Bowers Splits Bareback Win at Marwayne
MARWAYNE, Alberta – This was a match-up bareback rider Kyle Bowers wanted, and he wasn’t disappointed with the outcome.
The Drayton Valley, Alberta, cowboy had an 84.5-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Shadow Warrior to tie George Gillespie IV for the win at the June 5-7 Lea Park Rodeo.
Gillespie IV recorded his ride on Franklin Rodeo’s Red Poodle June 6, and Bowers made his first-place tying ride June 7.
“I had been on (Shadow Warrior) a couple of times, and I think I’ve been 85 once, and 84.5 points on him twice now,” said Bowers, who qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2004 and 2005.
“I rode him at Armstrong, British Columbia, last year, and I was 84.5. Two summers ago, I got on him at the Ponoka Stampede in the top 10 round and was 85 and made the final four round. That horse really bucks out of there. He’s one of those Grated Coconut stud colts and he leaves there hard – kind of like Grated Coconut did. After the third jump he felt so good, he had so much air and bucked so good after that.”
Grated Coconut was a six-time PRCA Bareback Riding Horse of the Year.
“(Shadow Warrior) gives a guy enough time to catch back up to him, and once I caught up it felt good,” Bowers said. “He made a nice little circle around to the left, and it was a lot of fun. I definitely thought I for sure was going to have a chance to win once I made it to the eight seconds.”
Bowers knew the horse’s reputation from riding him several times before Marwayne.
“I knew what I was getting on when I got there, and knew if I rode him well, I would have a good chance of winning first,” he said. “I had a little bobble in the beginning, and that probably cost me first place all by myself; but splitting first is just as good as finishing first as far as I’m concerned.”
Bowers, 38, finished 25th in the final Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings a year ago, and has no plans of retiring any time soon. He was 49th in the June 1 standings.
“What keeps me doing this is making good rides on good horses,” Bowers said. “I’ve been doing this a long time now, and as long as I keep craving it, I’m going to keep doing it.”
The other winners at Marwayne were steer wrestler Baillie Milan (8.8 seconds on two head) team ropers Roland McFadden and Tyrel Flewelling (13.7 seconds on two head); saddle bronc riders Tyrel Larsen (84.5 points on Calgary Stampede’s Shoshone Mountain) and Chet Johnson (84.5 points on Calgary Stampede’s Turbo Rocket); tie-down roper Jake Hannum (15.7 seconds on two head); barrel racer Lisa Zachoda (16.120 seconds) and bull rider Wesley Silcox (85 points on Shark Bait).
Courtesy of PRCA