Friday night brings us round number two of the 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and much like the first night it started off with a huge bang! Special musical guest, country music superstar Daryle Singletary, surprised the crowd with an opening song that got the crowd in the mood for the greatest sport on the planet, professional rodeo. With the crowd pumped up inside the Thomas & Mack the bareback riding was the first event of the evening and it did not disappoint. There were 14 qualified rides in the bareback riding but no one could best the 85.00 score of Steven Peebles abaord Right Spur. Jason caught up with him shortly after his winning ride to see what he thought of the pen of bucking horses tonight.
Once the bareback riders got the crowd warmed up inside the Thomas & Mack it was time to switch gears to the timed event end of the arena for the big boy event of steer wrestling. As things came to a close the fans in attendance witnessed one of the best 2nd round steer wrestling performances in the history of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo! Tonight brought four times below the 4 second mark with two cowboys splitting the win. Luke Branquinho and Kyle Irwin each put down a blazing run of 3.6 seconds that allowed each of them to take home just over $17,000. Jason caught up with Luke to see what he had to say about his run and the partnerships he has to have with both his horse and his hazer.
Team Roping kept the action down in the timed event side of the arena for the team roping section of go round number two and looked much like it did during go round number one just 24 hours earlier. Turtle Powell and Dakota Kirchenschlager kept up their winning ways by claiming another go round win and these two are not looking back and are having a fantastic start to their 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo! Their 3.8 second run broke the 30 year WNFR record as the fastest time in a second go round which was quite the sight to see.
Saddle broncs was where the rankest horses were seen in round two with the eliminator pen out on Friday night. Tonight we only saw 7 qualified rides out of the top 15 saddle bronc riders in the world but after the dust settled it was Jacobs Crawley that came out victorious and $19,000 richer. The match up was Jacobs and his horse Spade who combined for a 82.50 score to win the round. Jason caught up with him and talked about his routines leading up to the WNFR and his thoughts on the eliminator pen.
Tie Down Roping was a fast paced event in this second go round of the 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo as Cade Swor topped all of the competitors with a nice 7.7 second run to win is firs gold go round buckle of this years WNFR. In the barrel racing we saw the winning time in the range of a low 14 second run with Lisa Lockhart taking the trip across the South Point stage to receive her go round buckle after clocking a 14.29 second run. Bull riding ended the evening with only seeing four riders make it to the elusive 8 second buzzer. Aaron Pass took the top spot in round two with a 89.50 point ride on Seeing Red!
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