Wright rides horse of year to second saddle bronc title

Cody Wright took advantage of drawing the best bucking horse of the year to pull away in the closest world championship race of the National Finals Rodeo.

Wright, of Milford, Utah, was randomly paired with Harry Vold Rodeo's Painted Valley and was scored for 87 points, good for second place in the 10th go-round before a crowd of 17,683 on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The ride enabled Wright, 33, to win the NFR aggregate and world championship for the second time in three years.

"This one might feel better than my first one, to be honest," he said. "I wanted one more to show people that (the first one) wasn't just luck."

The Vold horse was picked saddle bronc horse of 2010 by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

Wright began the night $592 ahead of Iowa's Wade Sundell, who scored 81 but finished out of the money in the round.

Wright's final ride gave him the NFR event title worth a $44,910 bonus to raise his season earnings to $247,579 and beat Sundell by $22,506.

BAREBACK

Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore., placed fifth in the final round, but it was enough to place second in the event standings and give him his second straight and fourth overall world championship.

NFR WINNER: Justin McDaniel (Porum, Utah)

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Kelly Timberman (Mills, Wyo.)

STEER WRESTLING

In a race that was tight to the end, Dean Gorsuch of Gering, Neb., won his second world title by tying for first in the NFR event standings to get past Curtis Cassidy of Donalda, Alberta.

NFR WINNER: Gorsuch tied with Billy Bugenig (Ferndale, Calif.)

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Curtis Cassidy (Donalda, Alberta)

TEAM ROPING

Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith, both of Decatur, Texas, won their first world title as a duo and won an NFR-best $120,418 in the category.

NFR WINNER: Luke Brown and Martin Lucero (both of Stephenville, Texas)

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Chad Masters (Clarksville, Tenn.) and Jade Corkill (Fallon)

SADDLE BRONC RIDING

WORLD CHAMPION: Cody Wright (Milford, Utah)

NFR WINNER: Cody Wright

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Heith DeMoss (Heflin, La.)

CALF ROPING

Brazile achieved his second PRCA "triple crown" in four years by winning the calf roping world title for the second straight year and third time in four years.

NFR WINNER: Brazile

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Tuf Cooper (Decatur, Texas)

BARREL RACING

Sherry Cervi clinched her third world title in the Women's Professional Rodeo Association on Friday. Jill Moody of Letcher, S.D., won the event aggregate with a total time of 138.26 seconds on 10 rides to break the NFR record of 138.93 set by Charmayne James in 1986.

NFR WINNER: Moody

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Brittany Pozzi (Victoria, Alberta) tied with Angie Meadors (Blanchard, Okla.)

BULL RIDING

J.W. Harris became the first bull rider to win three consecutive world titles Friday since Don Gay from 1979 to 1981.

NFR WINNER: Harris

10TH GO-ROUND WINNER: Ardie Maier (Timber Lake, S.D.)

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.