Two Troupers Hold Down #15 on the Road to Cheyenne
Corey Atwell and Championship Pro Rodeo
#15 Corey Atwell
The number 15 man on the list of CBR World qualifiers is one of two bull riders who travel twice the distance to get to each and every CBR event. This second generation rodeo cowboy from Monrovian Falls, North Carolina boasts 618 records on Probullstats that have no doubt fueled Corey Atwell’s career and given him the experience he needed to qualify for this year’s CBR World Finals at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Corey Atwell won a PRCA event in South Dakota on June 25 and on June 27 he was injured in Springdale, Arkansas, suffering a broken leg. He will not be able to compete in the 2017 CBR World Finals, but he earned the position and this is his story.
Atwell, 30, rode seven out of the 17 bulls in the nine events he attended on this season’s televised tour. Twice he qualified for the final four championship round (Huron, Lufkin) and advanced to the Semifinal round five times.
Atwell began his year at the season opener in Huron where he rode three of the four bulls he attempted in two performances. He added another 90 point plus ride to his stats when he rode CBR Bull of the year Cowtown Cartel for 92 points in the semifinal round. Atwell finished second in Huron, his season best.
He hit a two event slump but got back in the points race in Conroe riding with an 86.5 in round one. He missed Mercedes but was back on the books in January where he advanced to the Semifinal round twice.
In Late February he would get to the final four round again via his old pal Cowtown Cartel. Atwell was 91.5 on him in the second round but bucked off 235 Bandit in the final four man, but finished third in the event and put up valuable points in the CBR World Standings.
The year Corey Atwell turned 18, 2005, he followed in his father’s footsteps and set his sights on being a career cowboy when he rode in his first professional rodeo cowboys (PRCA) association sanctioned event. His father, Charlie Atwell, earned the title of PRCA Rookie of the Year in 1979 for Saddle Bronc Riding.
Atwell worked his way up through the ranks of junior rodeo including in multiple events competing in team roping, riding bucking horses but eventually settled on bull riding with the help of his Dad and World Champion bull rider Jerome Davis, also from North Carolina.
“I was a broke teenager wanting to be a bull rider, I entered and rodeoed wherever I could get in,” said Atwell about his early years.
Three years after declaring himself a pro bull rider he was crowned the International Pro Rodeo Association World Champion bull rider.
He rode in five events in 2013 and finished that year with a 50 percent riding average within CBR competition. Injuries, including twice breaking his hand, would keep him from the NFR and CBR for most of the 2014 bull riding season with the exception of the PRCA South east Circuit Finals at the end of the year.
But in 2015 he entered the CBR’s qualifying tour and by July of 2016 he was riding in his first CBR World Finals. He finished 21st in the 2016 CBR World Standings.
You might not see two Atwell’s in the same rodeo arena any more, but Corey and his Dad are both carpenters, side by side building and sharing a different kind of legacy. Cory enjoys building custom and one of a kind furniture and you can see his great work on his Facebook page.
Atwell graduated from Alexander Central High (Taylorsville, N.C.) and enjoys fishing, hunting and horses and his current residence is Moravian Falls, N.C.
Atwell will be replaced in the CBR World Finals competition by first alternate Jacob 0’Mara.
#16 Championship Pro Rodeo
The Championship Pro Rodeo (CPR) team comes into the World Standings in the number 16 position. Owned by CBR Chairman Benny Cude, the team used eight different bulls to qualify for this year’s World Finals at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Benny Cude is no stranger to what it takes to win a title, his Cude Energy team won the 2015 CBR World Finals Bull Team Championship and the $100,000 bonus check that comes with it.
With multiple teams in play, Cude’s CPR team competed in Huron, South Dakota, Lufkin, Texas and Salina, Kansas where they earned a total of 25 points and finished with two fifths and a fourth place on this season’s tour.
In Huron they finished 5th with Taryl Smith anchoring the team with an 87 point ride on 99×2 Comanche Moon. His teammates -929 No Hands and 253 Gotcha bucked off their opponents Juan Alonzo and Kanin Asay.
CPR mixed the bulls up a bit for their Lufkin entry and it paid off with a 4th place finish. They added J10 Crime Spree and 21×1 The Duke, a National Finals Rodeo and CBR Finals bull, to the lineup. Cody Jesus was 89.5 on 99×2, but Jamarcus Whiting and Tyler Bingham both bucked off J10 AND 21X1.
In Salina they finished fifth with Crime Spree providing the 88 points assist to Boudreaux Campbell’s second event win of the season. CPR used 24×3 Headlights who bucked off Demond Haynes, but Cody Jesus rode Crystal City for 85.5 points.
Courtesy of CBR