Kimzey Stays Hot, Wins Xtreme Bulls in Lovington
LOVINGTON, N.M. – Sage Kimzey can do no wrong. At least that’s how things appear.
The reigning three-time world champion (2014-16) is now on an amazing hot streak.
Two weeks after winning $50,000 and a gold medal in the finals of the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo in Salt Lake City, Utah, Kimzey was still in top form.
The Strong City, Okla., cowboy – with a 176-point score – won the two-head average at the Lea County Fair & PRCA Rodeo Xtreme Bulls Division 1 event Aug. 8.
“This is good,” said Kimzey, 22. “This is the start to the fall run and it allows me to move onto the fall with more momentum. It’s been crazy because I’ve been winning quite a bit and I’m just enjoying the ride and rodeoing my tail off until I get to the end of September. What drives me is I just want to be the best. I always think about the feeling at the end of the year, stepping on the stage and shaking the commissioner’s hand and holding up the gold buckle.”
Kimzey was first in Aug. 7 the WEATHER GUARD® PRCA World Standings with $187,555 and atop the Xtreme Bull Standings with $46,572. He piled some more money on those totals with his performance at Lovington as he left town after earning $11,798.
“The Xtreme Bulls are important,” said Kimzey, who won the Xtreme Bulls season title in 2015. “There’s a lot of money at all of them, and usually whoever wins the Xtreme Bulls (season title) has a good shot of coming into the NFR pretty high in the standings.”
Kimzey won the first round with an 89-point trip on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Tin Cup, and then followed that up by capturing the win in the short round and average with his 87-point ride on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Black Gold.
“The first bull was a good spinner to the left and he was really smooth and he had a lot of timing to him,” Kimzey said. “The second bull was the opposite. He was one that was tough to get by. Tyler Bingham came up to me after he saw what I had and said he was a tough bull to ride that bucked hard, and I got excited then. I enjoy the challenge for sure. The hours are what matters, not the seconds in the arena. We train all year to be ready to do this. I’m always prepared no matter how many I have to get on each night.”
This is Kimzey’s second Xtreme Bulls Division 1 win this season. He also took the title in Fort Worth, Texas, Jan. 17-18. The list of the other 2017 Division 1 winners is comprised of Ty Wallace (San Antonio, Feb. 25), Tristan Mize (Fort Mohave, Ariz., March 11) and Trey Benton (Reno, Nev., June 15).
For his career, Kimzey now has five Xtreme Bulls Division 1 titles, which ties him for second place on the all-time list with Wesley Silcox.
For more coverage of the Lea County Fair & PRCA Rodeo Xtreme Bulls Division 1 event, check out the Aug. 18 issue of the ProRodeo Sports News.
Courtesy of PRCA