ProRodeo Sports News - Sept. 3, 2021

HORSE HEAVEN ROUND-UP KENNEWICK, WASH.

Riding High Bull rider Clayton Sellars stays hot in Kennewick

BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News C layton Sellars keeps a pretty simple outlook on his chosen profession. “Ride the bull, win the prize,” Sellars said. The Florida native must be on to something with that philosophy: at just 23 years old, he is already a veteran of a pair of National Finals Rodeos and is well on his way to a third in 2021, sitting third in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings. Sellars has been on a great roll since winning the Reno Rodeo Xtreme Bulls June 17, and he capped his superb summer run with another victory, this time at the Horse Heaven/Kennewick (Wash.) Round-Up. Sellars claimed the title with 166.5 points on two head, a win worth $7,340. He won the first round with an 86.5-point ride aboard Outlawbuckers Rodeo’s OLS Tubs Home Grown and picked up second with an 80-point ride on Bridwell Pro Rodeo’s Rug Doctor in the short round. Six-time PRCAWorld Champion Sage Kimzey, who happens to be one of Sellars’ hauling partners, picked up the short go win with an 88-point ride on another Bridwell bull, Who’s Bad News. Kimzey and Sellars also share a rig with Josh Frost, and the trio are ranked first, third and fourth, respectively, in the standings coming into September with collective 2021 earnings just south of half a million dollars. “We do OK,” Sellars said. As for the Kennewick win, Sellars said he hadn’t previously been on either of his bulls. While some of his fellow competitors like to study video of their draws or reach out to other riders who’ve attempted them in the past, Sellars takes a much more laid- back approach. “A huge thanks to the committee for pulling all the strings they needed to pull to have the event and to all the fans that showed up,” he said, pointing out the packed crowds all week. “Their hospitality was great, and we really appreciate them.” It was a busy weekend for Sellars, who also competed in Bremerton, Wash., Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Pueblo, Colo., and Tremonton, Utah, where he picked up second for an additional $5,580 in the bank. The last two months have been a blur of winning for Sellars. Since the Fourth of July, he’s won more than $54,000. “Reno was a good start to it,” Sellars said. As for the momentum gained, he says it’s just a product of a good mindset. “I wake up every day expecting to win. That’s what I’ve done all summer and I’m going to keep doing it.” Sellars and company are planning a furious finish to the 2021 season. “I think we have maybe two days off for the rest of the year,” he said from a brief trip home between Kennewick and the Labor Day weekend. He switched the East Coast for the West recently, now making his home in Visalia, Calif. “I met this pretty lady, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her, so I had to come closer,” he joked of girlfriend Billie, whose brother Lefty Holman is also an NFR cowboy. The California address may be handy on the final weekend of the regular season when Sellars travels to California Rodeo Salinas, host of the ProRodeo Tour presented by PendletonWhisky set to be a $1 million event, Sept. 23-26. “I can’t wait, it’ll be a fun way to wrap it up,” Sellars said. As for his terrific year, he said it’s gone according to his plan. “I like to set number goals, like how many I want to ride, where I want my riding percentage to be,” he said. “That’s the goal, just stay on them. “Things are right on track really.” “I just kind of show up and do my thing,” he said. He had high praise for the organizers in Kennewick.

TOP MONEY WINNER TOP SCORES

Rowdy Parrott ($9,008 in steer wrestling) BAREBACK RIDING

ON THE MOVE

Parrott

• Steer wrestler Rowdy Parrott’s clutch performance in Kennewick helped him jump inside the Top 15 of the PRCA | RAM World Standings. He won the second round with a rodeo- best 3.3-second run and placed in the two other rounds to win the average by more than a second. • Tie-down roper Quade Hiatt is in the middle of an extremely competitive rookie race and his $5,933 win in Kennewick placed him second in the PRCA | more than $2,000 behind leader Beau Cooper. Of the three, only Hiatt was in the Top 24 in the ProRodeo Tour standings as of Aug. 31. Resistol Rookie Standings, just

1. Cole Reiner ................ 177.5 pts. on 2 2. Jess Pope ................................ 170.5 3. Two tied at ............................... 168.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Rowdy Parrott ............ 11.3 sec. on 3 2. Riley Duvall ................................ 12.6 3. Tyler Waguespack ...................... 13.0 TEAM ROPING 1. C. Tryan/J. Long ......... 15.3 sec. on 3 2. C. Smith/J. Corkill ...................... 15.8 3. G. Rogers/J. Minor ..................... 16.2 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Isaac Diaz ..................... 174 pts. on 2 2. Layton Green ........................... 173.5 3. Brody Cress ................................ 169 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Quade Hiatt ................. 24.5 sec. on 3 2. Shad Mayfield ............................ 24.6 3. Chance Oftedahl ......................... 25.4 BARREL RACING 1. Destri Devenport ....... 34.16 sec. on 2 2. Jordan Briggs .......................... 34.22 3. Ashley Castleberry ................... 34.37 BULL RIDING 1. Clayton Sellars .......... 166.5 pts. on 2 2. Sage Kimzey ............................... 165 3. Parker Breding ................... 86.5 on 1

Complete results/Page 62

Roseanna Sales photo Clayton Sellars continued his career-best regular season by winning the Horse Heaven/Kennewick (Wash.) Round-Up. He earned $7,340 for his performance.

ProRodeo Sports News 9/3/2021

ProRodeo Sports News 9/3/2021

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