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Trio Make it a Double in Texas

by ProRodeo.com | May 12, 2014
Will Lowe decided to by-pass the early spring rodeos in California and made it pay off with two wins close to home over the May 9-10 weekend.
Will Lowe decided to by-pass the early spring rodeos in California and made it pay off with two wins close to home over the May 9-10 weekend. He shared the win with Evan Jayne in Bridgeport, Texas, with this 83-point ride on Rocky of the Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo string and won the rodeo in Mineral Wells, Texas, outright.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Will Lowe decided to skip a good chunk of the spring run in California this season, and over the weekend he won two Texas rodeos to help make up for some of the missed opportunities out West.

The Canyon, Texas, bareback rider won the Mineral Wells Rodeo with an 83-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo Company’s Biscuit, and then split the win at the Butterfield Stage Days PRCA Rodeo in Bridgeport with another 83-point ride on Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo’s Rocky.

“These Texas rodeos are good confidence builders, and they also help to keep you sharp during the slower part of the season,” Lowe said. “I only skipped the April rodeos in California because those are tough to get to if you don’t go out and just stay there. Otherwise, you’re flying back and forth a lot and spending a lot of money. It was better for me to just stay home and get to play with my sons and be outside and spend some quality family time.”

Along with the $1,635 Lowe earned, the three-time world champion also took his first victory laps of 2014. Even for a 31-year-old veteran who’s been to 12 consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeos, a win can offer a boost.

“I’ve been feeling good all winter and feel like I’ve been riding well and doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” said Lowe, who is currently 14th in the Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings. “These two wins are nice, and they make you feel good about your riding, but at the same time I wasn’t worried about winning a lot of rodeos this early in the season. I’m just going to keep plugging along.”

While Lowe was picking up his first two wins of the 2014 season, saddle bronc rider Jacobs Crawley continued his fast start to the season, winning his eighth and ninth rodeos.

Crawley rode for 84 points on Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo’s Hang ’em High to win in Bridgeport, and then put up 83 points on Andrews Rodeo’s Lock N Load to take the victory at the Crockett (Texas) Lions Club PRCA Rodeo.

“It doesn’t really do much for us to take breaks, and the more bucking horses you get on, the more you stay tuned up,” Crawley said of he and his brother, Sterling, hitting the road a lot. “We love getting on bucking horses, whether it’s in a rodeo or in the practice pen.”

Crawley beat his little brother in Bridgeport by three points, with Sterling finishing second. Crawley says there’s never any trash talk between the two.

“Absolutely not; we wish we could split the win at each rodeo we go to, but sometimes it works out like that,” said Crawley, who remained fifth in the world standings. “If we can’t split them, then going 1-2 is the best for us.”

The only timed-event cowboy to win two Texas rodeos over the weekend was Ty Erickson. While Lowe and the Crawleys are all WNFR vets, Erickson is hoping to join them for the first time in 2014.

The 23-year-old Helena, Mont., bulldogger made a pair of 4.0-second runs to win in both Mineral Wells and Bridgeport, taking home a total of $1,894 to remain ninth in the world standings.

“I hadn’t had much success at these smaller circuit rodeos so far this season, so it was nice to pick up a few wins this weekend,” Erickson said. “It was a chance for me to try out some of my green horses in a rodeo, and my 11-year-old horse, Shake Em, helped me win both rodeos.”

Erickson, the 2011 PRCA Resistol Steer Wrestling Rookie of the Year, has slowly been making his way up through the ranks in the PRCA. He finished 23rd in the world in 2013 after he was 45th in 2012, and currently has cracked the top 10 for the first time in his young career.

“It’s exciting to still be in the top 10 of the standings,” he said. “I’ve never been this far into the season and had my name so high up there, and I hope to keep it rolling.”

  • While the majority of rodeo action took place in Texas, a pair of rodeos in California offered cowboys a chance to make some money out West. Bareback rider Clayton Biglow was the only man to earn victories at both the Mother Lode Round-Up (Sonora, Calif.) and the Woodlake (Calif.) Lions Rodeo. Biglow, an 18-year-old permit holder from Clements, Calif., came into the weekend with $874, needing only $126 to earn enough to buy his PRCA card. He made $1,015 for his win in Sonora, and another $691 for splitting the win in Woodlake with 2013 WNFR qualifier Austin Foss.
  • Bronc Boehnlein is no stranger to the rodeo arena. The 27-year-old is a pickup man by trade, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t use his horse and rope for other purposes. Boehnlein heeled for Chant DeForest in Woodlake, with the pair winning the team roping with a time of 4.8 seconds. The Marysville, Calif., native stayed busy for the entire rodeo, also working as a pickup man. The $968 Boehnlein earned in Woodlake was his second check of the season – he made $1,643 for winning the Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco, with Blake Teixeira, in October.
  • Brazile Watch: Trevor Brazile’s only winnings this weekend came from the steer roping in Bridgeport. After missing his first steer, Brazile rallied to win the second round with a time of 9.2 seconds and the third round with a time of 9.5. He pocketed $2,726, which allowed him to win the all-around in Bridgeport – the third straight weekend that Brazile has won an all-around title, and his 10th of the season. Brazile now leads Chet Herren by $2,314 in the steer roping standings.
  • Chris Roundy, who finished 16th in the 2013 bull riding world standings, picked up his first win of the 2014 season on May 10 when he topped the field at the Kingman (Ariz.) Xtreme Bulls Division 2 event. Roundy rode Western Rodeo Livestock’s Magic Time for 83 points, earning $4,202, which is more money than he had previously totaled this season. Rookie Garrett Smith and permit-holder Gatlin Aebischer each rode for 82 points to split second in Kingman.

Courtesy of PRCA

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