ProRodeo Sports News - Nov. 22, 2019

HEBER CITY, UTAH

Wild Style

Jim Fain photo Matt Shiozawa won the RAM Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo for the sixth time with a time of 26.2 seconds on three head. The 2019 season marks the Idaho cowboy’s eighth time winning the Wilderness Circuit’s year-end title.

of roping last and that played into splitting the first round and allowed me to rope last the second night,” Shiozawa said. “Positioning at these is big, and even though you’re roping against a smaller field of contestants they’re all good.” Shiozawa’s Heber City, Utah, win came atop his American Quarter Horse gelding, Chuck. “He’s 17 years old or so, but at heart he’s still 12,” Shiozawa said. Shiozawa ended the 2019 season atop the Wilderness Circuit’s tie-down roping standings with $23,809. He earned $7,931 of that at the RAMWCFR. “I rope pretty well there, and the calves are straight and fair, and I drew well,” Shiozawa said, adding that his approach remains the same each year. “When we have a limited amount of contestants it seems like the quality of stock goes up, and that allows guys to shine since there are less variables like the luck of the draw. When they don’t have to provide 80 calves and only need about 12, the quality goes up.” As an 11-time qualifier for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (2005-

07, 2009, 2011-12, 2014-18), the overall 2019 season didn’t go as well as he’d have liked, ranking 25th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings with $59,217. Winning the RAMWCFR qualified Shiozawa for the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla., in the spring. “And for my family, that means DisneyWorld, andwithDisneyWorld sitting on the line it meant a lot for me towin,” Shiozawa said, referring to his daughters, Stella (9), Lorelei (7) and Ivory (5). Fortunately, Shiozawa and his horses won’t have tomake the 35-hour, 2,388-mile trek fromChubbuck, Idaho, to Kissimmee, Fla. Since he’s usually competing inTexas around that time of the year, the trip to Florida will be considerably shorter. Shiozawa’s reputation is the same in the Southeast as it back home since he holds the record for most tie-down roping titles at the RAMNCFR with four. “It’s too good of a rodeo not to have my best stuff there,” he said. “There is just too much on the line, and there is a ton of cash and prizes on the line.”

ProRodeo Sports News 11/22/2019

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