2022 WNFR - Round Three Highlights
A pair of 90 point rides highlighted a great night of bull riding in the third round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas with Montana hand, Garrett Smith, the 2017 Canadian Champion, sharing the round win with JR Stratford. Smith had Stace Smith Rodeo’s Evil Intentions while Stratford got by Pete Carr’s Curly Bill, with each man pocketing $25,882. The lone Canadian in the field, Jared Parsonage came up just short on Powder River’s sensational Chiseled while overall leader, Stetson Wright, bucked off tonight but continues to hold a seemingly insurmountable $120,000 lead.
Things got a little quick in the team roping on night number three of the NFR, but nobody was faster than Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith who turned in a lightning-fast 3.6 to take home the $28,914 first place cheques. And the Canadian flags were waving as 2016 World Champion Jeremy Buhler on the heeling side and his heading partner, Rhen Richard, captured third place in the round with a 4.1 second run for $17,255 each.
Jesse Pope has been second in the world the last two years and the Waverly, Kansas bareback rider is doing all he can to climb that last rung on the championship ladder and win the coveted title. In round three, Pope put together an outstanding 86.5-point ride on Stace Smith’s Mr. Harry to extend his lead at the top of the standings to $51,000 over second place man and six-time world champion, Kaycee Field. Canadian Orin Larsen had to battle to get by Legend Rodeo’s Illegal Smile and was well out of the money with a 63-point result.
In the bronc riding, Lefty Holman made it back-to-back round wins with a spectacular 90.5 score on Kirsten Vold’s Sun Glow. The Visalia, California cowboy moved to third overall behind Stetson Wright in second place while Montana’s Sage Newman continues to hold a solid (but shrinking) lead atop the leaderboard. Holman is also first in the all-important average with Canadian Zeke Thurston right behind in second spot; Newman sits third, with Wright in fourth. Kolby Wanchuk was the top Canadian in the round with an 87.5 for fifth place and a $7462 payday while Thurston split sixth in the round with an 87 for $2332.
Hailey Kinsel climbed on the back-to-back-win-train as she and her horse, Sister, posted a superb 13.59, two one hundredths of a second faster than her winning time 24 hours earlier. The three-time world champion sits second in the world standings behind reigning champion Jordon Briggs but her quest for a fourth title will be hampered by a tipped barrel on night number one that has her ninth in the average.
Veteran tie-down roper, Cory Solomon, posted the first sub-seven second run, a 6.9 to claim top spot in the round with three-time and reigning champ, Caleb Smidt moving to within $3300 of overall leader Shad (Money) Mayfield, but Smidt has the advantage of sitting atop the average with Mayfield in fourth spot.
And it was all about Stetson Jorgensen in the steer wrestling. The Blackfoot, Idaho bulldogger was first in the round (3.5 seconds), is first in the average and first in the world standings with a commanding $61,000 advantage over second place man, Will Lummus.
