Evan Jayne Wins All American ProRodeo Finals
WACO, TEXAS – Evan Jayne settled an old score while winning the bareback riding at the All American ProRodeo Finals here at Extraco Events Center Saturday night.
He rode for 82 points on Andrews Rodeo’s Cool Water to win the four-man shootout final round and claim the championship. That earned him $7,500 – a large part of the $11,984 he pocketed at the rodeo.
Of Cool Water, a talented bucking horse, Jayne said, “That’s not the horse that I wanted to draw. I’d been on her a few times, and she actually broke my back here one year. She came out bucking, and I gritted my teeth and went back at her.”
Jayne’s injury suffered during a ride on Cool Water happened at this rodeo in October 2008, he said.
“I’d made the four-man here before, but I’d never won this rodeo, and that’s pretty exciting,” he said.
Saturday’s performance began with a nine-man semifinal round, which consisted of three qualifiers from each of the three brackets. The top four in each event then advanced to the shootout final round.
Jayne posted the highest score in the semifinal round, when he rode for 86 points on Pickett Rodeo’s Delta Glamorous. That allowed him to be the final rider in the shootout round.
“You do want to be last, and then you know what everybody else did and what you need to do,” Jayne said.
Jayne has battled a left shoulder injury since mid-August, but will now get about six weeks of rest. He said he won’t compete again until the Dec. 3-12 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
Jayne sits fourth in the 2015 Windham Weaponry High Performance World Standings, and eagerly anticipates competing at his first WNFR.
“Winning here in Waco just caps my year off right,” he said. “It sends me to the Finals in a winning way, and gives me a little boost of confidence. This will be my last bucking horse until the Finals.”
He said the Finals will provide another type of shootout, with the added money that will make the total purse at the WNFR worth more than $10 million.
“With so much money at the Finals, it’ll be back and forth,” Jayne said.
Jayne – who is the first European to qualify for the WNFR – is set to fly home to France Monday, where he’ll spend a month.
“I put on a bareback riding school there next weekend,” he said.
Other winners at the $476,509 rodeo were steer wrestler Cooper Shofner, team ropers Ace Pearce and Chase Wiley, saddle bronc rider Isaac Diaz, tie-down roper Shane Hanchey, barrel racer Tillar Murray and bull rider Cody Rostockyj.
Read complete coverage of the All American ProRodeo Finals in the Nov. 6 ProRodeo Sports News.
Courtesy of PRCA