ProRodeo Sports News - October 1, 2021

DIRECTOR’S CUT SCOTT KANIEWSKI September push feels like rodeo playoff at its best T egan Smith went through his routine. He unloaded his gear. Got his bronc reign on his halter. Changed his pants, taped up. Stretched a little. Nothing different. Even if it was the final round 16th through 20th would have to do some winning to pass me.” Steer wrestler Riley Duvall is another cowboy thankful for a big payout at the end of the season.

He entered the ProRodeo Tour Finale and the final weekend on the outside looking in with a gap of $9,357 between his spot and No. 15 in the world standings. After competing in the finale in Salinas, however, Duvall should be making his fourth trip to the NFR after earning $16,249 at the Tour Finale. “I had to win first to have a shot (at the NFR),” Duvall said. “It was first or last right there. ... This is just so crazy.” The final two weekends were filled with craziness. And with crazy money that benefited those lucky enough to cash in. “I wanted to do the best I could in the finals and whatever happened, happened,” Duvall said. “Having this kind of money at the ProRodeo Tour Finale saved my season. I didn’t have a shot until this.” That’s why the final month of the regular season is so engaging. When money like that is passed out to winners, it makes a difference. It makes September feel like a playoff. Knowing that (even if he wasn’t thinking about it), Smith, the 23-year-old bronc rider fromWinterset, Iowa, made sure to keep everything the exact same way he does things at any rodeo. He wasn’t about to let the Pendleton Round-Up unnerve him. Nor was he about to let the prospective money that was being dangled in front of himmake him do anything differently. “When I get to the rodeo, I get to the chutes and do my same routine I do every time,” Smith said. “By the time you’re getting in you just say smile, because that’s the way it’s got to be.”

of the Pendleton Round-Up and Smith was sitting 16th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings, a little more than $1,400 away from cracking the Top 15 and earning a first trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He tried not to think about the boatload of money a win would land him. Instead, he stuck to his routine. With four contestants before him, he started pulling. Then when it was one to go, he kept moving, didn’t think about anything. Climbed on and went. Andrew Burks was in a similar situation. He was in, he was out, he was in, he was out. The 24-year-old tie-down roper fromKiln, Miss., is one of a group of young ropers battling for a first-time ticket to Las Vegas. On Sept. 18, he dropped a blistering time of 7.9 seconds in the finals, just two-tenths of a second off the Pendleton record. World standings leader Shane Hanchey won the average, but Burks won the round and finished second in the average. Burks netted $10,928 at the Round-Up. As of Sept. 28, he was 16th in the world. While he might come up short (possibly by less than $1,000), Pendleton and the ProRodeo Tour Finale in Salinas, Calif., gave him a chance. “I didn’t have the Tour Finale made, so I was really banking on that one (Pendleton) because I knew it paid good,” Burks said. “I knew if I did well there (at Pendleton) I might have a good shot to make the Top 15. I needed enough gap there so that the guys in

Scott Kaniewski is the Media Director at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He previously served more than two years as the editor of ProRodeo Sports News. He has nearly two decades of experience in sports journalism, with the last few being consumed by ProRodeo.

ProRodeo Sports News 10/1/2021

ProRodeo.com

6