Hometown Proud

Red Bluff saddle bronc rider moves into second place at hometown rodeo

Red Bluff, Calif. – Zack Brown’s luck has changed at the Red Bluff Round-Up.

The Red Bluff native, a saddle bronc rider, has competed at the Round-Up several times but has never won a check

After the Saturday afternoon performance, he was sitting second in the saddle bronc riding with a score of 87 points on the horse Comanchero, owned by the Flying U Rodeo Co.

It was his second ride of the day, after being fouled at the gate and being rewarded a reride.

Comanchero wasn’t the easiest horse to get out of the chute on. “He’s kind of bad in the bucking chute,” Brown said. “He’s got a bad reputation for that, but I was able to sneak in there and get out on him. Once he left (the chute), I knew he was going to be good. It just worked in my favor.”

After he dismounted, he landed in front of the grandstands and got a huge roar from the crowd. “You can’t beat the hometown crowd,” he said. “It feels good. I haven’t had much luck here in the past, so it’s good to get it going.”

Brown’s score will have to hold up against Sunday’s competition; the Sunday competitors’ scores are included in the payout for the entire rodeo. The high score in the saddle bronc riding so far is Rusty Wright’s 85 points.

In the steer wrestling, Aaron Vosler leads the average with a time of 15.9 seconds on three runs.

Unlike the roughstock events (bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, and bull riding), the timed events made two competition runs on Wednesday and Thursday, with the top 24 cowboys qualifying for the performances on Friday and Saturday, and the top 12 from Friday and Saturday qualifying on Sunday in the short round.

Vosler’s 15.9 second average time puts him into Sunday’s competition in first place.

It’s the second big rodeo he’s done well at in the last week, after winning the Logandale, Nevada rodeo last weekend.

This is the fourth time the thirty-seven year old cowboy has competed in Red Bluff, which is one of his favorite rodeos. “I love this rodeo. It’s great,” he said. “Usually we’re hustling all year long, and at this rodeo, all our friends are here, hanging out, and it’s just a good time. Even if you just sit in the grass back there and relax and have a beer, it’s just fun.”

The fast time in the steer wrestling from the Saturday performance was Tyler Pearson, Louisville, Miss. (5.1 seconds).

Two bull riders have jumped into the lead at the Round-Up.

Jordan Hansen, Ponoka, Alberta and Garrett Tribble, Bristow, Okla. both scored 88.5 points on their bulls to tie at the top.

For the twenty-four year old Hansen, last year was the first year he was able to rodeo without major injury, and because of it, he qualified for the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He finished the year in eighth place.

A win in Red Bluff, if his score holds through tomorrow’s performance, is big. “Every win feels great and it’s a big confidence booster going into the busy part of the year.” Being in the spring weather of northern California doesn’t hurt, either. “I’m about sick of snow, and we’ve had no shortage of it at home,” he said. Last week, Ponoka received another foot of new snow.

Even though last year Hansen is relatively injury-free, he’s fighting a bad left hip, a problem that has been going on for the last four or five years. Doctors are unsure what it is, but he has a bone scan next week. “I’m just hoping I don’t need surgery and can get it healed.”

Hansen’s bull was a Corey and Lang Rodeo bull named Rewind.

Tribble, who is 20 years old, rode the Rosser Rodeo bull named Compton Kid for 88.5 points. “I had a really good bull, and that’s half of it,” he said. “He was a handful. The bull is tough. I’ve seen video of him, he looked like a good bull, and he was. I was excited, because I love this rodeo.”

The Bristow, Okla. cowboy appreciates the reaction of Round-Up fans. “This is one of my favorite rodeos of the whole year. The crowd’s awesome. You don’t get that every week. You go to a rodeo in Oklahoma and the crowd’s not into it. They’ve seen it a hundred times and they don’t care. Here, they get into it.”

Tribble, who is ranked eighth in the world standings, won the San Antonio (Texas) rodeo in February, a big win that moved him into the top fifteen in the world. He qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2016 and is currently winning third place at the Wichita Falls, Texas rodeo.

In other events, the top bareback score for the Saturday afternoon performance was made by Jamie Howlett, Weatherford, Texas (87.5 points). Tie-down roper Cooper Martin, Alma, Kan. had the fast time (8.8 seconds), as did team ropers Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, Utah and Walt Woodard, Stephenville, Texas (7.0 seconds) and barrel racer Katelyn Scott, Odessa, Texas (17.30 seconds).

The third and final performance of the 97th annual Red Bluff Round-Up takes place tomorrow, April 22, at 1:30 pm. Tomorrow’s event is the annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink day, with funds raised for the St. Elizabeth Imaging Center. In the last ten years, the Round-Up and other community activities have raised over $430,000 for St. Elizabeth.

The Wrangler Network webcast today’s performances and will do tomorrow’s as well. They will be archived for future viewings at wranglerwestern.com.

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Results after second performance, Red Bluff Round-Up, April 21, 2018

Bareback riding (second performance scores)

1. Jamie Howlett, Weatherford, Texas 87.5 points on C5 Rodeo’s Virgil; 2. Zack Brown, Red Bluff, Calif. 87; 3. Jake Brown, Cleveland, Texas 85;  4. Buck Lunak, Cutbank, Mont. 80.

Steer wrestling (second performance results)

1. Tyler Pearson, Louisville, Miss. 5.1 seconds; 2. Cody Cabral, Hilo, Hawaii 5.4; 3. Aaron Vosler, Cheyenne, Wyo. 6.0; 4. Will Lummus, West Point, Miss. 7.0.

Saddle bronc riding (second performance results)

1. Chuck Schmidt, Keldron, S.D 82 points on Corey and Lang Pro Rodeo’s Mud Hook; 2. Justin Lawrence, Exeter, Calif. 80.5; 3. Ryan Mackenzie, Jordan Valley, Ore. 78.5; 4. Tyrell Smith, Sand Coulee, Mont. 78.

Tie-down roping (second performance results)

1. Cooper Martin, Alma, Kan. 8.8 seconds; 2. Cimarron Boardman, Stephenville, Texas 9.1; 3. (tie) Ty Baker, Van Horn, Texas and Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, 9.7 each.

Team Roping (second performance results)

1. Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, Utah/Walt Woodard, Stephenville, Texas 7.0 seconds; 2. Kaleb Driggers, Hoboken, Ga./Junior Nogueira, Presidente Prudente, Brazile 7.2; 3. Cody Snow, Los Olivos, Calif./Wesley Thorp, Throckmorton, Texas 7.3; 4. Dale Benevides, Naalehu, Hawaii/Buck McKay, Eugene, Ore. 8.1.

Barrel racing (second performance results)

1. Katelyn Scott, Odessa, Texas 17.30 seconds; 2. (tie) Deb Guelly, Okotoks, Alb. and Nicole Laurence, Cresson, Texas 17.50 each; 4. Vicky Cook, Willows, Calif. 17.57.

Bull riding (second performance results)

1. (tie) Jordan Hansen, Ponoka, Alb. 88.5 points on Corey and Lang Rodeo’s Rewind, and Garrett Tribble, Bristow, Okla., 88.5 points on Rosser Rodeo’s Compton Kid; no other qualified rides.