Innholdsfortegnelse for Circuit Wrapup i The Team Roping Journal

Even before the NFR move, Texas was the place to rodeo in 2020, paying $6,900,881 at its 59 circuit rodeos this year—some $4 million more than any other circuit in the PRCA. (Editor’s Note: Money does not include barrel racing or breakaway roping payouts.) Of course, Texas was still able to host its major winter rodeos pre-COVID-19—including most of RodeoHouston, San Antonio’s Stock Show and Rodeo, and Forth Worth’s Stock Show and Rodeo. But it also held many of its smaller PRCA rodeos, like Stephenville’s Cowboy Capital of the World PRCA Rodeo with its $83,762 payout, Weatherford’s Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo with its $129,080 payout, and its weekly Mesquite Championship Rodeo with its varied payouts. BADLANDS CIRCUIT Number of Rodeos: .............................................................. 36 Total PRCA Payoff: ................................................ $2,218.904 Circuit Finals:…

Brothers Riley and Brady Minor bounced back from a regular season mired by bad luck to win the Columbia River Circuit Finals in Hermiston, Oregon, worth $4,034.84 a man plus a spot at the Kissimmee, Florida Ram National Circuit Finals in April 2021.  The Ellensburg, Washington brothers—who each finished 23rd in the PRCA world standings with $36,096.58 and missed a National Finals Rodeo qualification for the first time since 2012—are also coming off a win the week prior at the Gold Buckle Beer Tour Finale in Rapid City, South Dakota, worth $7,779 each.  “We were just glad to have a rodeo,” Brady, 36, said. “Nobody knew if they were going to have it or what it was going to pay. In our circuit, we only had three regular rodeos and three co-approved…

Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins did their 2021 rodeo season a big, fat favor by becoming the 2020 Prairie Circuit Team Roping Titlists. All circuit year-end and circuit finals champs advance to next spring’s RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Florida, which in 2021, counts toward the world standings.  “We’re really grateful that Kissimmee’s come on board and spiced the national circuit finals up,” said Hawkins, who currently hangs his hat in Stephenville, Texas, but still considers Columbus, Kansas, home. “Drew (Horner, with whom Hawkins qualified for his first NFR in 2013) and I won the RNCFR the first year it moved to Florida (in 2015), and it’s right up there with Houston on payoff and prize line.  “The RNCFR, in general, is a great experience, and having it…

Utah’s Quin Kesler, a two-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, and Colby Siddoway finished out their 2020 ProRodeo season in the No. 1 spot of the Wilderness Circuit standings to make the back-to-back circuit champions, qualifying them to the RAM National Circuit Finals in 2021. “It was just kind of up in the air with having a game plan to get put together,” Siddoway noted. “Once all of that stuff hit, we went to Cody (Wyoming) and all of those good rodeos over the fourth and didn’t have any luck. We figured that we’d just stay home and go to a few circuit rodeos. It was hard to put a game plan together. We just stayed close to home.” Kesler and Siddoway showed up at the Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo in Herber…

It didn’t happen the way they planned, but 2020 Resistol Rookie contender Coy Rahlmann and veteran horseman Ryan VonAhn took home $7,922 per man and $20,000 Ram Truck vouchers at the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo, held in Greeley, Colorado.  After the first team in the final round took a no-time, Rahlmann and Von Ahn took a plus-5 on their short-round steer for 11.1 seconds. Frustrated, they watched as the Mexican Circuit team of Bandis Guiterrez and Orlando Jauregui got a barrier and a leg. Then, the California circuit team of Jr. Dees and Nano Garza got a leg, too. “I didn’t know how it would end up,” Rahlmann, just 19, said. “But it just kind of fell apart. It was a shocker to everybody and it went our way.”  VonAhn, who’s…

Colorado’s Garrett Tonozzi, a two-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, and Cullen Teller, who won the Mountain States circuit on 2015 heeling for Clayton Van Aken, won the year-end title in the Mountain States Circuit. Tonozzi and Teller finished out the year with $11,254.10 and $9,325.77 in total season earnings, respectively. “It feels very good, actually,” Teller said. “With five years in between, that’s a long time. But, hard work pays off eventually. I’m excited to go wherever they’re having it at. Next year, the RAM Finals counts for the world standings, so it’s good to get into it this year.” Tonozzi headed for Dustin Davis in the 2020 ProRodeo season, while Teller started out the season heeling for Montana’s Brady Tryan, then teamed up with Colorado young-gun Bryton Scheller for circuit…

After falling short the last few years, Hershey, Nebraska’s Cooper (23) and Tucker (27) White took home the Badlands Circuit year-end titles with a total of $18,043.91 and $15,595.21 in season earnings, respectively. “It’s something that we’ve worked for for a long time together,” Cooper said. “We had the year-end won before we ran our last steer, but it was just cool to cap it off, and to do it with your brother is even cooler because you know how much you both rely on each other.” “The performances and everything counting put us in a good spot for the next year and getting into some other rodeos, possibly,” Tucker added. “The performances at Kissimmee also count for the standings, so we’re really excited about that. We’ve never been and…

Chuck Smith, 53, has now won the First Frontier Circuit five times, once in each decade since he was in his early teens. This year, he and longtime friend and heeler Kevin Brown took home the year-end circuit title after accumulating $8,046.35 in total season earnings. “I’ve won it, I think, five or six times,” Smith noted. “We were talking about it the other day, and I think I’ve won it every decade since I’ve been born. I won one when I was in high school in ’85 or ’86, somewhere right in there. I won at least one in my teens, my 20’s, my 30’s.” After an uncertain ProRodeo season, Smith notes that it was still a good year to be rodeoing, despite the challenges. “Cowtown was able to…