Pro Rodeo Canada
For Immediate Release
May 28, 2012

It’s official. The American migration north has begun.

Okay, it only applies to the sport of professional rodeo but make no mistake, the incoming force is a formidable one.

With up to five of twelve Canadian Finals Rodeo qualifier spots up for grabs, cowboys and cowgirls from south of the 49th parallel dominated leader boards at the weekend’s CPRA stops at Grande Prairie and Bonnyville.

22 year-old Louisiana tie-down roper Shane Hanchey took dead aim at another CFR appearance by winning his event at both venues with a 7.9 second run for $3,090 at Grande Prairie and a 9.3 for $1,967 at Bonnyville. The $5057 haul vaulted Hanchey to top spot in the Canadian standings and combined with a split of first at Jacksonville, Texas one week earlier moved him to 7th spot in the world rankings. The three wins in a one week span were the talented Wrangler NFR roper’s first triumphs of the 2012 season.

Each of Hanchey’s wins came by the narrowest of margins; he was a tenth-of-a-second faster than Canadian Lee Rombough at Grand Prairie and eked out the same margin of victory over fellow American Rhen Richard in Bonnyville.

Even with his two outright weekend wins, Hanchey was second in the total earnings column for the two Canadian rodeos - finishing $60 back of Ludlow, South Dakota steer wrestler Chason Floyd.

Floyd, a college student at Gillette (Wyoming ) College, was the biggest winner, cashing a $3197 cheque in the steer wrestling to best the field at Grande Prairie’s Stompede with a 4.4 second run, then splitting top spot with 2007 Canadian Champion Todd Woodward at Bonnyville, both men posting times of 5.0 for  $1,920 each. Floyd tucked a total of $5117 into his Wranglers with his two results.

Americans claimed the top two spots in bareback riding and barrel racing at Grande Prairie.  Jason Havens of Prineville, Oregon spurred out a whopping 89 score on Outlaw Buckers’ J Bar 9 to claim the winner’s share in bareback riding -- $3125 at Grande Prairie with Itasca, Texas veteran Chris Harris nailing down second spot with an 86.5 for $2,474.

A pair of Texans finished 1-2 in the barrel race; Ledbetter’s Tammy Fischer navigated the cloverleaf pattern in 15.282 seconds ($3,613) with Stephenville cowgirl Lee Ann Rust right behind her at 15.338 to collect $2,891 in winnings.

Other Grande Prairie Stompede winners included Rylan Geiger of Duchess, AB in the saddle bronc riding (85.5 points on Calgary Stampede’s Mata Fact, $3598), reigning Canadian Champion Chad Besplug of Claresholm, AB (86 points on Outlaw Buckers’ Norman, $3666) and Clay Ullery (Two Hills, AB) and Riley Wilson (Cardston, AB) in the team roping (4.3 seconds, $1838 each). The novice saddle bronc riding was won by Layton Green (Meeting Creek, AB) with 70.5 points and $493. Cole Jamieson and Dylan Bilton (both from Innisfail, AB) split the novice bareback riding with 70 points and $336 each. The junior steer riding winner was Claresholm, AB’s Griffin Smeltzer with a 68.5 point ride for $291.

The bareback riding at Bonnyville was spit between Fort Vermilion, Aberta’s Justin Randle (Franklin’s Flat Out) and Morgan, Utah’s Caleb Bennett (Franklin’s Leaning Tower). Both men earned 85 points and $1254 each.

In the saddle bronc riding, Kyreon Geiger, not to be outdone by his brother, picked up his own weekend triumph when his 81.5 point ride on Franklin’s Spotted Pheasant earned the Bracken, SK bronc rider $1424.

Other Bonnyville winners included Levi Simpson (Claresholm, AB) and John Robertson (Polson, MT) who collaborated on a 4.6 second time in the team roping to collect $1643 each; Nancy Csabay of Taber, AB in the barrel race (16.367 seconds, $1678) and Tyler Pankewitz of Ponoka, AB who rode Franklin’s #850 in the bull riding to 85.5 points and a cheque for $1663. Novice winners were Cole Neely of Duchess, AB (novice saddle bronc) with 74.5 points for $540 and Jacob Stemo, Calgary, AB (novice bareback) with 75 points for $400.

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