NFR Round Five Highlights
What a difference 24 hours can make.
In round number four at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, a couple of event leaders ran into some trouble and watched some of those in pursuit draw a lot closer. But that was round four.
This was round five. And bareback rider Jess Pope was the first to right the ship with an 88 score for second in the round, right behind the spectacular 90.5 of R.C. Landingham on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Top Notch. With Cole Reiner failing to place in the round, Pope sits solidly in first overall and first in the average. Canada’s Orin Larsen has been riding hurt in the last couple of rounds but the thumb injury he sustained in round two kept him on the sideline tonight.
One night ago, things looked a little black for steer wrestler, Stetson Jorgensen. The Blackfoot, Idaho cowboy struggled to a 21.2 while his closest rival, Hunter Cure won the round. But round five was, once again, a different story. On a night when 2019 World Champion Ty Erickson won the round with a 3.9, Jorgensen split 2/3 and Cure took a no-time. All that means Jorgensen is back where he wants to be at the halfway point in the NFR—first overall with a $51,000 cushion on the field.
It was another celebration night for Canadian bronc riding fans as three of the six Canuck bronc riders made trips to the pay window. They were led by NFR rookie, Logan Hay, who rode Pete Carr’s Larry Culpepper to a picture-perfect 89 for the win, $28,914 and his first NFR go-round buckle. Layton Green split ¾ with his 88 mark on the PRCA Horse of the year, The Black Tie. And the younger Hay brother, Dawson, split 5/6 in the round, courtesy of his 87.5 point effort. The bronc riding followed a bit of different script as things got a little tougher for Montana’s Sage Newman who came to the NFR with a huge lead. After bucking off in round four, Newman made the horn tonight but managed only 79 points while three competitors: Canadian, Zeke Thurston, (the two time World champion); Stetson Wright and Lefty Holman are all nipping enthusiastically at the leader’s heels. While Holman was the only one of the three to win money in round five, Thurston, Holman and Wright sit 1-2-3 respectively in the average.
Not a lot of big changes in the team roping as a pair of teams shared top honours with identical 3.8 times. The superstar team of Clay Tryan and Jade Corkill matched the 3.8 of Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin. Season leaders Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira took a step back as they missed their steer and fell to fifth in the average but the ropers still maintain a solid lead on both sides of the steer.
It was an outstanding night of barrel racing with 16 time NFR qualifier, Lisa Lockhart sharing the round win with three time World Champion Hailey Kinsel. Both women clocked 13.52, the fastest time of this year’s Finals to date. Lockhart - who has placed in four of five rounds - sits fourth overall but leads the average - which she has won on two previous occasions. Kinsel is first overall but is well down in the average standings (in eighth spot) courtesy of a tipped barrel opening night while defending champion, Jordon Briggs, who ran an impressive 13.69 on night five, holds down second in the average and second overall.
Four bull riders made eight second rides, led by Tristen Hutchings, who rode Frontier Rodeo’s County Jail to 91.5 points. Josh Frost won second place money with an 88 on the Canadian bull from Ward Macza, OLS TUBS Sunny. Stetson Wright picked up a fourth-place cheque and is in another time zone in terms of money won with $428,000 plus in bull riding alone for 2022. At the NFR he has placed in four of five rounds, won two of them and sits first in the average.
The tie-down roping continues to be the Caleb Smidt show. In five rounds, the three time World Champion’s longest time was 8.1 seconds. In round five, he extended his lead over second place roper, Shad Mayfield with a third place run of 7.9. The two men to best Smidt on Monday night were veteran Marty Yates and the young gun, Kincaid Henry, both of whom turned in 7.3 second runs.
