Pass Adds Caldwell to Victory List
by Tracy Renck | Aug 22, 2015
CALDWELL, IDAHO – The last two months have been a blur for bull rider Aaron Pass – a victory blur.
The Kaufman, Texas cowboy continued his victory binge, winning the Caldwell Night Rodeo (Aug. 18-22) with an 88-point ride on Powder River Rodeo’s No. 16x.
“I had never been on that bull before and he’s just a young bull,” said Pass, 26. “He turned back in the gate to the right and he kind of had me bucked off really, then he jumped forward and hit me in the face and kind of tipped me up and turned back to the left. If he was an older bull and knew what he was doing he would’ve kept going right and bucked me off, but actually he jumped back underneath me and it worked out for a good score.”
With his $7,999 win in Caldwell, Pass could do nothing but smile.
“I’ve never even stayed on here (at Caldwell),” Pass said. “I’ve been here twice before and both times I was bucked off, so it’s really cool to win here.”
Since July 18, Pass has rocketed up the Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings. He was 118th on July 18th and he shot up to 16th in the Aug. 17 standings with $46,415 by only competing in 19 rodeos at that time. He is expected to move into the top 15 after his Caldwell performance.
Pass initially sat out for almost two months – late-March to mid-May with an injured right hip.
Then, in just his second rodeo back in action, Pass broke three ribs at the Cloverdale Rodeo & County Fair in Surrey British, Columbia.
After being sidelined for two more months with the broken ribs, Pass returned at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days and he been nearly unstoppable.
Pass won the prestigious Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, and then made victory stops at the Dodge City (Kan.) Roundup Rodeo, Omak (Wash.) Stampede and the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo Xtreme Bulls Division 2 event in Castle Rock, Colo – and now Caldwell.
“This has been a blessing and it has been just great,” Pass said. “I got to get on some good bulls and win some big rodeos. Now that I’ve come this far, I just hope I keep doing well.”
Pass acknowledged being in the zone that he’s in has him on a mission to compete at as many rodeos as he can before the regular season concludes Sept. 30.
“I’m just going to keep staying dedicated and keep exercising when I’m out here on the road and stay strong in my faith and let the cards fall how they may,” Pass said. “I’ve always had confidence in myself to do good and right now I’m healthy and drawing right and things are going my way. I just need to keep this momentum going.”
Pass made his Wrangler National Finals Rodeo debut last year, finishing 10th in the final standings with $104,550.
“It would be awesome to qualify for the Finals again,” Pass said. “I would like to get to Vegas in the top 10, especially with all the money added this year at the NFR. I don’t think you can count anybody out.”
Other winners at the $264,105 rodeo were all-around cowboy Morgan Grant ($1,554, tie-down roping and steer wrestling),bareback rider Clint Laye (167 points on two head), steer wrestler Trevor Knowles (12.7 seconds on three head), team ropers Chad Masters and Travis Graves (14.6 seconds on three head), saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy (166 points on two head), tie-down roper Cody Ohl (25.1 seconds on three head) and barrel racer Kimmie Wall (51.83 seconds on three runs).
For more coverage of the Caldwell Night Rodeo, check out the Sept. 11 issue of the ProRodeo Sports News.
Courtesy of PRCA