Vold Rolling Again

RELEASE BY PRO RODEO CANADA

If you’re Canadian bareback champion Jake Vold, how do you top last season? Well, how about by winning more already this season than you did during the entire 2014 season leading up to the Canadian Finals Rodeo.

“I was so lucky last year and drew so good everywhere pretty much all year,” recalled Vold of his championship season. “I had a slower start this spring and I knew better than to even be thinking that I could do the same thing. But I went home and got some things worked out and it started to come around.”

The 28-year-old’s unofficial 2015 Pro Rodeo Canada earnings now sit at $40,371 after a $3,329 weekend, which included a first-place cheque from the Field of Dreams Stampede in LaCrete, AB, for an 86-point ride on Outlaw Buckers’ Hair Trigger and a second-place finish at the Wrangler Canadian Professional Rodeo Tour stop in Dawson Creek, B.C.

“Rodeo’s a roller coaster ride,” offered the 2007 Canadian novice bareback champion, who had only won just over $4,200 by mid-June. “Last year was the dream year that I had been waiting for and it finally came. And I wanted to repeat it so it was getting hard to keep a positive outlook.”

But, in fact, it’s been the Airdrie, AB, cowboy’s ability to stay positive that has helped him win over $36,000 since June 14.

“I’ve got my eyes on the prize again,” concluded Vold, who is not only number one in the Pro Rodeo Canada bareback standings but sits just outside the top 15 in the world standings. “I’m just hoping to finish strong. We’ll just have to see how things go from now to the end of the year.”

South Dakota saddle bronc rider Troy Crowser knows all too well about the rodeo roller coaster. The 27-year-old missed qualifying for last year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo by a mere $152. This season, he’s currently on the outside looking in when it comes to a CFR berth.

“I’m sitting just out of it,” declared Crowser when analyzing his position in the Pro Rodeo Canada bronc riding standings. “I really needed this and I need a few more, too.”

Crowser topped the bronc riding at the Dawson Creek Stampede with an 87.5-point ride on Kesler Championship Rodeo’s big bay stallion, Spanish Pair, to win $2,617. That, coupled with a win in late July in High Prairie, AB, has boosted Crowser’s earnings over the $10,000 mark.

Other top money winners this past week included steer wrestlers Cody Cassidy ($2,563), Lochlan O’Neill ($2,497), Stephen Culling ($2,496) and JD Hays ($2,235); barrel racer Nicole Pana ($2,453); bareback riders Dusty LaValley ($2,414) and Kevin Langevin ($1,877); bull rider Dakota Buttar ($2,346); tie-down roper Dean Edge ($1,596); team ropers Kolton Schmidt and Dustin Searcy ($1,757 each); all-around competitor Josh Harden ($1,800 SB, $176 SW); novice bareback rider Wyatt Gleason ($1,513) and novice saddle bronc rider Ricky Warren ($1,575).

Next up on the Pro Rodeo Canada schedule are the Jasper Heritage Rodeo in Jasper, AB (Aug. 12-15), the Cranbrook Pro Rodeo in Cranbrook, B.C. (Aug. 14-16) and the Pincher Creek Pro Rodeo in Pincher Creek, AB (Aug. 14-16).