Sage Kimzey Strikes First On Mahindra Road to Cheyenne

WEATHERFORD, Texas - Sept. 5, 2015 - PRLog -- Powered by the CBR’s Bull Team Challenge competition, the almost no hitter performance leaned heavily towards the bulls as they were the prominent winners of the first stop on the 2016 Mahindra Road to Cheyenne televised tour.

2014 CBR and PRCA World Champion bull rider, Sage Kimzey of Strong City, Oklahoma, thrilled the capacity crowd at the South Dakota State Fair as he effortlessly rode two bulls for a total score of 177.5 to take home the average check and post the first points on the 2016 leader board of the CBR.

“Anytime you come to such a great venue like Huron, and get on great bulls it is an amazing night and I want to thank the fans who made this possible for us,” said Kimzey who won over $650,000 last year riding bulls.

But like the 34 bull riders before him and the one after him, Kimzey failed to hear the whistle in the final Shoot out round. It is only the second time in the history of the tournament format that no cowboy made the whistle, thus rolling the $20,000 prize money to Window Rock, Arizona making the purse worth $50,500.

Kimzey edged out Reid Barker, 171.5 on two, the only other bull rider to make two qualified rides. There was a total of 10 qualified rides and three of those were rookies.

Round one introduced the bulls to the 29 cowboys and they all had a hard time getting acquainted. In a strange twist of fate there were no rematches in the first lineup where 3 of the night’s 10 scores were earned in section one. Eli Vastbinder jumped out to take the initial lead and his 87 would hold until Kimzey was half a point ahead of him on Jeff Harris’s Shorty.

Army veteran Juan Alonzo brought the fans to their feet with 86 points on a night that honored  American Heroes of Foreign Wars with a solemn tribute to seven extraordinary veterans, including prisoners of war, from all divisions of the United States Military.

The 2015 Horizon Series Champion, Cody Rostockyj, continued his momentum producing 87 points on Buck Stomp, who was making his debut at CBR with Jared Allen’s bull team.

The No.1 bull rider in the world, Kimzey, would stay in the lead until Dustin Boguet, the Louisiana rookie, captured Allen’s Soldier’s Price for 88 points. Corey Baile and Dixon Hesstetoon would be the only other two bull riders to advance on scores.

CBR World Champion, Cody Teel, who was overpowered by Jeff Harris’s General Lee in 6.85 seconds advanced on time with JT Pettitt, Teil Wertz and Kritter Lamb.

The semifinal round got underway with JT Pettitt earning 84.5 on Cude’s Money Talks as did Reid Barker who was the first to ride two as he conquered Boogie Man (Clark View Farms). With Kimzey and Boguet still on top of the chutes, Kimzey took the lead with 90 points, the highest marked ride of the night, on Knapp's Pepper.

Boquet would come down just shy of the whistle on Allen’s Uncle Tink, but would qualify for the Shoot Out on the strength of his 88 in round one.  .

A gutsy pick by the champ, X18 More Big Bucks, cost Kimzey the win, but you can bet he has moved on as he heads to Arizona in an effort to win a share of the doubled purse up for grabs on Sunday in Window Rock.  Kimzey, who was unfamiliar with any of his Huron draws knew exactly what went wrong on x18 and more importantly, when.

“The bull beat me around the corner and I was hustling, but just didn’t have enough after I gave him the ground that I did - I just couldn’t get back in the right position,” said Kimzey from behind the chutes.

Fueling the fire of the 35 buck offs in Huron were the new bulls brought in by the CBR stock contractors to compete in this year’s bull team challenge. JC Knapp and Flip Em Off Buck’en Bulls came out on top both nights in Huron for over $40,000 in total prize money.

“I want to especially thank our CBR family and want them to know how much we appreciate them and how important they are to us,” said a very surprised Amber and JC Knapp as they accepted the Hy O Silver trophy buckle, custom Fenoglio boots, and a check for $20,000. The bull teams are also on a journey to qualify for the World Finals in hopes of winning the $100,000 bonus awarded to the winner at the World Finals that is held each July in conjunction with Cheyenne Frontier Days.

“Corpus was really rank tonight, changing directions and bucking hard with Keaton; he was ridden recently and he always comes back and seeks revenge on the next guy,” smiled Knapp as he talked about his longtime traveling partner.  Spotted Warfare was Knapp’s third and solid out and the big black and white spotted bull propelled Reid Barker to the next round.

Mike Rawson’s 713 Little Shyster was rewarded the Bull of the Event title. 713 had a particularly rank trip with Brett Stall and earned his 90 point bull score. “It was one of the top 2 rankest outs I have seen him have,” claimed the two time CBR Stock Contractor of the Year from Martinsville, Texas.

In July, CBR crowned its 13^th World Champion, Cody Teel.Teel, who rode five for five last month at the the CBR World Championships in Cheyenne, bucked off both his bulls in Huron as did the three bull riders from South Dakota and the No.2 ranked PRCA bull rider and CBR World Finals Average winner, Brennon Eldred who is battling injury.

Bull Team Results

Flip Em Off Buck’en Bulls 283.07,$20,000.
Jared Allen, 279.54,$12,000
Clark View Farms, 278.50, $8,000
Rawson,275.97, $5,000