Sears struggles to gain on Bass in barrel race
Teen tops leaderboard in Las Vegas
Lindsay Sears didn’t make up any ground on Monday night in her bid to win a third world barrel racing championship at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
She was well down the leaderboard (eighth) with a time of 14.21 seconds after three nights of sub-14-second clockings.
Sears, who was well wide turning the first barrel, went into the round eighth in the aggregate.
The race remains tight after two more barrel racers who had four-consecutive clean runs ran afoul of tipped barrels. There are now only three of the 15 who have left them all standing through the first half of the 10-round showdown for $6.1 million.
Teenager Kelly Bass, from Florida, topped the leaderboard with a time of 13.68. And, she hasn’t knocked down a can.
Knowles looking strong
Trevor Knowles has become a solid threat to capture his first world steer wrestling championship.
The reigning and two-time Calgary Stampede champion won the fifth in a swift 3.3 seconds. Prior to the run, he’d only cashed once with a fourth-place finish worth $7,656 in the third round.
But, Knowles, who is riding Calgary world champion Lee Graves’ highly-rated black horse Jesse, was always close, chalking up times of 4.1 twice, 4.2 and 5.7.
His Monday effort ran his total time on five to a secondbest 21.7 seconds, only seventenths behind Wyoming’s Les Shepperson.
He’s now earned just under $102,000 for sixth place in the world standings. Twotime world champion Dean Gorsuch leads the pack with $116,000 and the NFR has only reached the halfway point.
Bronc riders
struggle
They trotted out the TV pens for the bareback and saddle bronc riders.
They’re made up of the flashiest bucking horses in the world, the ones that are most often ridden for scores in the high 80s and low 90s and they’ll be back for Saturday night’s 10th and closing round.
It will give the cowboys a chance to redeem themselves. And they need it because they were flat out embarrassed on Monday night.
A dozen of the 15 bronc riders took no score. South Dakota’s Cole Elshere was the top gun with an 83, normally a score that wouldn’t even place in the round.
Four had no scores in the bareback riding and the two leaders in the world standings, Kaycee Feild and Will Lowe, didn’t place.
Wyoming’s J.R. Vezain, who won the Canadian bareback riding championship a month ago, tied for fourth in the round with an 84.5 on the Kesler family’s Street Dance.
He’s won money in four of the five rounds for $37,200, is third in the world standings and trails Feild by eight points and Lowe by three points in the aggregate.
Shiozawa tops
calf ropers
Former Calgary Stampede champion Matt Shiozawa, from Idaho, topped the calf ropers with a 7.2-second run and the Canadian team roping champions, Dustin Bird and Paul Eaves, missed their steer.
Wyoming’s Seth Glause, a regular on the Canadian trail, climbed into the gold buckle chase in the bull riding by winning the round with a score of 87.5 points. He’s covered three of his five bulls.
The WNFR continues through Saturday night.