Page 10 Kearney Hub Saturday, December 21, 2002 PRCA Crowns Champs at 44th Wrangler NFR LAS VEGAS Each year's Wrangler National Finals rodeo fits the part of a 10-part dramatic production with all the drama, intensity, peaks and valleys one can handle. And each year's Wrangler NFR takes on its own unique identity from all others in its storied history. The 2002 Finals was no different. Sunday's show, seen by 17,681 fans at the Thomas Mack Center and countless others on ESPN's live broadcast, certainly made its case for one of the most exciting and unpredictable of all times. Among the world-champion moments: -Trevor Brazile of Anson, Texas, claimed his first world all-around title, winning $33,909 in Sunday's 10th round to secure the title over Jesse Bail, the event's only two-event cowboy.
Bail finished second in the final round of calf roping and finished third in the average race. -One year after experiencing heartbreak in the final round, bareback rider Bobby Mote of Redmond, took care of some unfinished business. On Sunday. Mote rode his 10-round horse, Kesler Championship Rodeo's Alley Ways LAS VEGAS (Dec. 14, 2002) The winter and summer ProRodeo Tours return in 2003 with a revised scoring system and a new culminating event.
The Tours established in 2000, ushered in a new era in professional rodeo, attracting world-class competitors to some of the best rodeos in the country, where they competed for berths in the winter and summer Finales. Each of Tour stops and both of the Finales were televised. In 2003, the Tours promise to attract even more top competitors. And this year, they will be competing for an even bigger prize the chance to compete in the ProRodeo Championship event, Nov. 7-9 in Dallas.
The ProRodeo Championship will pit competitors from the winter and sum- Dip, for 88 points and the round title. That, coupled with a fourth-place average payoff, gave Mote the world title by $14,338 over average champion Jason Jeter, who set a Wrangler NFR event record by riding 10 head for 839 points. -Sid Steiner of Bastrop, Texas, made the leap of the day. He entered the 10th round in the sixth place in the world standings but well within leader Luke Branquinho. Steiner stepped up and stopped the clock in 3.3 seconds tied for the fastest run of the Wrangler NFR and shot to the top of the standings.
He then watched challenger after challenger try to upstage him, but to no avail. He became the latest part of a fatherson duo to have claimed world titles; Tommy Steiner won the world bull riding championship in 1973. -Speed Williams of Jacksonville, and Rich Skelton of Llano, Texas, made team roping history, snagging their sixth consecutive world crown. That broke the record of five, set by Jake Barnes and Clay O'Brien Cooper, that had stood since 1989. Williams and Skelton are now just one wold title from tying Barnes and Cooper for most team ropPro Announces mer Finales in a three-day competition that will count toward the world standings.
That's not the only change in the Tour format, however. In the past, competitors earned points based on their finish in the final round of a Tour Rodeo. In 2003, points will be up for grabs in every round of a Tour rodeo and also for the average finish. "We're hoping to make it more competitive for our cowboys and also to reduce the number of turnouts," said Jim Nichols, the PRCA's co-director of rodeo administration, on Saturday during a press conference to announce the dates of the winter and summer Tours. Dates for the winter and summer Tours also were announced: the National Western Stock Show ing titles in ProRodeo history.
eight-year hiatus, claiming her WPRAAlthough they didn't win a round, record 11th world title and first aboard Williams and Skelton placed six times, Cruiser. holding off challengers Wade Wheatley From 1984 to 1993, James was virtuand Hughson, and Kyle Lockett of ally unbeatable on Scamper, the only Ivanhoe, Calif, by $10,000 and $12,000 barrel horse inducted into the ProRodeo in the heading and heeling standings, Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo. respectively. During the Wrangler NFR, James retook -Saddle bronc rider Glen O'Neill of the lead from upstart Tammy Key on the Didsbury, Alberta, shared Mote's fate in final day, claiming her seventh average 2001 by losing the lead on the final title also a record en route to the title. round of the Wrangler NFR.
-Blue Stone hadn't endured a more On Sunday, O'Neill did his part, scor- trying, and painful, year than in 2002. It ing 88 points to win the round. That also started with a fractured sternum last gave him the average title with a February at the Olympic Command Wrangler NFR-record 825 points on 10 Performance Rodeo in Farmington, head. In one day, O'Neill bagged Utah, and Stone never was 100 percent. $49,628, and he needed all of it to out- Still, the reigning world bull riding last five-time world saddle bronc riding champion had something to prove in champion Dan Mortensen by just 2002, and he arrived in Las Vegas as the $6,723.
No. 8-ranked bull rider. When the dust -Fred Whitfield further cemented his settled, he had bagged the average title, place among ProRodeo's all-time greats rallying from No. 3 to the top spot in by winning his sixth world calf roping Round 10. title and fourth Wrangler NFR average He became the first bull rider since crown.
Only Joe Beaver, Roy Cooper ProRodeo Hall of Famer Don Gay to win and Olin Young have won four NFR back-to-back bull riding titles. average crowns. Gay, who won eight world bull riding -Barrel racer Charmayne James finally titles, did it in 1980-81. reached the winner's circle after an Rodeo Tour 2003 Dates Rodeo in Denver kicks off the winter July 20; Lawton (Okla.) Ranger Tour on Jan. 26, followed by the Black Rodeo, Aug.
Pikes Peak or Bust Hills Stock Show, Rapid city, S.D., Feb. Rodeo, Colorado Springs, Aug. San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, 10; Caldwell (Idaho) Night Rodeo, Aug. Feb. 16; La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, 16; Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo, Sept.
Feb. 23; RodeoHouston, Puyallup (Wash.) Fair Rodeo, Sept. Tucson, March 30; Laughlin (Nev.) River and Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up, Sept. Stampede, April Star of Texas Fair and 13. Rodeo Austin, Texas, April Red Bluff The summer tour will be climaxed by (Calif.) Round-Up, April 20; Clovis (Calif.) the ProRodeo Tour Finale, Sept.
25-27, Rodeo, April 27; and the Guymon in Omaha, Neb. (Okla.) Pioneer Days, May 4. This marks the first time a Finale has The winter Tour will be capped by the been held in Omaha. ProRodeo Tour Finale, June 12-14, at the Also, the PRCA will debut a bull-riding MGM Grand in las Vegas. tour in 2003, which will be televised on The Reno (Nev.) Rodeo kicks off the ESPN 2.
Dates and times will be summer Tour on June 29, followed by announced in January. the Greeley Independence Stampede, July St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo, July California Rodeo Salinas, Salinas,.
