ProRodeo Sports News - March 23, 2018

standings) because I got hurt halfway through the year and I didn’t get to finish out the year and I still made the Finals. The money that they pay at the RNCFR is great. If you win that kind of money at one rodeo, it will change your entire year and your whole perspective on the way you’re rodeoing and your confidence. If you win that deal (the RNCFR) you will walk out of there with a big smile on your face.” MEANWHILE, CARLISLE’S lone WNFR qualification on his résumé came in 2013. But his stellar effort at the 2017 RNCFR, where he earned $19,521, catapulted him to a return trip to Vegas. Carlisle finished 13th in the regular-season standings with $85,566, $356 more than Cory Solomon, who entered the Finals in 15th. “The RNCFR was great for me,” Carlisle said. “I dang sure enjoyed it. It gave me a big jump. It is hard to go to another rodeo and win $19,000. I didn’t have to rodeo as hard (after winning that money at the RNCFR). I could just ease along. It was a big help for me. It would be hard to say if I would or wouldn’t have made the NFR without going to the RNCFR, but what I accomplished at the RNCFR dang sure helped me. I could enter a little bit better and could relax a little bit. When you have a chance to win that much money at the RNCFR you better have your ‘A’ game because of the competition there.” WRIGHT IS NO stranger toWNFR bids. He has qualified seven times (2010-14, 2016-17), winning the world championship in 2012. Despite all his success at the WNFR, Wright is a proponent of the circuit system and the RNCFR counting in the world standings. Especially since he earned $16,016 at the RNCFR when it counted most. Thanks to his outing at the RNCFR, he qualified in the No. 14 position for the WNFR, $981 more than Audy Reed, who arrived in Las Vegas in the No. 15 slot. “It makes the circuit guys have to really pick a circuit and go,” Wright said. “Now you have more incentive to hit 15 rodeos, so you can qualify to go to it (the circuit finals), and it makes a huge difference when you can win that much money at the RNCFR. We make sure we get our circuit count, so we can go to the Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo every year. It is just icing on top of the cake if you can qualify for the RNCFR.” GUYHAS BEEN a competitor at five WNFRs, including the last four, and he was aware of the role his $11,656 in earnings at the RNCFR played in qualifying for the Finals in December. Guy finished ninth in the final 2017 regular-season standings, but he had only $11,794 more than Chason Floyd, who qualified as the No. 15 bulldogger for the WNFR.

Jesse Wright competes during the 2017 RNCFR. Wright, the 2012 saddle bronc riding world champion, won $16,016 at the 2017 RNCFR, which was a jolt to him qualifying for his seventh WNFR last December. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Ric Andersen

Steer wrestler Nick Guy, shown at the 2017 WNFR, made it four consecutive WNFR bids after his strong effort at the 2017 RNCFR, where he won $11,656. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Greg Westfall

gets going to have a family vacation type of deal. What I earned at the RNCFR was a good cushion for me. To hit that much that early in the spring was great. You can have a good spring and win $12,000 in April and May combined.” Guy has competed in only two rodeos since January – in Denver and Fort Worth, Texas – because he broke his talus bone in his right ankle in Denver. He initially thought it was a sprain. “The talus bone connects the bottom of your leg to your foot, and it’s a slow-healing bone,” Guy said. “Now, I’m feeling healthier and I’m really looking forward to going to the RNCFR and making my comeback. If you can do well in Kissimmee, you can go from not even being in the Top 100 to possibly getting inside the Top 15. I need to use it (the RNCFR) this year as a rodeo to get myself right back in the hunt so I don’t have to be panicking so much in April and May.”

“There’s a lot of money to be won at the RNCFR,” said Guy, who is headed back to Kissimmee, Fla., to compete in the RNCFR. “It’s also an important thing to have that (circuit money and RNCFR money) count in the standings. It has opened the door for guys to win a lot of money at those rodeos, and it did help some guys to make it to the NFR. It’s nice to be able to go down there and run at that much money. You can’t really go anywhere in the country and run at that much money against so few guys.” For Guy, the timing of the RNCFR can double as a vacation. “They take good care of you while you’re down there competing at the RNCFR and it’s kind of a time when guys take their families down there and go to the beach or whatever,” Guy said. “It’s end of the winter before the spring

ProRodeo Sports News 3/23/18

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