NFR Day 3 Preview: PRCA world runner-up Cody DeMoss slips to second
Saddle bronc rider Cody “Hot Sauce” DeMoss is in an all too familiar spot in the world standings entering today’s third round of the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center.
DeMoss, who is saddled with the distinction of finishing second in the world an event-record five times at the NFR, slipped from first to second place behind Wade Sundell, who took second Friday night with an 82.5-point ride on Frontier Rodeo’s Tip Off after winning the first round.
Sundell took home $20,730.77 to take a lead of almost $10,000 over DeMoss, who tied for fifth with Rusty Wright with a 75-point ride on Beutler & Sons’ Nod Big with Four Aces.
Rookie CoBurn Bradshaw won the round with an 83.5-point ride on C5 Rodeo Company’s Curly Bill to pocket $26,230.77 and move more than $24,000 ahead of saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston for the lead in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Rookie of the Year race.
For the second time in as many nights, there was a change atop the steer wrestling world standings as 2013 world champion Hunter Cure took over the top spot after splitting the round win with five-time world champ Luke Branquinho when each posted a time of 3.5 seconds.
Bull rider Clayton Foltyn hit the biggest NFR jackpot in Las Vegas on Friday. Because he was the only bull rider to complete an eight-second ride, he raked in all the money for the event in the round, which amounted to $84,615, although only $26,231 counts for the world standings. Foltyn scored 76.5 points on Rafter G Rodeo’s Thunderstruck to climb to seventh in the standings.
It was the first time in the NFR’s 57-year history that there has been zero or one qualified ride in the second round, and only the seventh time there’s only been one ride in a round at the NFR.
