<\/p>\n
<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. At last! Mote adds Pendleton to career resum\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n PENDLETON, Ore. \u2013 Bobby Mote said it was the most fun he\u2019s ever had on a victory lap and his trip around Pendleton Round-Up Arena was \u201cprobably the longest one I\u2019ve ever taken.\u201d Fair enough. This one was long overdue.<\/p>\n Since he first climbed on the back of a bareback horse more than 20 years ago in Oregon ranch country, Mote has dreamed of taking that lap around the grassy field. He\u2019d been close more than once, but he had never won his home-state\u2019s biggest rodeo, not once in his 17 seasons as a professional.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been close before, losing by a point or having a horse not perform in the final,\u201d Mote said. \u201cIt just lets the air out of you. I\u2019ve wanted to win this rodeo since I started.\u201d<\/p>\n A pair of Sankey Rodeo horses saw to it that Mote made it to the victory ceremony this time. He rode Parlor Game for 84 points to win the first round and Thunder Monkey for 85 in the Sept. 15 finals to tie traveling partner Steven Dent for second place and claim the two-head average.<\/p>\n The judges awarded Mote 47 of a possible 50 points for his technical excellence in the final go.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew (Thunder Monkey) was good,\u201d Mote said, \u201cbut all of the horses here are bucked twice and they don\u2019t always have their best trip the second time. She stalled a little bit at the start and I thought, \u2018Oh, no you don\u2019t.\u2019 But she turned out just great. She jumped high in the air and was electric. She gave me a chance to do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n Mote\u2019s 169-point total was one better than Austin Foss, a fellow Oregonian who attended one of Mote\u2019s riding schools a couple of years ago and is about to clinch the 2012 PRCA Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year Award.<\/p>\n With earnings of $11,261, Mote surged over $100,000 for the season ($105,690) \u2013 it marks a record 12th<\/sup> consecutive year that he has reached six figures, and it puts him in position to challenge for a record-tying fifth world championship when he reaches Las Vegas this December.<\/p>\n \u201cAm I thinking about five?\u201d Mote said. \u201cI\u2019m thinking about six (breaking the record shared by Joe Alexander and Bruce Ford), and five comes between four and six. That record\u2019s been my goal for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n What made this signature win at Pendleton all the more satisfying was the knowledge of just how far Mote has come to reach this point.<\/p>\n A year ago at this time, Mote was fresh out of Seattle Harborview Medical Center, recovering from surgery to repair a lacerated pancreas. He was 209 miles away from here, at home in Culver, Ore., listening on ProRodeoLive.com as Dent took his Pendleton victory lap.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard listening to it,\u201d Mote said. \u201cAt that point, the doctors were saying I couldn\u2019t even sneeze or I\u2019d tear everything up. I wanted to root my buddies on, but I also wanted to be there competing, and I didn\u2019t know how long it would take me to get back.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last four times I\u2019ve been to the NFR it seems like I\u2019ve been nursing something pretty serious. Last year, I was just really, really weak. I wasn\u2019t in any kind of shape after months of recovering from the surgery. I wasn\u2019t able to start working out until a couple of weeks before the NFR.\u201d<\/p>\n Frustrated by that string of injuries, and surgeries, which had slowed him in recent years, Mote has entered into a program of weight training this year to give him additional strength and tone. The idea has been to use training as a preventative measure and so far, so good.<\/p>\n \u201cThree times I\u2019ve been at the top and been knocked to the bottom by the sort of injuries where you can\u2019t even sit up in bed,\u201d Mote said. \u201cEach time you have to start over again. It\u2019s hard. But it is what is necessary if I want to make it back to my best.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 With checks in all three roping events, 16-time World Champion Trevor Brazile obliterated the all-around earnings record at the Pendleton Round-Up on Sept. 15, and that all happened just a couple of hours after he had occasion to consider his mortality at 30,000 feet over Colorado.<\/p>\n A full day, all in all.<\/p>\n Brazile and team roping partner Patrick Smith boarded a charter flight out of Abilene, Texas, at 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 15 to make it back to Pendleton for the finals. They stopped in Grand Junction, Colo., for fuel and after they took off again, well, that\u2019s when things got interesting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a smooth ride and then the pilot leaned back and said he had a problem … we had a problem … I guess when you\u2019re in something like that together y\u2019all have a problem,\u201d Brazile said. \u201cThe pilot said he was losing oil pressure and had to find an emergency landing place.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a long 25 minutes. A lot of cowboys were praying in that plane, that\u2019s for sure. But everything worked out. We landed at Salt Lake International; we had 40 minutes to catch a plane.\u201d<\/p>\n Brazile lucked into a commercial flight into Pasco, Wash., an hour\u2019s drive from Pendleton, and made it just in time for his first event, the tie-down roping. He came in third in the three-head average, and then he and Smith won the team roping final to end up fourth in the average.<\/p>\n Brazile\u2019s total earnings of $20,204 were $6,651 better than the record set by Cash Myers in 2005 of $13,553. Put another way? Brazile\u2019s total was more than the last three Pendleton all-around champions. Combined.<\/p>\n The big weekend in the Northwest put him over $200,000 in regular-season earnings for a ProRodeo record seventh consecutive year, and the 11th<\/sup> time in 12 years (he missed in 2005 with $197,400).<\/p>\n \u2022 In 13th<\/sup> place and on the bubble to qualify for the Wrangler NFR, Todd Suhn won the steer wrestling final in 5.1 seconds to secure the three-head average title and $11,560. With an additional second-place check in St. George, Utah, Suhn is now eighth in the world standings with $61,057 and seems a sure thing to make the field in Vegas for a 16th<\/sup> time, tying him with Byron Walker for second place on the all-time list behind Roy Duvall\u2019s 24 qualifications. It was Suhn\u2019s third win at Pendleton, having won in his rookie season of 1996 (when he also won the all-around title) and again in 2007, along with three second-place finishes. \u201cI\u2019m hoping they\u2019ll plant grass in the Thomas & Mack,\u201d Suhn said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll go for it, but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 It seems to be the year of The Big Surprise in steer roping. First, Jay Pixley takes the Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days title and now Coy Thompson of Whitewood, S.D., comes through to win at Pendleton. Thompson\u2019s time of 47.4 seconds on three head was enough to edge Joe Wells by four-tenths of a second. His earnings of $6,906 more than doubled his season total \u2013 he started the week 47th<\/sup> in the world with $6,255 \u2013 and assured him of the biggest season since buying his card in 2003.<\/p>\n The other champions in the 102nd<\/sup> Pendleton Round-Up were team ropers Colby Lovell and Russell Cardoza (18.3 seconds on three head), saddle bronc rider Cody DeMoss (171 points on two head), tie-down roper Houston Hutto (28.1 seconds on three head), bull rider Parker Breding (175 points on two head) and barrel racer Christy Loflin (57.64 on two runs). Breding\u2019s father, Scott, won the Pendleton bull riding in 1996.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Frost breaks single-season earnings record for permit holders <\/strong><\/p>\n Despite a schedule that was kept lean by his commitment to his studies at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Joe Frost this month broke the one-season record for money earned on a PRCA permit. Next up? A run at the 2013 Rookie of the Year award, the Linderman Award and a berth in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.<\/p>\n The Randlett, Utah, cowboy surpassed Brad Pierce\u2019s permit record of $38,016 \u2013 set in 2006 \u2013 at the Elk City (Okla.) Rodeo of Champions on Sept. 2 and bought his card on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve actually got about $4,000 more than the Linderman Award leader (Canadian Kyle Thomson this year), but you can\u2019t win it on a permit,\u201d Frost said. \u201cThat kind of ticks me off, but the Linderman will definitely be a primary goal next year along with the rookie award and making the NFR (as a bull rider).\u201d<\/p>\n Of his record total of $38,470 this year, about 85 percent ($32,627) came in the bull riding. He earned $2,359 in tie-down roping and his steer wrestling total is $3,484 after tying for second place in Sedgwick, Kan., this past weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cMy main goals this year were to finish first in the Wilderness Circuit all-around and bull riding (he leads Rhen Richard by $9,065 in the all-around and NFR-contender Chris Roundy by $14,220 in the bull riding),\u201d Frost said, \u201cbut I thought there was a chance I\u2019d get the permit record after I read an article (on prorodeo.com) about Caleb Smidt earlier this summer. (Smidt holds the career record for earnings on a permit.)<\/p>\n \u201cI missed a bunch of rodeos because I had to go back to college (he is a sophomore agronomy major at OPSU in Goodwell). I ended up five rodeos short of qualifying for the All American ProRodeo Finals in Waco (Texas), but I am on track to meet my goals and it\u2019s always nice to break a record.\u201d<\/p>\n Frost, who is a second cousin to the late World Champion Bull Rider Lane Frost, will still be operating with a schedule that figures to be a bit constrained, with most of his classes clustered on Thursdays and Fridays. But that\u2019s OK with him.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t rodeo forever,\u201d said Frost, 20, \u201cso I am very much committed to my education. It is very important to get a degree. I\u2019ll still to go to as many rodeos as I can, but I will be dividing my time for the next three years.<\/p>\n \u201c(ProRodeo Hall of Famer) Lewis Feild has helped me come to the point of view that you don\u2019t have to go to every rodeo to be successful. You have to stay hungry and be prepared. If you go to 70 rodeos and (have a qualified) ride at 60 of them \u2013 if you are consistent like that \u2013 you are much better off in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Saddle bronc riding standings leader <\/strong>Wade Sundell <\/strong>suffered partial tears of the ACL and PCL in his right knee at the Justin Boots Playoffs in Puyallup, Wash., and will be sitting out until the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December. \u201cI had my knee scoped at the end of July and missed all of August,\u201d Sundell said from his Boxholm, Iowa, home, \u201cbut everything was going great \u2013 winning $20,000 in a couple of weeks \u2013 until my knee popped at Puyallup. I talked to the Justin SportsMedicine staff and they recommended I rest for a couple of weeks and then start rehab in early October. I want to be as close to full strength as I can be for the NFR.\u201d Sundell\u2019s lead over Jesse Wright is $7,916 and $8,158 over third-place Cody DeMoss with two weeks remaining in the regular season, including the $637,188 Justin Boots Championships in Omaha, Neb. With a win at the West Texas Fair & Rodeo in Abilene, and a third-place finish at the St. George (Utah) Lions Dixie Rodeo, reigning World Champion Taos Muncy kept within $25,000 of the leader.<\/p>\n \u2022 Three Wright brothers (Jesse, Cody and Jake) are safely positioned to make the saddle bronc riding field for the Wrangler NFR in December. Spencer Wright is going to be this year\u2019s PRCA\u2019s Rookie of the Year and when Alex Wright scores 90 points on Bar T Rodeo\u2019s Big John to win in St. George, Utah, it gets people wondering. Is it possible that some time in the coming years, there could be five brothers \u2013 a third of the field \u2013 qualified into the NFR? The five have earned $304,345 as a group, which averages out to $60,869 per Wright, or good enough to get all five of them in this year if the rules allowed for such a thing.<\/p>\n \u2022 Justin McDaniel\u2019s win at the West Texas Fair & Rodeo in Abilene, along with a third-place result in St. George, Utah, and a fourth-place tie in the average at the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up, was enough to boost the 2008 world champion bareback rider back into the top 15 in the standings for the first time in two months. He\u2019ll need more than $5,000 in earnings this week \u2013 and some luck \u2013 to make it into the top 12 and a berth at the Justin Boots Championships in Omaha, Sept. 27-29. <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 For full results of last week\u2019s PRCA rodeos, visit www.prorodeo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Wyoming coroner releases autopsy results on Cresta<\/strong><\/p>\n Laramie (Wyo.) County Coroner Martin Luna has released the autopsy results on the July 28 death of Wrangler National Finals Rodeo heeler Broc Cresta, 25, at the 2012 Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother\u2019s death was a tragic accident,\u201d said Broc\u2019s big brother, Brent, 28. \u201cBroc took his own prescription pain medication, and combined with alcohol and a climate he wasn\u2019t used to, it caused the perfect storm. He went to sleep and never woke up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe world of professional rodeo lost a talented young cowboy and a fine young man the day Broc Cresta died,\u201d said Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Commissioner Karl Stressman. \u201cHe left an impressive mark in his quarter century on this earth, and he will not be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. The Mirage Hotel & Casino Renews as Official Hotel Partner of the PRCA<\/strong><\/p>\n COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. \u2013 The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) announced today that The Mirage Hotel & Casino (\u201cThe Mirage\u201d) in Las Vegas has agreed to renew as a National Sponsor and Hotel Partner of the PRCA.<\/p>\n In addition to offering ProRodeo fans year-round deals in Las Vegas, The Mirage will continue to be the center of entertainment during the Wrangler NFR as home to Rodeo Vegas \u2013 the official WNFR after party of the PRCA.<\/p>\n Together The Mirage and Rodeo Vegas will continue their tradition of providing rodeo fans a great place to stay, exciting nightly entertainment and the ability to meet all the top ProRodeo cowboys.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mirage is excited to continue our national sponsorship of the PRCA and remain as their Official WNFR after-party,\u201d said Traci Preus, Vice President of Marketing & Advertising. \u201cRodeo Vegas pioneered the WNFR after-party and continues to offer an incomparable fan experience. This year\u2019s free entertainment line-up, including superstars Craig Morgan and Chris Cagle, is a direct reflection of our dedication to the rodeo fan experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mirage and Rodeo Vegas have been great partners for the PRCA and they continue to provide our fans and cowboys with exciting entertainment and a great atmosphere in which to celebrate every night after the WNFR,\u201d said PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman. \u201cWe are looking forward to enjoying their top-notch country music lineup in 2012 and beyond.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n