Texas cowboy Brazile captures all-around title at Reno Rodeo

Published 10:44 am Thursday, July 3, 2003

Trevor Brazile won his second straight all all-around title Sunday at the famed Reno Rodeo, the first stop on the PRCA’s 10-city Summer Pro Rodeo Tour. Brazile, from Anson, Texas, won $15,658 in the team roping and calf roping to claim the coveted title.

Brazile, who teamed with Wayne Folmer from El Paso, Texas, in the team roping, won the Pro Rodeo Tour Round to earn 12 tour points, and finished third in the overall standings. The duo also collected nearly $7,000.

“We knew that steer was going to run,” Brazile said. “We had to be aggressive. That seems to be the way we rope the best.”

Davey Shields, a three-time Canadian Professional Rodeo Association bareback riding champion, won a round and placed second in another to claim the Reno title. The cowboy from Bashaw, Alberta, claimed $12,982 in earnings and moved from 21st to ninth in the world standings and into contention for his first Wrangler NFR since 2000.

“I just drew really well. The horses were good,” Shields said. “When you draw good horses, that’s half the battle right there.”

Chancey Larson from Manhattan, Kan., had the top time on three runs in the steer wrestling to win the Reno championship. Larson’s total time of 15.7 seconds gave the cowboy more than $10,000.

Dan Mortensen won his second-straight title at Reno with a split of the bronc riding with Jesse Bail of Camp Crook, S.D. Calf ropers Bubba Paschal from LaPorte, Texas, and Brandon Neugebauer from Colorado Springs, Colo., split their event title with identical times of 27.9 seconds on three runs.

J.D. Yates, from Pueblo, Colo., teamed with his cousin, Jay Wadhams also from Pueblo, to capture the team roping title. Yates and Wadhams had a time of 19.0 seconds on three runs for the championship.

Kelly Kaminski, from Bellville, Texas, won the barrel racing title with a time of 51.59 seconds over three rounds. Layne McCasland was the only bull rider to last the full eight seconds in the tour round and successfully cover two bulls. McCasland’s 168 points gave him $12,255.

The Reno Rodeo ended its nine-day run with more than $525,000 in prize money. The rodeo will air on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) at 4 p.m. Aug. 17.

Billy Robinson scored his first Professional Bull Riders’ Built Ford Tough Series win Saturday with a two-round score of 182 points at BULLNANZA Nashville. The bull rider from Galax, Va., turned in an event-high 92.5 points on Tony Sharp’s famous bull “Hammer” in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round to win a career-high $28,855.

“This is the neatest thing ever,” Robinson said. “I’ve never won anything like this. This is the biggest thing in the world to me, my biggest thrill for sure.”

Dave Samsel’s 177.5 points was good enough for second place and $16,550 and Tony Mendes of Jensen, Utah, won $9,554 for third place. Robinson became just the second cowboy to make a qualified ride aboard Hammer. Owen Washburn of Lordsburg, N.M., topped Hammer twice earlier this season in Bossier City, La.

The $9.5-million Built Ford Tough Series will resume action Aug. 1-2 in Oklahoma City.

Butch Thurman of Pendleton, has covered professional rodeo for 23 years. His e-mail address is bthurman@oregontrail.net