and gone for the 16th Annual Wild West Stampede “Big Friday” Jackpot Team Roping. Once again, the Wild West Stampede Board of Directors were very surprised at the team count a little over 400 teams. With team counts down throughout the state, we are always thankful for our ropers to take a vacation day to attend our roping.  Thank you ropers!  

Our business partners, Hansen Bros of Grass Valley and the Bar 7S Arena, coupled with our sponsors, DuMor Fire Systems and Rich Ruef, PRCA Photographer, continue to make this a very enjoyable day. The Board would like to thank Allen Sanders, Penni Utterback, Bonnie Miller and the Bar 7S ground crew, Kyle, Cassie and Brandon for your hard work. Special thanks to Fritz Morrill for the many years of continued added money sponsorship. We cannot forget to thank Jennifer Cheddester and John Atkinson for cooking up that fantastic tri-tip lunch…yum!

The Wild West Stampede and the Bar 7S Arena sponsored the beautiful Gist buckles this year. Our Gist buckle winners this year were Lynnette Krantz, Rick Lederer, Judie Nielsen, Jim Parker, Erica Krantz, Grant Strong, Dick McWilliams, John Freeman, Waco VonTour, Rory Pierce, James Miller and Jesse Clark.

The Wild West Stampede invites 10 teams to come back to participate in the Wild West Stampede Local Roper Team event during our Saturday performance of our PRCA rodeo. Teams are picked either by winning a pot during the Friday Jackpot or selected by the Board to showcase the sport of team roping to the general public. The winners are given $200 cash from the Bar 7S Arena and Gist Silversmith sponsors two beautiful “Heritage” buckles. This year there was a TIE! Vicky Benedetti and Ken Cook tied with Katie and KC Morgan with a 9.0 second run. We couldn’t rope it off, so we made a management decision that the buckles go to the Morgan kids and the money goes to Vicky and Ken. It was a great way to show the public that team roping is a family sport.

On Wednesday night before the rodeo, we have our Magnussen’s Dodge Kickoff Party and the Wrangler Kids Dummy Roping. Our AWWS Committee Chairs, Daphne VanStavern, Britt Strong, and our “KDR Official,” Ty Morrill, did their normal wonderful job! WWS thanks all our Wrangler Kids Dummy Roping.

Richard Ruef, our local PRCA photographer, clicked over 500 pictures at our week’s events. His pictures from the PRCA rodeo, Kid’s Dummy Roping, Special Kid’s Rodeo, Muttin’ Bustin can be viewed at www.webshot.com search for Auburn Wild West Stampede.

The AWWS Board would like to thank you, again, DuMor Fire Systems, Hansen Bros., the Bar 7S Arena and of course, our ropers! The AWWS is a non-profit organization with 100% of the profits being returned to produce the rodeo and provide monetary support to community programs. Without the support of our sponsors and ropers, we would have nothing to return to the local people and programs that AWWS supports. If you are interested in providing sponsorship to this local event, please contact a Wild West Stampede Director.

Lynnette Krantz and Rick Lederer, #6 Roping winners. (Betty Estep photo)

Jim Parker and Judie Nielsen, Handicap Draw Pot winners. (Betty Estep photo)

Results are as follows (payoffs are per roper):

#6 ROPING: 3 for $25, 72 teams.

1st. go: 1st. Waco VonTour and Grant Strong, 7.48, $73. 2nd. Garrett Parsons and Felipe Furtado, 8.05, $49.

Average: 1st. Lynnette Krantz and Rick Lederer, 29.35, $329. 2nd. Wayne Grist and John Freeman, 30.05, $274. 3rd. J.T. Bradley and Doug Young, 30.82, $219. 4th. J.T. Bradley and Larry Martin, 32.22, $164. 5th. Trevor Messersmith and Clayton Graham, 35.32, $110.

HDCP. DRAW #1: 3 for $25, 105/106 teams.

1st. go: 1st. Connor Rawlins and John Freeman, 7.09, $87. 2nd. Connor Rawlins and Greg Nielsen, 7.24, $52. 3rd. J.T. Bradley and Ty Morrill, 7.27, $35.

Average: 1st. Judie Nielsen and Jim Parker, 19.12, $454. 2nd. Joe Worrell III and Ty Morrill, 23.82, $375. 3rd. Garrett Parsons and Billy Holland, 25.43, $297. 4th. Steve Waldron and Rick Lederer, 25.95, $219. 5th. Denise VonTour and Ryan Fowler, 27.08, $141. 6th. David Walters and Walt Rodman, 29.23, $78.

#5 ROPING: 3 for $25, 97 teams.

1st. go: 1st. Larry King and Larry Martin, 7.12, $81. 2nd. Waco VonTour and Rory Pierce, 7.27, $48. 3rd. Ray Miller and Denise VonTour, 7.51, $32.

Average: 1st. Erica Krantz and Grant Strong, 28.97, $420. 2nd. Greg Risse and Allen Sanders, 30.09, $348. 3rd. Norm Witt and Todd McWilliams, 30.76, $276. 4th. Lynnette Krantz and Chris Nielsen, 31.71, $203. 5th. Lisa Potts and Ryan Fowler, 34.21, $131. 6th. Ray Miller and Denise VonTour, 35.29, $73.

HDCP. CENTURY PICK #7: 4 for $50, 36 teams.

1st. go: 1st. J.T. Bradley and Doug Young, 7.11, $112.

Average: 1st. Dick McWilliams and John Freeman, 32.98, $403. 2nd. Dustin Nordman and Chris Nielsen, 25.12 on 3, $302. 3rd. Steve Waldron and Ty Morrill, 17.07 on 2, $202. 4th. Wayne Grist and Ty Morrill, 19.06 on 2, $101.

HDCP. DRAW #2: 3 for $25, 43.5/44 teams.

1st. go: 1st. Waco VonTour and Rory Pierce, 6.39, $46. 2nd. Waco VonTour and Dustin Nordman, 6.52, $31.

Average: 1st. Waco VonTour and Rory Pierce, 22.72, $208. 2nd. Todd Kell and Marshall Zavat, 27.62, $173. 3rd. Ray Miller and Dustin Nordman, 31.63, $139. 4th. James Mil-ler and Kathy Roberts, 72.79, $104. 5th. Ray Miller and Allen Sanders, 11.88 on 2, $69.

#4 ROPING: 3 for $25, 47 teams.

1st. go: 1st. Michael Bullivant and Grant Strong, 6.08, $49. 2nd. John Saunders and Jared Esteves, 8.31, $33.

Average: 1st. James Miller and Jesse Clark, 37.23, $223. 2nd. J.T. Bradley and Larry Martin, 38.54, $186. 3rd. Todd Kell and Doug Young, 47.09, $148. 4th. John Saunders and Jared Esteves, 23.09 on 2, $111. 5th. John Fanini and Brad Fanini, 26.53 on 2, $74.

Grant Strong and Erica Krantz were the winners of the #5 Roping. (Betty Estep photo)

See more photos in the June issue of Ropers Sports News!