16 Earn Berths in the Semifinals of Fort Worth’s Pro Rodeo Tournament
Minnesota’s Tanner Aus has set the standard in the bareback riding at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Aus won both rounds of his bracket in the Dickies Arena with scores of 87. This ride aboard Dakota Rodeo’s horse named Last Chance won the event on Wednesday. If he keeps winning first through the final performance on Feb. 5, he will earn a lot more and potentially move to the top of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world standings. FWSSR photo by James Phifer.
FORT WORTH, Texas — The third set of competitors finished their second round of competition in the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo’s (FWSSR) Pro Rodeo Tournament with two entrants in each of the eight disciplines advancing to the semifinals on February 3-4.
Tanner Aus of Granite Falls, Minnesota, earned his second consecutive round win when he rode Dakota Rodeo’s horse Last Dance for 87 points. The six-time National Finals Rodeo (NFR) bareback rider also scored 87 to win the first round on Tuesday and will move on to the semifinals. Joining him in the semis is his traveling partner and another NFR veteran, Ty Breuer of Mandan, North Dakota.
The winning breakaway roper again took home more than $100 per 1/10 of a second. The reigning world champion, Sawyer Gilbert of Buffalo, South Dakota, stopped the clock in 1.7 seconds – the fastest time of the rodeo thus far – and won $1,760. She and Tuesday’s winner, Texan Madison Outhier, move on to the semifinals.
Fifty-six of the top rodeo athletes in North America compete in each of eight events for more than $1.1 million dollars prize money in Fort Worth.
Seven groups of eight athletes per event compete in consecutive rodeo performances in the tournament. The top two money winners from each group qualify for one of the semifinal rounds.
Sawyer Gilbert won the world title at the National Finals Breakaway Roping last January and is keeping her winning ways going at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Gilbert from Buffalo, South Dakota, stopped the clock in 1.7 seconds in Dickies Arena on Wednesday night for the win. FWSSR photo by James Phifer.
The third-highest money winner in each set qualifies for the wild card round. The other four competitors go into a non-qualifiers pool and the highest remaining money winner in each event also gets to move to the wild card round.
The top two money winners of that second-chance wild card competition also move on to the semifinals. Then, the top four from each semifinal advance to the finals on Saturday, February 5 when the champions will be crowned.
Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi was the fastest barrel racer at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo on Wednesday. Tonozzi, of Lampasas, Texas, stopped the clock in 16.58 seconds to win the second round. She will advance to the wild card round and return here to compete in one week. FWSSR photo by James Phifer.
Two-time world champion barrel racer Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi just won the championship at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver. She finished out of the money on Tuesday in Fort Worth, but she and her mare Babe on the Chase (Birdie) ran the cloverleaf pattern in 16.58 seconds to win the second round. She has competed at the Fort Worth rodeo for 18 years and won the championship here once. She says she’d love to win here again, but her path to the tournament win has an extra step. She finished third in money won in her set and will have to win first or second the wild card round on February 2 to get to the semifinals.
Several athletes continued their winning streaks including reigning world champion steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack of Gonzales, Louisiana, who won his event for the second consecutive night and Canadian saddle bronc rider Kole Ashbacher rode Dakota Rodeo’s mare Cover Girl for 87 points to win the second round after finishing second on Tuesday.
Kincade Henry, a 20-year-old from Mount Pleasant, stopped the clock in the second-fastest time of the rodeo – 7.8 seconds to win the tie-down roping and advance to the semifinals. Only two bull riders made the eight-second ride on Tuesday. California’s Aaron Williams and New Mexico’s Scottie Knapp swapped the finish with Knapp’s 88-point ride on Andrews Rodeo Company’s bull Rapid Fire in the lead. They both advance to the semifinals having each won $4,400 in the qualifying rounds.
A new set of contestants, eight per event, compete Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. and Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Dickies Arena for their shot at the semifinals.
Kincade Henry of Mount Pleasant, Texas, had the fastest time of the tie-down roping in Bracket 3 at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Henry is ranked 22nd in the PRCA world standings and hoping to win championship of the FWSSR Pro Rodeo Tournament. He has won $2,200 and will advance to the Semifinals on Feb. 3. FWSSR photo by James Phifer
FORT WORTH, Texas — The following are unofficial results from the FWSSR ProRodeo Tournament at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, Wednesday, January 26, 2022. (Qualifiers are based on tie-breaker rules.)
Bareback Riding: 1, Tanner Aus, Granite Falls, Minn., 87 points on Dakota Rodeo’s Last Dance, $1,760. 2, Kyle Bloomquist, Raymond, Minn., 83.5, $1,320. 3, Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D., 83, $880. 4, Bodee Lammers, Tolar, Texas, 81.5, $440,
Semifinals Qualifiers: Aus, $3,520, and Breuer, $1,760. Wild Card Qualifier: KBloomquist, $1,320.
Steer Wrestling: 1, Tyler Waguespack, Gonzales, La., 4.4 seconds, $1,760. 2, (tie) Talon Roseland, Marshalltown, Iowa, and Eli Lord, Sturgis, S.D., 5.2, $1,100 each. 3, Tanner Brunner, Ramona, Kan., 9.4, $440.
Semifinals Qualifiers: Waguespack, $3,520, and Taz Olson, Prairie City, S.D., $1,760. Wild Card Qualifier: Lord, $1,100.
Breakaway Roping:1, Sawyer Gilbert, Buffalo, S.D., 1.7 seconds, $1,760. 2, Makayla Mack, Christmas, Fla., 2.2, $1,320. 3, Katie Mundorf, Mullen, Neb., 2.3, $880. 4, Tacy Webb, Midway, Texas, 2.5, $440.
Semifinals Qualifiers: Gilbert and Madison Outhier, Fulshear, Texas, $1,760 each. Wild Card Qualifier: Mundorf, $1,760.
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1, Kole Ashbacher, Arrowwood, Alberta, Canada, 87 points on Dakota Rodeo’s Cover Girl, $1,760. 2, (tie) Layton Green, Meeting Creek, Alberta, Canada, and CoBurn Bradshaw, Beaver, Utah, 85.5, $1,100 each. 3, Treyson Antonick, Overton, Texas, 81, $440.
Semifinals Qualifiers: Ashbacher, $3,080, and Green, $1,980. Wild Card Qualifier: Wyatt Hageman, Jay Em, Wyo., $1,760.
Tie-Down Roping: 1, Kincade Henry, Mount Pleasant, Texas, 7.8 seconds, $1,760. 2, Andrew Burks, Kiln, Miss., 7.9, $1,320. 3, Kody Mahaffey, Sweetwater, Texas, 9.5, $880. 4, Riley Pruitt, Gering, Neb., 11.8, $440.
Semifinals Qualifiers: Henry and Mahaffey, $2,200 each. Wild Card Qualifier: Burks, $1,320.
Team Roping: 1, Clay Tryan, Billings, Mont., and Jake Long, Coffeyville, Kan., 4.6 seconds, $1,760 each. 2, Zach Kilgus, Stephenville, Texas, and Jake Edwards, Fort Ann, N.Y., 5.1, $1,320 each. 3, Marcus Theriot, Lumberton, Miss., and Shay Carroll, Stephenville, Texas, 5.6, $880. 4, Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, Utah, and Jeremy Buhler, Arrowwood, Alberta, Canada, 5.9, $440.
Semifinal Qualifiers: Kilgus and Edwards, and Richards and Buhler, $1,980 each. Wild Card Qualifiers: Tryan and Long, $1,760 each.
Barrel Racing: 1, Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, Lampasas, Texas, 16.58 seconds, $1,760. 2, Molly Otto, Grand Forks, N.D., 16.72, $1,320. 3, Jessica Routier, Buffalo, S.D., 21.73, $880. 4, Cheyenne Wimberley, Stephenville, Texas, 21.84, $440.
Semifinals Qualifiers: Otto, $2,640, and Wimberley, $2,200. Wild Card Qualifier: Tonozzi, $1,760.
Bull Riding: (two qualified rides) 1, Scottie Knapp, Moriarty, N.M., 88 points on, Andrew Rodeo Company’s Rapid Fire, $2,420. 2, Aaron Williams, Pismo Beach, Calif., 86.5, $1,980.
Semifinals Qualifiers: Knapp and Williams, $4,400 each. Wild Card Qualifier: Ky Hamilton, Mackay, Queensland, Australia (advances on tiebreaker)