Weekend Highlights – June 19-22
by Jim Bainbridge | Jun 23, 2014
- South Dakota natives J.B. and Eli Lord made themselves at home in Minnesota over the weekend, each picking up all-around and steer wrestling titles in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Eli, 20, won the all-around at the Western Fest Stampede Rodeo in Granite Falls, Minn., on the strength of taking the steer wrestling title with a time of 4.0 seconds. His father, 54-year-old J.B., won the all-around at the Buffalo (Minn.) Championship PRCA Rodeo, thanks in part to a bulldogging victory in a time of 4.1 seconds. J.B. also finished fourth in the team roping in Buffalo, as he and his youngest son, Levi – a PRCA permit holder – clocked a time of 5.3 seconds.
- Travis Durfey hadn’t won a penny in PRCA competition since 2009, but that streak ended in Buffalo (Minn.) over the weekend. The 35-year-old Durfey, the middle child of the three Durfey brothers – eldest Wes and youngest Tyson (six-time WNFR qualifier) – had not even bought his PRCA card since 2009. His 9.6-second run earned him the win and $1,184 in Buffalo – he entered the week with career earnings of $2,022. Durfey bought his card in 2002, and competed briefly before entering the real estate and trailer conversion business. It was his first career PRCA win.
- Team roping header Ty Blasingame seems to always do well at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo – regardless of who is heeling for him. The Sugar City, Colo., cowboy teamed with J.W. Borrego in North Platte, Neb., to win the team roping average with a time of 10.4 seconds on two head. It is Blasingame’s third win in five years in North Platte, each with a different partner – Josh Fillmore in 2010, Matt Zancanella last year and now Borrego. Blasingame and Borrego also shared the win at the Steamboat Springs (Colo.) ProRodeo Series this past weekend. Ironically, Zancanella also won twice over the weekend – with header Shaw Loiseau – in Bellevue, Iowa, and Buffalo, Minn.
- Bareback rider Orin Larsen had a big day on June 21. The Oklahoma Panhandle State University senior successfully defended his College National Finals Rodeo title, earning a second National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association national championship, while also splitting the win at the PRCA rodeo in North Platte, Neb. Larsen was up on the first night of the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, June 18, and rode Beutler & Son Rodeo Company’s Black Cat for 81 points. His score would be good enough to tie Jerad Schlegel and Seth Hardwick for the title in North Platte, with each man earning $1,588. Larsen then won his second CNFR bareback riding title with a score of 316 points on four head, edging Richmond Champion by 1.5 points. Larsen is 20th in the June 23 Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings, while Champion remained fourth. Others who earned NIRA national championships were steer wrestler Cade Goodman, team ropers Billy Bob Brown and Logan Medlin, saddle bronc rider CoBurn Bradshaw, tie-down roper Taylor Santos-Karney, barrel racer Taylor Engesser and bull rider Joe Frost.
- BRAZILE WATCH: Trevor Brazile won the all-around title at Rodeo de Santa Fe (N.M.), earning $2,471. Brazile and team roping partner Travis Graves placed third in the first round with a time of 5.1 seconds, and then tied for sixth in the second round. It all totaled up to a second-place finish in the average for the pair, as they finished with a time of 10.7 seconds on two head, only behind the 10.3 average time of Erich Rogers and Cory Petska. Brazile’s lead over Russell Cardoza in the all-around standings sits at $72,259, and he also remained first in the world in steer roping. He’s currently third among team roping headers and seventh in the tie-down roping standings.
Courtesy of PRCA