Best of the West ride into Sisters

Last updated Jun 10, 2014 12:0pm0

Gary Miller count

Bobby Mote is one of the champions who will be returning to Sisters for the rodeo this week.

Get ready for a chance to see more records fall as Sisters Rodeo brings Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association World Champions and top-ranked professional cowboys to town, beginning tonight with Xtreme Bulls on June 11.

The Central Oregon Bulldog Shootout begins today at noon, free to the public.

Contestants, including World Professional Rodeo Association cowgirls, will compete for $10,000 in prize money in each event over the next five days. Sisters has the second-largest purse in the nation in June, and the highest for all rodeos on this weekend.

Sisters Rodeo welcomes the return of the legendary Bobby Mote, four-time world-champion bareback rider, to his former Central Oregon home. The champion has won a virtual rack of bareback buckles and also an all-around champion buckle at Sisters.

Russell Cardoza of Terrebonne currently holds third place in pro-rodeo standings. He competes in team roping and tie-down roping, which has brought him over $33,000 in the early 2014 season.

Seven of the 2014 top 20 performers to date will be at Sisters, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The showdown in bareback riding has three-time world champion Kaycee Feild, along with national finalists Steven Peebles, Ryan Gray, J.R. Verzain, Jered Smith and Josi Young challenging Mote for the first John Hammack Bareback Memorial Buckle. Central Oregon's Austin Foss is climbing his way to the top in this event, in third place in the Columbia River Circuit (CRC). Local Brian Bain will also ride, holding a tight second to Peebles in the CRC.

There are 79 contestants at Sisters who have qualified for Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, with bareback rider Kaycee Feild, steer wrestler Hunter Cure and tie-down roper Shane Hanchey as the reigning World Champions.

In saddle bronc, Taos Muncy and Cody Wright are one and two in the world standings, running neck and neck in early rodeos. The other Wright brothers, including 2012 world champion Jesse Wright, his twin, Jake (an NFR qualifier) and Spencer, now sixth in the world standings, are in the mix. Cody Wright's son, Spencer, will ride, a young man who is leading in the rookie world standings.

Steer wrestling will see four-time world champion Luke Branquinho compete with current world champion Hunter Cure, Trevor Knowles (2013 Sisters all-around winner), Blake Knowles, Josh Peek and a multitude of other WNFR steer wrestler qualifiers. This is an event that could see times in the sub-four-second range.

Tie-down roping has CRC leaders in Russell Cardoza, Shane Erickson (2012 all-around winner at Sisters) , and Jordan Weaver, top contenders in this event in the CRC, with a total of 59 contestants entered for the weekend. This will be a good event to watch at Slack on Thursday, which is free for rodeo fans. Slack starts at 8 a.m., with timed-event contestants running into the early afternoon.

Thirty-three two-man teams will compete in team roping. Six of the current leaders in the Columbia River Circuit are entered, including Cardoza, who ranks first. Trevor Knowles, Shane Erickson and Brandon Beers are among the ropers to watch, but the field is loaded with talent, including locals Austin and Dayton Stafford; Jordan Weaver and Cully Stafford; and Bobby Mote with Dave Inman.

Bull riding begins Wednesday, June 11, with 40 cowboys entered in Xtreme Bulls. Another 53 will compete in the four rodeo performances on the weekend. Steve Woolsey and Wesley Silcox, former buckle winners at Sisters and WNFR contenders, will compete against six current leaders in the CRC and Badlands circuits. A powerful cadre of bulls will be ready to bring thundering excitement to tonight's bull riding and during the rodeo.

A crowd favorite, women's barrel racing, has 95 starters. Forty-seven will compete in slack, with 12 racing in each rodeo performance. Ten are from Central Oregon, including the celebrated Brenda Mays of Terrebonne.

Timed-event contestants have two go-rounds, which is the reason for slack on Thursday, June 12. Some may have both go-rounds in slack, while others may compete in the rodeo performances, too. All rodeo performances have all seven events, with winners in each event announced during the Sunday performance.

Sisters Rodeo begins June 11 with Xtreme Bulls, followed by four rodeo performances June 13-15. For tickets and information, call the ticket hotline at 541-549-0121 or 1-800-827-7522, or visit the ticket office at 220 W. Cascade Ave. in Sisters. The ticket office will be closed on Friday morning; tickets may then be purchased at the rodeo grounds. For information visit http://www.sistersrodeo.com.

Rodeo contractors make the show go on

Wayne Brooks returns to Sisters Rodeo as 2013 PRCA Announcer of the Year. This is the third time the Texas cowboy has won this honor in less than 10 years. His lighthearted quips keep fans entertained at rodeos in the nation as he makes them feel part of the action in the arena.

From horseback, Brooks' velvet voice sparks the crowd as he explains the reasons for judges rulings, and goads the crowd into chants of encouragement. With instant replay at Sisters, he can ask for reruns to describe what the judges saw and the crowd missed.

His collaborator in announcing at Sisters is by no means in second place. Curt Robinson studies the statistics and records, and shares that knowledge with the crowd from his vantage point in the announcers' stand. His ability to share fascinating information at a heightened pace has made him a 22-year veteran of Sisters Rodeo, and a highly respected member of PRCA announcers.

The Pendleton, Oregon, cowboy sticks closer to home to announce at rodeos in the West. He also hosts a radio program every year at National Finals Rodeo, where he keeps fans current on scores and stats.

As former rodeo competitors themselves, both Robinson and Brooks have knowledge that not only entertains but also educates rodeo fans. They work together with an easy banter from the time spectators fill the stands until the last bull has bucked, in over three hours of pulse-surging rodeo action.

Barrelman and clown JJ Harrison puts on a lot of miles as he charges around the arena at an exhausting pace, keeping the action pumping between events, and rolls with whatever the announcers, competitors and animals throw at him. He brings the crowd into the action with amazingly quick wit and antics. He also makes a special appearance at Sisters Elementary School the day rodeo begins, where the kids are treated to his unique manner of making each child feel special.

Sisters Rodeo has a special place in the heart of this 2012 National Finals Rodeo barrelman. The rodeo took a chance in hiring the newly minted rodeo clown seven years ago, after he retired as a middle school teacher. He has since soared to the top of the list in demand for a high-action barrelman and clown at rodeos everywhere.

Harrison turns a possible crisis into humor, as witnessed in a now-famous video of him in a barrel, in Sisters, being shot through an exit gate by a bull whose brain twisted him into believing he was the Pele of rodeo bulls. (see YouTube, Bull Clown Bowling.)

The bullfighters who are in the direct action are Rowdy Barry, back for his twenty-second year at Sisters, and Danny Newman, who returns for his ninth year. Fans have been awed by the speed and quick response of these brave men, who put themselves in harm's way to protect a bull-rider who gets hung up in his rigging or from a bull who spins to charge a rider on the ground. There is no better way to describe their manipulations to distract a bull than downright thrilling.

The action depends on the quality of the stock that performs at a rodeo, from highly trained horses to rambunctious calves and steers. The stock at Sisters comes from Flying Diamond Stock Contractors and Corey and Lange Rodeo Company. Rough stock, which is the title of bucking horses and bulls, has been of a quality that has seen records broken at Sisters since the company began bringing their animals to Central Oregon. Riders and timed-event cowboys carry these early scores through the season, which gets them in the running for National Finals, year after year.

Also of interest are the skills of the Diamond Stock pick-up men on horses that are brilliant in their jobs, sidling up to a thrashing horse or bull so the cowboy can vault off his mount and the pick-up men can release the flank strap that makes the animals want to buck.

Sisters Rodeo begins June 11 with Xtreme Bulls, followed by four rodeo performances June 13-15. For tickets and information, call the ticket hotline at 541-549-0121 or 1-800-827-7522, or visit the ticket office at 220 W. Cascade Ave. in Sisters. For information visit http://www.sistersrodeo.com. The ticket office closes at noon on Friday, June 13. Tickets may be purchased afterward at the rodeo grounds. Free shuttle service from Sisters Elementary School one hour pre-performance, then after the rodeo Friday through Sunday.