Sage Kimzey Kickoffs his Season with Fort Worth Win
FORT WORTH, Texas – The last two weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least for seven-time PRCA World Champion Bull Rider Sage Kimzey.
On January 25, Sage and his wife Alexis welcomed their first child Steele into the world. Now, fast forward 12 days and he’s already making his young son proud.
Kimzey captured the coveted title at the 2022 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo with a 91.5-point ride on 4L & Diamond S Rodeo’s Space Unicorn in the championship round.
“I told Alexis, ‘if I’m going to be gone from you two I’m going to make it worth it,'” said Kimzey, 27. “I had a really nice draw tonight in Space Unicorn. You know I was really happy to have him, he’s a really great bull and it all worked out for me here in Fort Worth.”
The eight-second ride in the finals earned Kimzey $20,000, over the course of four rides in Fort Worth he walked away with $25,500 in his pocket. He said even though his layoff after the NFR was longer than usual it was something he needed to get back on track.
“It was a needed break for sure,” Kimzey said. “The NFR is such a stressful atmosphere and there’s so much going on. I always take a little time to decompress anyway. There was a lot of stuff physically therapy wise that I needed to work on.
“That week in the hospital it was tough and stressful for a lot of reasons, but it also gave me a lot of time to look at my body and get everything prepped and ready to go. There were a lot of blessings that happened in those 10 days for Alexis and I. Everything worked out the way it should and glory to God for sure.”
Even though Kimzey missed nearly two weeks of action, he quickly made-up ground. This win moves him inside the top 5 of the PRCA | RAM World Standings once again. He said he’s exactly where he wants to be and is excited to finish out the winter run strong.
“I had to miss a bunch of rodeos the last week and a half but this kind of made all of that null and void,” he said. “It kind of puts me right where I want to be, I guess. The great thing about living down here in Texas now is everything in the winter is just a few hours from the house.
“So, I’ll be back and forth. There will be so more sleepless nights, but I’m ready for them for sure. With everything that’s already happened I think this year is going to be really good.”
Other winners at the $957,907 rodeo were bareback rider Kaycee Feild (*93 points on Macza Pro Rodeo’s OLS Tubs Stevie Nicks); steer wrestler Tristan Martin (3.9 seconds); team ropers Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira (4.2 seconds); breakaway roper Kelsie Domer (1.8 seconds); saddle bronc rider Stetson Wright (*91.5 points on Macza Pro Rodeo’s OLS Tubs Stevie Nicks); tie-down roper Bryson Sechrist (*7.2 seconds); and barrel racer Wenda Johnson (*16.08 seconds). *Indicates an arena record set.
Courtesy of PRCA