ProRodeo Sports News - November 16, 2018

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

TIGHT RACES

Bareback rider Caleb Bennett, seen here at the 2017 Wrangler NFR on Frontier Rodeo’s Short Night, enters this year’s Finals in second. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Greg Westfall

Cowboys battle throughout season for NFR lead Neck and Neck BY SCOTT KANIEWSKI W hile the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo will determine the 2018 world champions, only one event has a leader with more than a $15,000 lead in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings heading to Las Vegas. The battle for first is enjoyed more when you are friends with your competition. “It’s almost the roughstock mentality, we give each other a hard time, we’re all good friends,” Bennett said. “And in the end, we’re all rooting for each other, because it’s us vs. the animal, it’s not really us vs. the next guy. It comes down to taking care of business with the animal you draw. In my eyes, a true competitor is just as happy or tickled for the guy that’s winning first. That’s how the game should work.”

Bull rider Sage Kimzey, the defending four-time world champion, leads Parker Breding by $111,550. Dustin Bouquet, in third place, is another $70,888 behind Breding. However, among bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping heading, team roping heeling, saddle bronc riding and tie-down roping the races are much closer. Only bareback riding has a difference of more than $10,000 between first place and second place. Leader TimO’Connell, the back-to-back bareback riding champion, has a lead over Caleb Bennett of $14,822. And even that isn’t much of a cushion, nor was it easy to come by. O’Connell, who entered last year’s Wrangler NFR with a lead of $65,259, didn’t move into first place this season until the last half of August.

TOO CLOSETO CALL The tightest races heading into the Finals have been in team roping – heading and heeling. Team roping heading is separated by $393, the smallest margin of any event this season. Not to be outdone, team roping heeling has a difference of $591 between first and second. Making it more fun is the fact that Clay Smith, the heading leader ($115, 345), is teamed with second-place heeler Paul Eaves, while first- place heeler Junior Nogueira ($115,936) is teamed with second-place header Kaleb Driggers. So the two leaders will be trying to hold on to

ProRodeo Sports News 11/16/2018

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