News & Notes from the Rodeo Trail, May 11
Sage Kimzey has won six consecutive PRCA bull riding titles. In the Digital Rodeo Tournament presented by The Cowboy Channel, the No. 1 seed in bull riding is on to the quarterfinals with ease.
Kimzey cruised into the second round with 63% of the vote and will face No. 9 Ruger Piva in the quarterfinals. Piva got the upset win by garnering 65%.
Piva wasn’t the only upset winner. He was joined by No. 15 Tyler Bingham, No. 12 Parker McCown and No. 13 Brody Yeary, who nipped No. 4 Boudreaux Campbell by a mere 207 votes (50.91% to 49.09%) in the closest race in the bull riding.
Barrel racing top seed Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi earned votes like a top seed should, cruising into the quarterfinals with 72%.
Pozzi Tonozzi was one of the few favorites to advance in the barrel racing. No. 2 Jimmie Smith joined her, but the Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 seeds all fell. No. 3 Hailey Lockwood, the reigning two-time champion, was edged by No. 14 Brittany Barnett 51.7% to 48.2%.
In the closest race, No. 11 Wenda Johnson defeated No. 6 Tillar Murray by 57 votes.
Up next, bareback riding and steer wrestling return with the quarterfinalists. Vote at prorodeo.com. Voting ends at 5 p.m. (ET) May 14.
Saddle bronc rider Brody Cress has made a name for himself the last three years in ProRodeo.
Cress has qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo the last three seasons. He finished second in the PRCA | RAM World Standings in 2017 and 2019. Both those years, he won the NFR average.
This season he’s second in the world standings with $47,305, thanks to his big win at San Antonio, Feb. 20, where Cress left town with $24,500.
With the rodeos on hold because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Cress is keeping things in perspective.
“I want to say thank you to everybody who has been helping us get through this hard time and not being able to rodeo,” Cress told ProRodeo Sports News via video. “I know it is hard to stay positive and keep things moving, but we are trying to do that and hoping that rodeos get kicked back up. I want to say thank you to all the sponsors out there for rodeo contestants who are sticking with us even though we can’t do our job right now and thank you for having our backs. We are definitely looking forward to getting back out there when we can.”
Cress was especially appreciative of the frontline workers in this pandemic.
“I just want to say thank you to all the farmers and ranchers who continue to do their job and allow us to be able to have food and all the police officers who have been trying to keep things calmed down with everybody being stuck at home and getting mad about stuff and ready to get back to their lives, as well as all the medical staffs,” Cress said. “I know they are in over their heads with little sleep and working a lot of hours just to try and keep things under control, and I want to say thank you to all of them.”
Courtesy of PRCA