ProRodeo Sports News - April 1, 2022

MONTGOMERY, ALA.

SOUTHEASTERN LIVESTOCK EXPOSITION Travel Worthy

Justin Kimsey’s long-distance trip results in win

Complete results/ Page 58

BY JOLEE JORDAN Special to the ProRodeo Sports News M ontgomery, Ala., isn’t the furthest you can get from Kennewick, Wash., and stay within the U.S., but it’s darn close. Luckily for Justin Kimsey, and many of his fellow steer wrestlers, they can often fly to far flung rodeos and catch a jump ride on someone else’s horse instead of putting in the miles behind the wheel of a truck. When Kimsey began planning for a Southeastern Circuit run this winter, however, he had one problem. “I’ve never been to Florida or Alabama. I knew Juan (Alcazar, a Southeastern Circuit steer wrestler) but no one else,” Kimsey admitted. Fate stepped in with a little help from north of the border. “The Canadians said I could enter with them, so I booked a flight and off I went,” he said. Though a long way from home, it was a profitable venture as Kimsey placed second in Arcadia, Fla., and won Montgomery, both stops on ProRodeo’s NFR Playoff Series presented by Pendleton, Whisky. At the Southeastern Livestock Exposition held March 18-20 in Montgomery, Kimsey stopped the clock in 4.0 seconds to earn $2,746, bringing his total haul from the run to just more than $5,300. “I knew that steer was good, they had luck on him at The American in the 10-man round,” Kimsey noted of the scouting report in Montgomery. “The start was pretty easy, just come sharp behind ‘em, and go get him down.” Kimsey relied upon Tanner Milan’s good horse, Fast Eddy, for the win along with hazing from Southeastern Circuit cowboy Quinn Campbell. “That is a lot of horse, he’s pretty powerful,” Kimsey said. “That was my third time on him. The first was Arcadia, where I was second, then I let one get away fromme in Okeechobee.” “But then we won in Montgomery,” he added. “It makes it much easier when you’re able to get on a good set of horses with a great hazer.” The win helped ease a dry winter for Kimsey, who only took up steer wrestling in earnest a few years ago. “I tried to rope calves for a while, but I was not very good at catching cattle with a rope,” he joked. Kimsey competed in tie- down roping, steer wrestling and team roping in college while at Washington State University in Pullman. The drive to actually focus on steer wrestling came while spending time at PRCAWorld Champion Brad Gleason’s home in Touchet, not far fromKennewick, back in 2016. Kimsey met another Columbia River bulldogger, Chance Gartner, who lives just down the road while at the Gleasons. “He asked me if I wanted to jump some steers and he really helped me,” Kimsey said of Gartner. “I didn’t want to sit home that summer, so I tried it out and have been doing it ever since.” In 2022 Kimsey committed to hit the road in search of his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification. “That’s everybody’s goal,” he said. “I didn’t have a great winter. I worked all last year, and I didn’t have much luck at the early season rodeos to help me get qualified for the big winter rodeos.” In between rodeo trips, Kimsey works for his dad, Warren, building pole buildings. After the solid weekend in the Southeastern

TOP MONEY WINNER Riley Istre TOP SCORES

($4,733, tie- down roping) BAREBACK RIDING

Istre

1. Clayton Biglow .................... 88.5 pts. 2. Three tied at ............................... 86.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Justin Kimsey ....................... 4.0 sec. 2. Cody Miller ................................... 4.1 3. Two tied at ................................... 4.2 TEAM ROPING 1. D. Egusquiza/T. Graves ......... 3.6 sec. 2. C. Keller/M. Jones ........................ 3.7 3. Two tied at ................................... 4.0 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Ryder Wright ...................... 88.5 pts. 2. Lefty Holman ................................ 87 3. Three tied at ............................... 86.5 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Riley Istre ............................. 9.1 sec. 2. Five tied at ................................... 9.2 BARREL RACING 1. Elizabeth Schmid .............. 15.18 sec. 2. Christine DeRenzo .................... 15.25 3. Jimmie Smith ........................... 15.26 BULL RIDING 1. Ernie Courson, Jr. .................. 88 pts. (Tie) Josh Frost .............................. 88 3. Levi Schonebaum ...................... 85.5 Circuit, Kimsey was back in the Northwest, working for a few days before hitting Redmond, Oregon’s High Desert Stampede, a circuit rodeo, and another stop on the NFR Playoff Series. He finished tied for third in Redmond with a 5.5-second run and earned $1,864. Kimsey is 23rd in the NFR Playoff Series standings and would love nothing more than to qualify for the NFR Playoff to be held in his home state during the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Sept. 8-11. To reach that goal, Kimsey will be back on a plane to San Angelo, Texas, catching a ride on Fast Eddy again before coming back to the West Coast.

Darlena Roberts photo

Steer wrestler Justin Kimsey made his run in the Southeastern Circuit payoff, winning the Southeastern Livestock Exposition rodeo with a 4.0-second time.

ProRodeo Sports News 4/1/2022

ProRodeo Sports News 4/1/2022

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