BRIDGEPORT, Texas – Folks in Wise County, Texas, know a thing or two about rodeo. After all, some of rodeo’s best live right there in the 923-square-mile region.

Those educated fans got to see quite a high quality show last weekend during the Butterfield Stage Days PRCA Rodeo. From newcomers like barrel racer Stevi Hillman to veterans like steer roper Ralph Williams, the Bridgeport champions carried a high tide of pride away from the north Texas festivities.

“This year was the best one yet,” said Lloyd Williams, chairman of the volunteer rodeo committee that brings the rodeo to town each spring. “This year’s rodeo was professionally run, and it ran off smooth.”

Why?

Williams pointed directly at the crew from Carr Pro Rodeo, a Dallas-based stock contracting firm that provided the livestock for the first time this May.

“Pete Carr’s crew was just exceptional to work with, and it was very impressive the way it was put together,” Williams said. “It was a combination of our crew and his crew – we all clicked.”

The key, he said, was in the true athleticism that was featured during the three days of competition. From bucking beasts like bareback horse Dirty Jacket and bull Synergy to world champions like Trevor Brazile, true athletes made a statement in Bridgeport.

“That’s as good a set of bucking horses and as good a set of bucking bulls as you’re going to see,” Williams said. “I thought it was just so smooth, from the action in the arena to the flawless work between our announcer, Charlie Throckmorton, and the best sound man in rodeo, Benje Bendele.

“We had a good crowd each night. Even though the weather was kind of crappy, they still came out and saw it, and they saw a good one.”

The Butterfield Stage Days PRCA Rodeo became the third event this season in which Dirty Jacket helped a cowboy to the winner’s circle – he matched moves with reigning world champion Kaycee Feild in his win in Fort Worth, Texas, and teamed with seven-time Wrangler National Finals rodeo qualifier Wes Stevenson for the victory in San Angelo, Texas.

Veteran Carr bull Synergy helped NFR qualifier Tyler Willis to the bull riding victory, and a pair of cowboys shared the saddle bronc riding victory on a pair of standout Carr horses: Dawson Jandreau on Ginger Snap and Tol Cawley on Fiesta Savvy.

“We had 16 world champions and 84 NFR qualifications at our rodeo this year,” Williams said. “We had contestants from two Canadian provinces, France and Australia.

“We’ve always been good on the timed-event end. What we really grew this year was on the roughstock end. I was floored with the number of entries in our bucking horse events … a lot of bareback riders and saddle bronc riders. It’ll even be better next year.”

One of the big things for Williams is proof that everybody involved has is always shooting for improvement.

“The atmosphere Pete brings is just amazing, and people are excited from the minute it starts to the minute it’s over,” he said. “I watched real good, and I guarantee you I didn’t lose anybody from start to finish. This is the first time everybody’s stayed for all of it.”

Butterfield Stage Days PRCA Rodeo
Bridgeport, Texas
May 11-12, 2012
All-around cowboy: Trevor Brazile, $2,901, team roping, tie-down roping and steer roping.
Bareback riding: 1. Jeremy Mouton, 84 points on Carr Pro Rodeo’s Dirty Jacket, $1,066; 2. Wes Stevenson, 83 on Carr’s Showgirl, $808; 3. Heath Ford, 82 on Carr’s Broken Dreams, $581; 4. Taylor Price, 81 on Carr’s True Lies, $388; 5. Will Lowe, 78 on Carr’s Snowman, $226; 6. Evan Jayne on Carr’s Scruffy and Seth Hardwick on Carr’s High Lonesome, 77, $81 each.
Steer wrestling: 1. Shane Frey, 4.3 seconds, $1,212; 2. Seth Morgan, 4.6, $1,003; 3. Jace Melvin, 5.0, $794; 4. K.C. Jones, 5.1, $585; 5. Dean Stermer, 5.2, $376; 6. (tie) Shayde Etherton and Jack Hodges, 5.3, $105 each.
Team roping: 1. Bubba Buckaloo/Dakota Kirchenschlager, 4.7 seconds, $1,721 each; 2. (tie) Keven Daniel/Chase Tryan, and Trey Harmon/Braden Harmon, 5.0, $1,384 each; 4. Landon McClaugherty/Larry Hammons, 5.1, $1,047; 5. Chace Thompson/Tommy Zuniga, 5.6, $823; 6. Quincy Kueckelhan/Jett Hillman, 6.0, $599; 7. David Key/Travis Woodard, 6.3, $374; 8. David Motes/Justin Copp, 6.4, $150.
Saddle bronc riding: 1. Dawson Jandreau on Carr Pro Rodeo’s Ginger Snap and Tol Cawley on Carr Pro Rodeo’s Fiesta Savvy, 80 points, $ $1,047 each; 3. Jace Angus, 77 on Carr’s Smoke Wagon, $599; 4. Sterling Crawley on Carr’s Blue Jeans, Shane Menefee on Carr’s Sweet Emotion and Travis Edwards on Carr’s Couch Jumper, 76, $100 each.
Tie-down roping: 1. (tie) Ryan Thibodeaux and Colby Lovell, 8.7 seconds, $1,693 each; 3. Bryson Sechrist, 8.9, $1,214; 4. (tie) Chant DeForest and Clayton Shaw, 9.0, $735 each; 6. (tie) Adam Gray and Sterling Smith, 9.2, $160 each.
Barrel racing: 1. Stevi Hillman, 15.28 seconds, $1,644; 2. Mary Walker, 15.46, $1,409; 3. Tana Poppino, 15.64, $1,174; 4. Fallon Taylor, 15.69, $1,018; 5. Tana Renick, 15.73, $783; 6. Shelley Morgan, 15.81, $626; 7. Karen Little, 15.82, $470; 8. Tracey Ivy-Austin, 15.84, $313; 9. Debra Cooper, 15.92, $235; 10. (tie) Jodi Ray and Reagan Dillard, 15.93, $78 each.
Permit holders steer roping: First round: 1. Shawn Trimble, 15.5 seconds, $725; 2. Justin Bay, 16.2, $551; 3. Scott Welch, 16.6, $357; 4. Jake Radenmacher, 17.3, $184. Second round: 1. Colt Williams, 11.1, $725; 2. Shawn Trimble, 11.9, $551; 3. Austin Bruce, 12.7; $357; 4. Cord Hodge, 13.1, $184. Average: 1. Shawn Trimble, 27.4 on two, $725; 2. Justin Bay, 31.6, $551; 3. Brad Prater, 38.4, $357; 4. Robert A. Fudge, 48.2, $184.
Steer roping: First round: 1. Will Gasperson, 10.7 seconds, $1,463; 2. Ralph Williams and Trevor Brazile, 10.9, $1,085 each; 4. Riley Christopherson, 11.1, $706; 5. Ty Herd, 11.4, $454; 6. Rod Hartness, 11.6, $252. Second round: 1. Dan Fisher, 9.9, $1,463; 2. Tony Reina, 10.3, $1,211; 3. Cody Lee, 10.6, $959; 4. Buster Record Jr., 10.8, $706; 5. Jess Tierney and Kim Ziegelgruber, 11.2, $353 each. Third round: 1. JoJo LeMond, 9.6, $1,463; 2. Vin Fisher Jr., 10.6, $1,211; 3. Mike Chase, 10.7, $959; 4. Jay Sellers, 11.0, $706; 5. Dane Noyce, 11.1, $454; 6. Jarrett Blessing, 11,2, $252. Average: 1. Ralph Williams, 38.0 seconds on three runs, $2,195; 2. Trevor Brazile, 38.2, $1,816; 3. Buster Record Jr. and Shane Suggs, 39.8, $1,249 each; 5. Chad Decker, 39.9, $618; 6. Mike Outhier, 40.6, $378.
Bull riding: 1. Tyler Willis, 87 points on Carr Pro Rodeo’s Synergy, $1,238; 2. Seth Glause, 82 on Carr’s Black Gold, $938; 3. Dakota Cater on Carr’s Black Powder and John Jacobs on Carr’s P Diddy, 85, $563 each; 5. Bryan Richardson, 84 points on Carr’s Black Ice, $263; 6. Chance Ratchford on Carr’s Blue’s Man and Wyatt Gregg on Carr’s Illegal Smile, 83, $94 each.