Gray adds to green with 7th-round win
Cheney bareback rider Ryan Gray closed within $330 of the lead after winning the seventh go-round at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas Thursday night.
Gray rode Blue Steel to 85 points for his second win in the 10-round rodeo that concludes Sunday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“I had this horse in Lewiston and did good on her there,” Gray said on the National Finals Radio Network. “I seen her the other night when Kelly (Timberman) had her, and that’s the one I wanted.”
Defending world champion Timberman, who is leading the NFR average, tied for first with Rowdy Buechner of Sandpoint on Sunday with a score of 87 points. Buechner had a 79 on Calamity Jane on Thursday.
Gray picked up $15,649.04 for winning the round, pushing his season total to $140,606.84. He is hot on the heels of leader Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas.
He also moved past Lowe in the average. Gray is fifth with 577.5 points on seven rides with Lowe at 573. Timberman, from Mills, Wyo., has 586.5 points.
Wes Stevenson of Kaufman, Texas, is in third place for the season, about $15,000 behind Gray, but he his second in the average with 583 points.
“I’m trying to stay in the same mind frame I had all year,” said Gray, who has won $46,189.90 since the NFR started last Friday.
Elsewhere, Kelly Kaminski moved into first place in the world barrel racing standings, winning the seventh round in 13.90 seconds to push her season earnings to $138,192.
“I was really surprised with the time I had,” said Kaminski, from Bellville, Texas. “I rocked the first two barrels, and all I could think was to make sure I was smooth on the third. Then I whipped home, but I was shocked when I heard I had run a 13.9.”
Aggregate leader Liz Pinkston of San Antonio was second in 13.97, and Shali Lord of Lamar, Colo., the previous world leader, finished third in 14.03.
In team roping, injury replacement Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, and Kory Koontz of Sudan, Texas, won their second straight round, tying Wade Wheatley of Hughson, Calif., and Kyle Lockett of Ivanhoe, Calif., at 3.8 seconds. Brazile took over in the sixth round after Jake Barnes lost part of his right thumb in the fifth round.
“Usually, it’s my partner in my position trying to help me win a world title,” Brazile said. “It’s nice being able to pinch hit and help Kory do the same. That is all I am here for, to give him a shot that he worked hard to get to. And that horse of Travis Tryan’s is awesome. He was nice enough to lend him to me as a favor to Kory, and it just shows the camaraderie of the sport.”
In all-around, Ryan Jarrett of Summerville, Ga., took over the lead from Brazile with $195,515. Three-time all-round champion Brazile is second with $193,361.
In tie-down roping, Matt Shiozawa of Chubbuck, Idaho, won with a time of 7.0, Ryan Jarrett of Summerville, Ga., was second at 7.7, and Brazile third at 7.8.
In bull riding, Bryan Richardson of Dallas scored 90 points on Razor Sharp. World leader Matt Austin of Wills Point, Texas, was second at 88, and Steve Woolsey of Spanish Fork, Utah, finished third with an 87. Woolsey, the only rider who has successfully ridden six bulls, is the aggregate leader with 489 points.
“I hadn’t seen him so I knew nothing about the bull getting on him tonight,” Richardson said. “I was told that he was going to be right there either way. He was going to go one direction or the other and it turned out he went both. But I love the bull now.”
In saddle bronc riding, Rod Hay of Canada and Billy Etbauer of Edmond, Okla., tied for first with 86.5 points. World leader Jeffery Willert of Belvidere, S.D., was third with an 86.