National Finals Rodeo reaches halfway point
Five days down. Five days to go.
Tuesday night marked the halfway point of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. As with any NFR, there’s been some moving and shaking among the top spots, but the biggest money winners thus far are in the middle of the pack in their events.
Zeb Lanham certainly has enjoyed his stay in Vegas. The 21-year-old bull rider has covered four of five bulls in the first five days of the NFR, pocketing more than $57,000 in the process. He’s also moved from 13th to sixth in the world standings. Steve Woolsey is the only cowboy to ride all five bulls and leads the aggregate, but has won about $21,000 less than Lanham.
Tonasket’s Zack Oakes has also experienced some success as well, earning $25,745 thus far and sits in third in the aggregate with three bulls ridden.
"I’m still alive and surviving," Oakes said in a phone interview Tuesday night.
While acknowledging that Lanham has doubled Oakes’ winnings, Oakes made it clear there are five more days of rodeo left.
"Things can turn around so fast here," he said. "Zeb, he’s had a great week so far, but we’re only five days into it. Somebody can come into these next five rounds and win $80,000 and then there’s going to be a new star in town."
Oakes is hopeful it’s him.
"It’s not over by any means. I hope to win another $90,000 before it’s all said and done."
No matter what, though, it’s going to take a lot to knock Matt Austin off of his perch. The No. 1 bull rider in the world came into Vegas with an $86,000 lead over No. 2 Bryan Richardson and still leads the rest of the field by more than $80,000.
In an event that boasts the exact opposite, Fred Whitfield is atop the tie-down roping world standings by less than $3,000 over Stran Smith, with Trevor Brazile, at No. 9 in the world within $32,000 of the top, a deficit that can be made up within a couple of days.
"I’m just doing my part," said Whitfield, whose 7.6-second run tied him for third on the night with Ricky Canton. The $7,900 won on Tuesday was only his second payday of the week.
While Whitfield has 16 straight NFR’s with seven world titles under his belt, Cheney’s Ryan Gray is at his first NFR. Gray is sixth in the bareback aggregate and has moved up one spot to No. 3 in the world behind Will Lowe and Andy Martinez.
"I’m just trying to make things happen here," he said in a phone interview. "I just do my thing. I’ve got no control over what Will Lowe does. I’m just worried about getting on good horses and riding ‘em good."
Alberta’s Lee Graves has pocketed more than $53,000 in five days of work as he leads the steer wrestling aggregate over Ronnie Fields by eight tenths of a second. Graves tied with Ryan Jarrett for the win (3.4 seconds) in Tuesday’s fifth round for $14,000. Jarrett, after a slow start to his quest for the all-around title, nudged within $13,000 of Brazile, who also won $4,000 in tie-down roping.
Shali Lord, who was dominating the barrel racing, knocked over a barrel and was out of the money Tuesday.
Money talks at the National Finals Rodeo
If the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's year was compared to driving a four-speed truck, it would go like this: First and second gears are the regular season and third and fourth gears are the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
The National Finals, which concluded its fourth of 10 rounds Monday night in Las Vegas, is like shifting into road gear. The prize money accelerates.
The 2005 NFR's purse is $5.25 million, making it the world's highest paying rodeo. The NFR features the top 15 in each event based on regular-season earnings.
A round winner in each event receives $15,649. A round is conducted each day and 10 rounds are scheduled.
The NFR runs through Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The big difference in the NFR and a regular-season rodeo is the prize money. The amount that a round winner receives in one performance is comparable to the amount that a rider receives for winning a major rodeo that could last up to 2 1/2 weeks.
As a journalist, I spend 17 days monitoring the Fort Worth Stock Show's annual PRCA rodeo, tracking the title races night after night, round after round. In the end, the headline stories are the winners who might earn $15,000. The same goes for other major rodeos such as San Antonio, Houston, and Cheyenne, Wyo.
At each of those high-profile shows, it might take a competitor three or four rounds to earn the $15,000. A typical major regular season rodeo might pay its tie-down roping winner for a strong finish in the first round, the second round, the final round, plus the average (the prize money awarded for the best aggregate times).
The payoff for the NFR average in each event is $40,738. At each NFR, the aggregate standings become more important as the days go by.
The NFR aggregate payoffs are comparable to a U.S. presidential election that's impacted by the largest populated states. If a candidate can carry bigger states such as Texas, California and New York, it can make a big difference toward winning.
At last year's NFR, Monty Lewis won the world title after turning in the fastest aggregate time after 10 rounds. Though Lewis entered the NFR ranked seventh in the world standings, his strong finishes in various rounds and his winning the average helped him surpass Stran Smith on the final day of the NFR. Lewis edged Smith (who did not finish in the average money at the 2004 NFR), $184,696 to $182,918.
Lewis earned $93,672 at the 2004 NFR. In other words, more than half of his annual earnings came over 10 days in December and the rest came during the previous 11 months.
As the NFR heads into the final stretch this weekend, look for those competitors who are shifting into high gear and moving to the fast lane.
Austin breaks earnings record at 2005 national fin
Bull riding champion Matt Austin broke Ty Murray’s season money record Sunday, earning $12,368 for a second-place finish in the final round of the National Finals Rodeo to push his total to $320,765.
Austin, from Wills Point, Texas, broke the record of $297,896 that Murray set in three events in 1993. The 23-year-old rider, who clinched the world title Friday night, also topped the NFR aggregate standings with 586.5 points on seven successful rides.
‘‘I never imagined I’d win this much money in one year,’’ Austin said. ‘‘All this hasn’t soaked in yet. I hope to do as good as this next year. I’m going to go out, try my hardest and keep that same mind frame.’’
Bobby Welsh of Gillette, Wyo., won the 10th round with an 89.5-point ride on Hot Damn. Austin had an 88.5, and Zack Oates of Tonasket, Wash., was third with an 87.5.
In bareback, Cimmaron Gerke of Fort Worth, Texas, scored 84 points on Fancy Free to tie Kelly Timberman of Mills, Wyo., for the NFR aggregate title with 837.5 points.
Timberman had an 83.5 on Real Deal, and the half-point difference allowed Gerke to tie him in the aggregate standings. It was the first tie for the bareback riding aggregate standings since 1983.
