Spring is here and the rodeos and ropings on the West Coast are in full swing. Even though there has been a severe drought here in California, things look pretty green in the northern part of the state.
One thing for sure, the team roping times at the rodeos and jackpots have gotten faster this year than I can ever remember. At the PRCA rodeo in Oakdale Calif., during the weekend of April 12-13, the times in the team roping were unbelievable. The rounds were won with 4-second runs and when it was all said and done on Sunday’s final performance, the team of Tyler Walters and Richard Durham won the average with a time of 10.0 flat on two head and the sixth place in the average was 11.6 on two. The tie-down roping was also rapid as Trevor Brazile won the average with a time of 17.8 on two.
I think one of the factors for the speed in times is better horses and more and more young contestants coming into the arena after many years of training to be fast and go for it every time the gate swings open. Today in the Pro Rodeo arena you had better not be taking a safe shot as you will not place. In fact this year, I have seen more “no times” because of the crossfire rule than ever before and it all stems from that fine line of trying to be fast. A split second in your delivery can put you in that zone of the crossfire. It may be time for the PRCA to wave this rule of the crossfire as some roping associations have.
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After the Oakdale Rodeo, Kendra Santos and I traveled to Cottonwood, Calif., where the Four Star Rodeo Company Ranch hosted the second annual Broc Cresta Memorial Roping. This was a great day starting out with a Pro-Am Heading along with a Pro-Am Heeling. In these ropings the amateur ropers got a chance to team up with some of the pros taking a chance to win some big bucks. Part of the proceeds of these ropings went in the Broc Cresta Memorial Fund.
Following the Am ropings, it was time for the pros to do their thing in this very nice arena. 102 teams entered up in the roping that was over a 19 foot score. The roping was a five steer average and when Cyndi Mitchell posted the top 20 teams, the leading four teams all had their first four steers roped in less than a seven second average over that long score.
As the top 20 teams came back they made some outstanding runs like the team of Clay Tryan and Patrick Smith who came back 17th but made a 5-second run on their fifth steer to win the short round and place in the average. The high team back was Keven Daniel and York Gill and they didn’t weaken on their last steer, turning in a great run to finish the five steer with under a 7-second average. Barriers and misses caused some of top teams to finish out of the money when it was all said and done.
For the people who came to watch the 2nd Annual Broc Cresta Memorial, they got to see some outstanding roping by pros as well as amateurs. If you haven’t made it to this roping yet you should put it on your bucket list. This day provides, great roping, plenty of parking, great playground for the kids and awesome food and setting hosted by the Davis family. Broc and Justin Davis were great friends and Broc spent many hours in this arena along with his life-long friend, Spencer Mitchell.
Be sure and see the results in this issue.
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Congratulations to the Clovis, Calif., Rodeo which celebrated its 100th birthday this year.
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June is just around the corner and of course that means more good rodeos coming up here on the West Coast as well as the Reno Rodeo and the Bob Feist Invitational which is slated for the 23rd of June this year. Reception and pre party will be on Sunday, June 22nd at the Silver Legacy in downtown Reno at around 5 p.m. Make your plans now to attend this year’s BFI and take in a couple of performances of the Reno Rodeo while you’re at it. See ad on page 60 of this issue for information about lodging.
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As the snow melts in the northwest and over to the Montana Range, a bunch of late spring ropings will be taking place. Dust will once again replace the snow on the vehicles and irrigating will be in full swing. A lot of good ropings to enter in this next two months so check out the ads in this issue and get ready to go win some money and cool prizes.
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