NFR SEVENTH GO-ROUND SUMMARY

Bareback rider Bobby Mote tied the Thomas & Mack Center record for the second time this week and took over the lead in the world standings Wednesday night with his third go-round win in seven rounds of the National Finals Rodeo.

Mote, of Culver, Ore., was scored for 91.5 points on Big Bend’s Spring Fling, a three-time world champion.

“You can think you’ve got her knocked out, and the next jump you’ll be on the ground wondering what happened,” said Mote, going for his second consecutive and third overall world title. “She has such tremendous timing and try (effort).

“She probably takes five more jumps in eight seconds than most horses do.”

Mote won $16,766 and increased his NFR earnings to $58,503, enabling him to pass regular-season money leader Steve Dent, who finished out of the money.

It also moved Mote three spots ahead of Dent in the Finals aggregate standings, which will pay a $42,999 bonus to the winner after Saturday night’s 10th round.

STEER WRESTLING

Curtis Cassidy of Donalda, Alberta, and Trevor Knowles of Mount Vernon, Ore., turfed their steers in 3.4 seconds to share first place and each win $15,009.

Luke Branquinho didn’t get a check but is ranked second in NFR standings and has a comfortable lead in season earnings.

TEAM ROPING

Header Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, and Patrick Smith of Midland, Texas, won the go-round with a time of 3.90 seconds. The victory moved them to first in NFR earnings and within reach of the world championship.

“The best way to stay in the lead of the average (aggregate) is to make good runs,” said Brazile, who won the calf-roping round Tuesday. “I’m not trying to protect our lead; I’m thinking about getting further in the lead.”

Brazile clinched the all-around championship Tuesday, and a team-roping world title would make him the first to own world championships in four rodeo categories. He won steer-wrestling and calf-roping championships last year.

Logandale’s Randon Adams and heeler Matt Sherwood of Pima, Ariz., placed second in the go-round to win $10,006.

SADDLE BRONC RIDING

Cody Wright of Milford, Utah, was scored for 88.5 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Round Robin to win his second go-round of the Finals.

Wright started the NFR as the money leader but trails Billy Etbauer by $11,000 in season money. Etbauer was bucked off in the go-round and fell to fifth in the NFR standings, and Wright moved up to second.

Wright would be leading if projected NFR aggregate payouts were included.

“I just don’t feel like I’m any comparison to Billy Etbauer,” said Wright, whose season earnings are $193,058. “Some nights I just get luckier. Billy is one of the best bronc riders there has ever been.

“It would be awesome to win the world (title) rodeoing with Billy, just because he is so great.”

CALF ROPING

Jeff Chapman of Athens, Texas, is out of the running for NFR and world titles, so he went for broke in the go-round, and it paid off. He roped his calf in 7.3 seconds to win.

“My banker pretty much tells me that I need to keep my head down and start winning,” he said. “I’ve been buying a lot (of stuff) here lately, and I need to pay for it.”

Josh Peek and Hunter Herrin, first and second in the world, did not place in the money. Herrin ranks first in the Finals, with Peek sixth, which would move Herrin into the lead.

BARREL RACING

Alberta’s Lindsay Sears is getting closer to the arena record and world championship.

She rode Martha to their third go-round win and second straight with a time of 13.56 seconds, four-hundredths of a second off the Finals record.

“It’s all about Martha. She just keeps getting stronger and stronger,” Sears said. “She just nailed it.”

The win pushed her lead over Brittany Pozzi-Pharr to $62,000. Pozzi-Pharr finished out of the money after incurring a five-second penalty for knocking over a barrel.

BULL RIDING

Mike Moore of Kankakee, Ill., was scored for 85.5 points on Franklin Rodeo’s Devil In Savo to win his first round of the Finals.

J.W. Harris of May, Texas, placed fourth to win $7,031 and move within $17,400 of money leader Chance Smart. But Harris has a substantial lead if the Finals payouts are factored in; Harris leads the aggregate by covering six bulls, and Smart has ridden only two to the buzzer.

JEFF WOLF/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL