Kimzey and Teel Duke It Out in Kansas
MULVANE, Kansas, March 29, 2015 – Producing his own version of March Madness, the reigning CBR and PRCA World Champion, Sage Steele Kimzey was the only bull rider in the Kansas Star Arena to ride three bulls to win the Kansas Star Chute Out held on Saturday, March 28th in Mulvane. After winning over $62,000 riding bulls in the month of March, Kimzey continued his winning run claiming his first event title of the CBR season. In his second trip to Oz, Kimzey created the momentum needed to boost the goal of winning his second CBR World Championship title on the Mahindra Road to Cheyenne tour.
Kimzey, who drove 692 miles to make the eleventh stop on the Road to Cheyenne tour after riding in South Texas the night before, posted three of the event total fourteen qualified rides, and had to get past not one, but two of his traveling partners in addition to the 2012 PRCA World Champion, Cody Teel, to grab the $19,000 check and the Hy O Silver Trophy buckle.
“Riding three is always a challenge, you have to take advantage of every opportunity. I was only 84.5 in round one so the pressure was on in round two. I had a great draw, Freckles, and he was one of those you will ride 95 percent of the time, or at least you are supposed to,” said Kimzey with that million dollar smile.
Mahindra Young Gun, Corey Bailey, broke the ice and was the first to earn a score in Section I with 89 points on Pepper, a JC Knapp team bull. Kimzey’s traveling partner from North Dakota, Tanner Bothwell, matched that ride with his own 89 on 939 Hazmat, a bull he had never seen before from Clark View Farms. The lead would not change for two more qualified rides until Cody Teel took control with 90.5 on 929 No Hands, a bull he has seen many times On the Road to Cheyenne, but never drawn.
“I have always wanted to draw him and was excited to see my name next to his, but he went out and went right tonight and it caught me a little off guard,” said Teel, who did not miss a jump on the solid bucker from Benny Cude.
Teel would hold the lead until Neil Holmes tied his 90.5 score on Silver Creek’s 052 American Fire. Revenge was sweet for the Houston Cowboy who drew 052 last year in Mulvane and bucked off. Other standout performances were Lane Toon, 88.5 on Canadian Cadillac and Taryl Smith, nicknamed Mr. Consistency, who matched that score aboard Clark View’s solid bucker, After Hours.
The two Texas bull riders remained in front of the pack until the third section when Kimzey’s other traveling buddy,Brennon Eldred, Sulphur, Oklahoma, spurred his way to 91 points on Elite Bucking Bull’s Swamp Dog, the same bull Kimzey rode in Cheyenne last season for 90 points. Eldred’s crowd thrilling ride would hold to win the round.
Feeling the energy from the sold out, standing room only crowd, the bulls were the show offs in the semifinal round. With only one rider, Taylor Toves, drawing back on time, the semifinals round qualifiers were overpowered by the CBR Bull Team Challenge livestock. Bucking off ten of the twelve second round qualifiers, only the two World Champions, Kimzey and Teel would survive to hear the 8 second whistle.
Based on his score in round one, Kimzey was positioned in the number three slot as he rode Barn2Buck’s 026 Freckles for 87.5, a bull he characterized later as one he was supposed to ride. Kimzey was the first to ride two and would average 172 points on two. Teel would watch the next seven competitors come down early as he boarded Greg Talber’s Hurricane Rick for the first time. 06 Hurricane Rick, an unridden bull in CBR competition, would give Teel the 86 points he needed to advance to the final four Shoot Out Round as the leader of the Kansas competition.
Bringing two back on earlier scores, the Shoot Out was appropriately named in tonight’s event. Riding to preserve his number #1 ranking in Championship Bull Riding, Cody Teel, would come back as the average leader on two to the final round. Kimzey was in the number two position followed by Brennon Eldred and Neil Holmes who advanced on time to face the two highly decorated World Champions. Holmes would come down early as Silver Creek’s 17 Sandy Bob ended his night in less than 3 seconds. Following a little trouble in the chutes, Brennon Eldred followed on 07X Cude’s Glory, a bull making his CBR debut, in what looked like a winning ride, but Eldred lost his outside foot just shy of the buzzer. Silenced by the two buck offs, the crowd grew still as the reigning CBR, PRCA and Rodeo Houston Champion buckled up. Kimzey made the first wicked corner on the bull he had been on three times, Craig and Barrett’s One More Dip, and settled in on his rope for the remainder of his 89 point score.
Teel, riding for his third event title this year, selected Mike Rawson’s Jail House Socks for the win. Teel started his quest in in good form when the bull made a hard right turning into Teel’s hand, but moving forward fairly quickly, the bull got him in the well and the World Champ countered to get back to center. Making one more attempt to buck Teel off, Jailhouse Socks caught a second gear to move Teel off his rope and with less than a second left on the clock Teel would come down, unexpectedly.
With the Road to Cheyenne winding down its 2015 qualifying season, Kimzey’s event win in Mulvane moved him up to the number five position. Teel’s return to the final round earned him the points needed to increase his lead to 158 points ahead of the CBR rookie Brennon Eldred, who remains in the number two position. Fellow rookie Wyatt Rogers keeps his number three ranking after coming down early in round one. Rogers who suffered a pulled muscle injury the night before at another event, admitted he needs to heal up before the last two stops on the Road to Cheyenne where the rider who ends the world finals at the top of the standings will be crowned the CBR world champion and receive a $100,000 bonus in Cheyenne at the prestigious Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration.
Tonight’s rough stock competition was also part of the CBR Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge (BTC). Bull owners competed with three bulls that are featured during the first two rounds of competition. The bulls receive points for their performance in the arena plus the time a bull rider stays on is added to the bull’s score and at the end of the night, the owner with the three highest-scoring bulls taking home a $20,000 check. With 283.19 points the Championship Pro Rodeo, Zach Craig, Brett Barrett and Jeri Harmon Elite team, took home the team honors, the big check and the buckle from Mulvane.
“Kojack fired tonight and then Brennon made an outstanding ride on Swamp Dog, said Barrett. I really didn’t expect to win this tonight with only one bull being ridden, but it worked out”. Strategically bucking Gold Buckle as his number three, GB joined the rest of the CBR Bull Team challenge bulls and bucked off Taylor Toves quickly.
“It has been a stressful week with Ragin JT at the vet. We replaced him with Swamp Dog and it just worked”, continued Barrett. Barrett who strategically bucked 050 Gold Buckle and Kojack in the first round, had to make a difficult decision late in the game. Reserve bucking bull of the year, Ragin JT, went down with pneumonia earlier and became unavailable late in the week. Swamp Dog was chosen to hold his teammates up and he did posting the only qualified ride on their team. Barrett also provided the bull power for Sage Kimzey’s winning ride in the Shoot Out round. Mike White, just 1.49 points off the lead with his Elite Bucking Bull team took second place with three rank bull scores totaling 281.70.
Champion Bulls of the night were Craig, Barrett, and Elite’s Swamp Dog and Jeri Harmon and Mike White’s team bull Karaoke. Karaoke was the rankest bull score of the night ending Cody Rostockyj’s night just shy of the buzzer in the semifinal round, but was rewarded with a 92 point rank bull score for his efforts. Harmon and White finished second in the bull team competition with the help of this well-known bull’s performance.
The Mahindra Road to Cheyenne Tour continues on April 11th at the Tuff Hedeman Fort Worth Challenge in the historic Fort Worth, Texas Stockyards.Round by round scoring see cbrbull.com/events.
Mulvane Results
Round One
1, Brennon Eldred,91 points on Swamp Dog (Craig,Barrett,Elite). 2,(tie) Cody Teel, 90.5 on No Hands (Cude), Neil Holmes, 90.5 on American Fire (Silver Creek).4, Cory Bailey, 89 on Pepper (JC Knapp). 5, Tanner Bothwell 89 on Hazmat (Clark View). 6, Taryl Smith 88.5 on After Hours (Clark View). 7, Lane Toon 99.5 on Canadian Cadillac (Sanders). 8, Cody Rostockyj 88.5 on Hood Rat. 9, Trevor Kastner 87.5 on Bounce It (Silver Creek). 10 (tie) Mickey Andrews 84.5 on Greenhorn (Cude) Sage Kimzey, 84.5 on Show Me (Barn2Buck)
Semifinal Round
1, Sage Kimzey 87.5 on Freckles. 2, Cody Teel, 86 on Hurricane Rick (Tabert).
Shoot Out Round
1. Sage Kimzey 89 on One More Dip (Craig, Barrett, Elite) $19,000
Mulvane Bull Team Results
1. CPR/Craig/Barrett/Elite 283.19 $20,000
2. Elite Bucking Bulls 2 281.70 $12,00
3. Clark View 279.84 $8,000
4. Silver Creek 279.63 $5,000