ProRodeo Sports News - June 12, 2020

SUPER SERIES FINISH FORT WORTH, TEXAS Gray is gold at Super Series Finish Tie-down roper Adam

Gray nearly had a clean sweep of Bracket 5 at the Super Series Finish in Fort Worth, earning an $8,000 boost in the world standings by winning Rounds 1 and 3 and placing second in Round 2. “It honestly felt kind of weird competing again,” Gray said. “I hadn’t competed for so long, the first month drove me stir crazy. I was so excited to get to go somewhere and get to see everyone I normally see all the time. “The feeling of being in a rodeo and the way it smells when you walk on rodeo grounds, it was good to have that since it was my normal everyday activity back again. Nothing gives you that feeling of backing into the box and knowing what you have to do to win something. It’s that sense of competition and getting to try to win – you don’t get that feeling anywhere else.” Gray’s Fort Worth win pushed him from 16th to 13th in the world standings. “Making it to the NFR is really all that keeps me hanging on,” said Gray, 36. “I’m at the age where beating up the road and going to rodeos isn’t the same as it used to be. When you’re younger, you crave it, and that’s all you want to do and don’t care what it pays. But I’m not at that point anymore, so that’s the only carrot that’s motivating me to be out here.” Gray is a five-time qualifier for the Wrangler NFR (2009, 2011-12, 2014 and 2019). He started the 2020 season as co-champion at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. The Super Series Finish marked his first big win since before COVID-19 was on most people’s minds. Now he has a new perspective. “I was roping to win, but also just for the fact that it’s something I love doing,” Gray said. –Matt Naber

Joe Duty photo Adam Gray’s 11-year-old American Quarter Horse, Tuxedo, took him to the winner’s circle twice during Bracket 5 of the Super Series Finish on May 31.

ProRodeo Sports News 6/12/2020

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