ProRodeo Sports News - November 16, 2018

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO Award goes to biggest winner Top Gun BY TRACY RENCK AND ANN BLEIKER A nother layer of excitement and intrigue at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is the RAMTop Gun Award, which goes to the contestant who wins the most money in any single event at the Wrangler NFR. The award has been up for grabs since 2010, but in its first year, RYDERWRIGHT Wright was amazing at the 2017Wrangler NFR, winning $185,577 en route to capturing his inaugural world championship. Wright comes to Vegas second in the world standings. He also seems to perform at his best at theThomas &Mack Center. During his Wrangler NFR debut in 2016, he earned $141,154.

PARKER BREDING The Edgar, Mont., bull rider has proven over time that he excels in big events. He has won the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo three times – 2014, 2016 and 2018, and for good measure he was the Justin Finale champion at the Washington State Fair Pro Rodeo in Puyallup, Sept. 9, to claim the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour crown. TUF COOPER Cooper is a three-time tie-down roping world champion (2011, 2012 and 2014) and the defending all-around champ. He comes to Vegas for the 10th time and is second in the tie-down roping standings just $1,809 behind Shane Hanchey. Cooper has had some memorable performances at the Wrangler NFR, highlighted by winning average titles in 2009 and 2014. If Cooper gets hot, there’s no reason he can’t walk away with his first Top Gun Award. HAILEY KINSEL The barrel racer fromCotulla, Texas, is first in the world standings with $192,834. She leads reigning world champion Nellie Miller by $46,008 going into the 2018Wrangler NFR. Last year, Kinsel finished second in the world standings, thanks to winning $189,385, which left her third in the Top Gun standings behind Costa ($195,519) and Kimzey ($192,135).

money earned in multiple events counted in the Top Gun standings. Since 2011, the RAMTop Gun Award has gone to the contestant who earns the most money in a single event. This year’s winner will receive a 2018 RAM3500 truck, a RAMTop Gun-branded gun fromCommemorative Firearms and a customTop Gun buckle fromMontana Silversmiths. Since 2011, it has taken a minimum of $146,941 to win the Top Gun Award. Here are some candidates who should be in the mix this year. SAGE KIMZEY Kimzey had the best regular season in any event in PRCA history, earning $297,026. He’s qualified for the Wrangler NFR each of his first four seasons (2014-17) and left as the world champion each year. In 2014, he earned $175,466 at the NFR and became the first rookie and only bull rider to win the RAMTop Gun Award. Kimzey was second in the Top Gun Award standings last year with $192,135 to tie- down roper Marcos Costa, who had season-ending knee surgery in April. TIM O’CONNELL The bareback rider from Zwingle, Iowa, makes his fifth consecutive appearance at the Wrangler NFR after coming off back-to-back world championships. He won $195,308 in 2016 and $169,500 in 2017. He comes to Vegas first in the world standings and is more than capable of having an incredible Wrangler NFR in search of his third straight world title and his first RAMTop Gun Award.

RAM TOP GUN CONTENDERS

WRANGLER NFR CONTESTANT ROSTER

1 Tuf Cooper 2 Trevor Brazile 3 Sage Kimzey 4 Tim O’Connell 5 Jacobs Crawley 6 Caleb Bennett 7 Ryder Wright 8 Rhen Richard

29 Dustin Egusquiza 30 Stevi Hillman 31 Trey Yates

65 Marty Yates 66 Jacob Talley 67 Aaron Tsinigine 68 Matt Shiozawa 69 Brady Minor 70 Riley Minor 71 Reese Riemer 72 Dustin Boquet 73 Derrick Begay 74 Jake Wright

93 Taci Bettis 94 Ryan Jarrett 95 J.R. Vezain 96 Blake Mindemann 97 Wyatt Denny 98 Cole Melancon 99 Taos Muncy 100 Chase Tryan 101 Blake Knowles 105 Eli Vastbinder 106 Koby Radley 107 Ivy Conrado 108 Jessica Routier 109 Nellie Miller 110 Lane Ivy 111 Chase Brooks 112 Buddy Hawkins II 113 Erich Rogers 114 Cole Davison 115 Carman Pozzobon 116 Trevor Kastner 117 Quinn Kesler 118 Trey Benton III 119 Kelly Bruner 120 Will Lowe 102 Kyle Irwin 103 Joe Frost 104 Nick Guy

PAYOUT GO-ROUNDS 1st – $26,231 2nd – $20,731 3rd – $15,654 4th – $11,000

32 Brody Cress 33 Jake Brown 34 Clay Tryan

35 Mason Clements 36 Chase Dougherty 37 Tyler Pearson 38 Travis Graves 39 Lisa Lockhart 42 Zeke Thurston 43 Tilden Hooper 44 Jake Pratt 45 Kylie Weast 46 Sterling Crawley 47 Wade Sundell 48 Wesley Thorp 49 Caleb Smidt 50 Scott Guenthner 51 Cort Scheer 52 Cooper Martin 53 Hailey Kinsel 54 Ty Breuer 55 Cory Petska 56 Chad Masters 40 Cody Snow 41 Jeff Askey

5th – $6,769 6th – $4,231 AVERAGE 1st – $67,269 2nd – $54,577 3rd – $43,154 4th – $31,731 5th – $22,846 6th – $16,500 7th – $11,423 8th – $6,346

9 Shane Hanchey 10 Clayton Biglow 11 Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi 12 Parker Breding 13 Orin Larsen

75 Roscoe Jarboe 76 Tanner Brunner 77 Boudreaux Campbell 78 Luke Brown 79 Jake Long 80 Hunter Cure 81 Tracy Nowlin 82 CoBurn Bradshaw 83 Tyler Wade 84 Amberleigh Moore 85 Joey Sonnier III 86 Bridger Chambers 87 Shane O’Connell 88 Tyler Waguespack 89 Sterling Smith 90 Clay Elliott 91 Garrett Tribble 92 Riley Duvall

14 Tyson Durfey 15 Kaleb Driggers 16 Junior Nogueira 17 Isaac Diaz 18 Steven Dent 19 Curtis Cassidy 20 Rusty Wright 21 Bill Tutor

57 Tammy Fischer 58 Bubba Buckaloo 59 Ty Erickson 60 Jessie Telford 61 Clint Summers 62 Tyler Bingham 63 Will Lummus 64 Cory Solomon

22 Clay Smith 23 Paul Eaves 24 Richmond Champion

25 Kaycee Feild 26 Ryle Smith 27 Joseph Harrison 28 Kory Koontz

ProRodeo Sports News 11/16/2018

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