Louisiana’s Young Gun Set to ride in Cheyenne
Koby Radley and Burleson and Barnett Take Cheyenne at #8
Koby Radley
The Cajun contender who just finished his sophomore CBR year checks in at number 8 in the CBR World Standings, but oddly enough he will pull his rope for the first time in Frontier Park next week at the CBR World Finals event after competing for almost two years in CBR competition and finishing eleventh in last year’s year end standings.
Koby Radley, the 2016 CBR Horizon Series Champion, from Montpelier, Louisiana, makes his debut on the bucking chutes in Cheyenne next week after a two year wait. Last summer injury kept him from the day sheet after a stellar rookie season where he rode 50 percent of his bulls and was the 2016 CBR Salina event Champion.
This season Radley was statistically similar to his rookie year in 2016, and with his consistency to advance from round one to the later rounds, he finished the season moving up two places to enter Cheyenne in the #8 ranking of the CBR World Standings.
Radley rode in ten CBR Road to Cheyenne televised tour events where he advanced to the Semifinal round six times and the final four Shoot Out round twice.
At his first event of the current season (Mercedes) the right handed cowboy made the final four man round and scored 90 points on J908 Outside the Box (Jimmy Jaynes). He would lose the event title to Chandler Bownds in the tie breaking back judge score after riding two of three and his first event would be his season high finish of second place.
Known for studying the bulls and using time in the truck to discuss riding strategies and ways to improve, Radley does not hesitate to emphasize his feelings. With his brother in law, Jacob O’Mara, a former Wrangler National Rodeo qualifier and top ranked CBR rider, they put their heads together to achieve.
“Jacob and I talk about the bulls and study them and mostly how we can better ourselves,” said Radley.
“I’ve always wanted to do this, watching everyone else ride while I was growing up, it’s my dream.”
Within the CBR’s top tour, the always calm and cool handed Radley attempted 21 bulls and covered eight of them to finish the season riding. He made the final four in Mercedes and Las Vegas where he finished third with 178 on two. He earned two 90 point plus rides, the first in Jackson on 3112 Dirty Blonde (Brown) and in Mercedes where he was 90 points in the four man on J908 Outside the Box.
Radley is the 2015 International Finals Rodeo Youth World Champion bull rider where he was the only rider to cover three bulls at the Super bowl of youth rodeo. He began competing at age 8 and progressed in junior rodeo including competing in high school rodeo in both Mississippi and Louisiana as a junior bull rider.
“I have been waiting on this for a long time, this is my dream, I started riding when I was 8 or 9 years old when my Dad put me on for the first time,” said Radley.
CBR Bull Team Challenge Qualifier — Burleson – Barnett Team #2
The number 8 qualified team for the CBR World Finals bull team challenge competition is Scott Burleson and William Barnett’s Team #2.
This team turned in 29 points and earned $32,000 during the 2017 CBR Road to Cheyenne.
They began the year in Lufkin in late February with 275.46 points and a fifth place finish. They may have been out of the money but the team anchor, 2079 Cowtown Cartel earned the Champion Bull honors after Cory Atwell rode him for 91.5 points. The team was out of the money earning placings but fifth place earned them eight valuable points towards qualifying for Cheyenne. The team bucked Y9 Final Judgement and 653 Flip Flop which went unridden in Lufkin.
The second outing was Fort Worth in April where they placed third for an $8,000 check and 10 points, but interestingly enough their third place was just .62 points behind the first place team in a highly competitive BTC event at Tuff Hedeman’s annual Fort Worth bull riding. Bucking 2079, Y9 and rotating 264Z Houdini Martini in the draw – this team had two qualified rides including Eli Vastbinder’s 90.5 points on Cartel and Cody Rostockyj’s 89 on Houdini Martini and finished with 279.88 points.
The third and final leg of this team’s journey to Cheyenne came at the season finale in Del Rio. Bucking Y9, 264Z, and 2079 they finished second, just .21 behind first place. The points and the doubled purse in Del Rio was enough to land them as one of the top 8 teams headed to the CBR World Finals bull team competition.
Courtesy of CBR