Brett Hoffman
As Joel Bach was en route to compete in the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo on the evening of Feb. 7, the young team roping star was pulled over for speeding.
Earlier in the day, he and his team roping partner Paul Eaves had competed in the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo’s matinee performance. They left at 3 p.m. and sped up I-35, knowing they were scheduled to compete in the Fort Worth rodeo finals, which opened at 7:30 p.m.
Bach said he was stopped about 30 minutes south of Fort Worth.
“I just told the petrolman that I had roped in San Antonio in the afternoon, that I had to rope in Fort Worth that night, and I really didn’t have a choice,” he said.
Bach said the officer issued a warning.
Bach, who is from the North Texas town of Millsap, arrived at the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo grounds a half hour before the performance began. After regaining his composure, he and Eaves turned in a blistering time of 5.0 seconds en route to clinching the team roping title.
Bach, 20, whose father, Allen, has four world team roping titles, said he knew he had to be fast.
“Unless you come into the finals in the top two or three places, you know you have to be winning it when you ride out of the arena,” Bach said.
In other action, defending world all-around champion Trevor Brazile finished second in the tie-down roping title race. The Decatur cowboy earned $11,881 at the Fort Worth rodeo in tie-down roping and team roping events as he attempts to lasso a record eighth world all-around title in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
PBR update — When the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series stops at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 20, organizers will use a bracket to determine the champion for the first time in the association’s 17-season history.
The Feb. 20 Iron Cowboy Invitational in Arlington will feature a field of 24 riders including 2009 world champion Kody Lostroh, J.B. Mauney, who finished runner-up in the 2009 world title race, and 2008 gold buckle winner Guilherme Marchi. L.J. Jenkins of Texico, N.M., who won the average at the 2006 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas, also is on the card.
The riders will be paired and each will take on a comparable bull with the winner moving o the next level. The winning rider will be determined by who obtains the highest score.
If both riders buck off, the rider who stayed on the longest will advance. In the final two rounds, competing cowboys will ride the same bull. The rider who rides his final-round bull the highest total points will be declared the winner.
Tickets start at $20 and tickets can be purchased by phone at (800) 745-3000, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or at the Cowboys Stadium Box Office.
Gray riding tough — Five-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier Ryan Gray, who has homes in Cheney, Wash., and the West Texas town of Petersburg, came in second in the bareback riding title race at the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo. The former Texas Tech star finished runner-up after turning in a remarkable final round score of 87 points on the Sammy Andrews bronc Phantom.
Smith in the money — Stran Smith, the 2008 world tie-down roping champion from Childress, won the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo Feb. 6 performance with a time of 7.8 and earned $2,074. The winning run helped Smith advance to the semifinals, which is scheduled for Feb. 18-19. The San Antonio rodeo concludes Feb. 20.
