Bill Tutor eyes elusive CFD title

Tutor’s 85 points during Saturday’s second go-round at Frontier Park Arena, coupled with his 82.5 in the first go Friday, put him in the lead with 167.5 on two. He holds a one-point lead over Seth Hardwick, formerly of Laramie, who now lives in Ranchester, Wyoming.

Tutor watched Taylor Price win CFD in 2013 and Richmond Champion win in 2014. This will be Tutor’s first finals appearance.

“This is the one you want to come back to,” Tutor said.

Tutor, currently ranked third in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world standings, earned the top mark in a wet and muddy arena after days of rain and hail. Chances are the arena will – at the very least – be wet today. But that’s not a problem for Tutor.

“You have to be a little more of a cowboy,” Tutor said. “The pictures are cooler. It makes it more exciting for the fans. It is not an unfair advantage because everyone has to deal with it. It makes it that much cooler.

“I won’t worry about cleaning my stuff off because I know I’m going to get muddy (today). It is going to be outstanding. There are (National Finals Rodeo)-type horses here – everything you dream of getting on. It will be an even draw throughout. It will come down to the contestants to see who can make the best ride.”

Some of the biggest names in the event will be chasing Tutor today.

• Four-time world champion Kaycee Feild of Spanish Fork, Utah, who is tied for third (166).
  
  
• Two-time CFD champion and three-time world champion Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas, who is tied for fifth (165.5) with current No. 2 bareback bronc rider Caleb Bennett of Tremonton, Utah.

There are only three Wyoming rodeo athletes in today’s finals, but one has a chance to make some history. Brody Cress, a Hillsdale, Wyoming, native and a Cheyenne’s East High graduate, leads the aggregate in saddle bronc riding, and will try to become the first back-to-back CFD saddle bronc champion since Turk Greenough in 1935-36.

The top 16 bull riders from the two go-rounds return for the finals, but only seven have scores on two. The remaining nine will join the finals based on the highest scores on single rides from the first two go-rounds.

A 71-point bull ride won’t get you much at most rodeos, but for Trevor Kastner of Roff, Oklahoma, that score Saturday made him one of those seven guys with scores on two. Kastner enters the finals with 157.5 points on two, well behind leader Koby Radley of Montpelier, Louisiana, at 173.5, but that is OK with him.

“It is good to get two rode and make it back for a third,” Kastner said. “You get one more rode in the finals, and anything can happen.”

Kastner has competed in the finals at CFD in the past, but has yet to win it. He said there will be more “hype” today, but he will try to block that out.

“You just try to take it as if it were any other rodeo.”

The muddy arena made for more excitement in terms of watching the timed events. Perhaps the most excited was steer wrestler Levi Rudd of Chelsea, Oklahoma. Rudd’s time of 14.1 seconds on two gives him a 2.6-second lead over Curtis Cassidy of Donalda, Alberta, who also is second in the world standings.

Rudd isn’t in the top 50 of the world standings, but could make a lot of money here today.

“This is the third year I’ve been here. The first year I missed the finals by a few tenths of a second, and last year I didn’t get one down,” Rudd said.

“I’ve drawn two good steers so far, and I couldn’t be happier. Everything is going the right way. Making the finals here is pretty much like making the NFR. It’s a cool deal. Not many make it here, and to do it is a pretty incredible feeling.”

In barrel racing, seven-tenths of a second separates No. 1 from No. 12 among the finalists. Nellie Miller of Cottonwood, California, is the leader at 35.30, and she is second in the world standings. But there are some former CFD champions right behind her.

Brittany Pozzi-Tonozzi of Victoria, Texas, the 2007 CFD champ, is second (35.44). Lisa Lockhart of Oelrichs, South Dakota, won in 2015 and is third (35.58), and defending champ Stevi Hillman of Weatherford, Texas, is fourth (35.60).

Tuf Cooper of Decatur, Texas, seeks his first CFD steer roping title, and enters the finals in first place with 29.7 on two. Cooper is the world leader in that event, and was the 2013 CFD all-around champ.

Heeler Corey Petzka of Marana, Arizona, was part of the winning team-roping duo last year at CFD with header Erich Rogers. This year Petzka is teaming with Derrick Begay of Seba Dalkai, Arizona, and they are in fifth place entering the finals (18.7). The leaders are Chris Francis and Cade Passig (17.5).

Less than four seconds separates to top 12 finalists in tie-down roping. The leader is Riley Pruitt of Gering, Nebraska (21.8).

Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, is expected to win his second consecutive CFD all-around title. Brazile, a 23-time world champion, won CFD all-round titles in 2000, 2002 and 2017. He won money this year in team roping and steer roping, but didn’t make today’s finals in either event. He is the only cowboy to win money in two events at this year’s rodeo.

Wyoming participants

Other than Hardwick (bareback) and Cress (saddle bronc), the only other Wyoming rodeo athlete in today’s finals is Miguel Garcia of Kaycee, who is eighth in steer wrestling (18.6).