Royce Ford picked up wins in two of three rounds of bareback riding to capture the event title at RodeoAustin Saturday in Austin, Texas.

Ford, out of Hudson, Colo., turned in a spectacular ride on Zinger of the Beutler and Son Rodeo Company to take the tour round with 92 points. He also won the second round with an 89 aboard Beutler and Son Rodeo’s Liberty Bell. That gave Ford 259 points over three rounds and a check worth $7,188.

“It’s safe to say this area of Texas has been pretty good to me,” Ford said. “I’ve been able to get on some really good horses. It’s just been great.”

Contestants will compete in 10 of 12 stops on the Wrangler Tour, earning points for the championship event upon the conclusion of the Wrangler Tour.

The top 12 contestants in the standings after the final Wrangler Tour stop on May 8 in Guymon, Okla., will qualify for the Pace Picante ProRodeo Chute-out scheduled for June 17-18 in Reno, Nev.

The rodeos’ biggest money winner was Bobby Welsh from Gillette, Wyo. Welsh was the only cowboy to ride all three bulls at the Travis County Expo Center. He totaled 253 points overall and earned $7,369.

The total payoff was $271,850.

Welsh also picked up 19 tour points for his second-place finish in the tour round and first-place finish in the aggregate. Welsh entered Austin as the eighth-ranked rider in the tour standings.

Justin Edmonds of El Campo, Texas, scored 94 points in the Tour round.

Cody, Cody and Cody battled for the saddle bronc riding championship. Cody DeMoss, Cody Wright and Cody Martin all qualified for the tour round.

DeMoss, from Crowville, La., finished at the top of the leaderboard with a 90-point ride on Secret Agent. His total score of 249 points also gave him the overall title.

Wright of Milford, Utah, finished in second place – just 27 cents behind DeMoss. DeMoss collected $6,123.56 compared to Wright’s $6,123.29.

Martin from Smackover, Ark., finished fourth in the tour round and tied for fourth in the aggregate.

Blair Burk won the title in calf roping. Burk, of Durant, Okla., added $5,314 to his 2005 earnings with a total time 26.5. He also won the tour round with an eight-second run.

Other winners at RodeoAustin include: Chris Bradley of Burkburnett, Texas, 4.4 seconds in the tour round of the bull dogging, while Jeff Corbello of Iowa, La., logged a total of 13.4 seconds on three head to win the championship and $6,494.

In team roping, Bobby Simmons of Breckenridge, Texas, and Twister Cain of Gonzales, Texas, turned in a time of 4.6 seconds in the tour round.

Nelson Linares of Plain City, Fla., and Walt Woodard of Stockdale, Calif., took the overall title with 14.8 seconds on three head for $4,478; Brittany Pozzi out of Victoria, Texas, won the barrel racing tour round in 14.84 seconds and totaled 44.85 seconds on three runs for $5,568 and the overall title as well.

The next stop on the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour will be the Laughlin (Nev.) River Stampede on Sunday.

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Butch Thurman of Pendleton has covered professional rodeo for 25 years. His email address is bthurman@oregontrail.net.