August 2007
August 27, 2007 Another month has come and gone and most kids are heading back to school from their summer vacation. Rodeo cowboys are nearing the end of another rodeo season as well. This year our regular season ends on Sept. 30 and the only rodeo that counts toward our world standings after this cut-off date is the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Championship in Dallas, Nov. 9-11. This time of the year finds us up in the Northwest hitting the rodeos in Washington and Oregon. I always enjoy this time of the year, because the weather is usually nice and things are starting to slow down after a busy summer. Today we pulled into Walla Walla, Wash., for their rodeo. We will run our first one in slack and then depending on how we do, will determine when we run our second one as this rodeo uses progressive rounds. This week we will also go to Ellensburg, Wash. We have our first one there on Thursday and then it is progressive as well, so we will see when we run our second one. Things have been going pretty for me. I seem to just keep chipping away and believe me, every little bit counts in this sport. We just wrapped up with San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and Bremerton, Wash., where I picked up some checks. I ended up splitting second in San Juan and placed in a round at Bremerton to finish with about $4,500 on the week. Let me rewind for a bit to catch you up on how I did the first part of August. After spending a few days at home, I hit the road again. I tied for first in the first round at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo in Lovington, N.M. with a run of 3.7 seconds. I then tied for first in the first round at the Omak (Wash.) Stampede with a time of 4.1 seconds. From there, I competed at the first Ariat Playoff in Caldwell, Idaho. In the first round, I stopped the clock in 4.6 seconds, but that was a little long for the round. I came back in the second round and posted a 3.8-second run to win the round. I finished in a tie for second in the average race with a total time of 8.4 seconds. I qualified back for the semifinals, but didn’t make a very good run on my steer and didn’t advance to the finals. I should have made the four-man finals but it wasn’t meant to be I guess. I will have another chance at the second Ariat Playoff in Puyallup, Wash., Sept. 7-9. We run both of our steers on Friday the 7th, so we will see how it goes. As for my traveling partners they are doing well. Bill (Billy Bugenig) split second and third over at Norco (Calif.) this last weekend and Jason (Miller) won a little at San Juan. Unfortunately, Nick (Stubblefield) isn’t going anymore after blowing out his knee the first of the month in Strathmore (Alberta, Canada). They said he tore pretty much everything-ACL, MCL, PCL, etc. Tandy said if all goes well he could be back for the circuit finals the first of next year, so that is what we are hoping for as well. Hang in there Nick! Other than that things are pretty much the same. We are going to enjoy the next few days up in the Northwest with the great rodeos and great weather. I will be back in touch after the Ariat Playoffs in Puyallup. For those who missed the action in Caldwell be sure to catch the shows on FSN (Fox Sports Network). You can log onto www.prorodeotour.com to find dates and times in your area that the rodeo will be showing. Talk to you later, Luke |
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