The Final Go-Round

It was championship Sunday as the 63rd annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo wrapped up its four-day run at the Elks Unocal Events Center.
And the champions came out in force, as the enthusiastic crowd was treated to the top performances of the weekend in all of the rough stock events.
The Bareback Riders saved the best for last - Kyle Bowers won the champion's gold and silver buckle with an 81 point ride on Kattle Kall as the final rider out of the chutes.
“That's the best way to do it because then you know that no one's going to catch you. You don't have to worry about the next guy coming out and out-pointing you because there is no next guy,” said Bowers. “It feels great anytime that you have a good ride on a good horse. It's feels even better if it turns out to be a championship ride.”
Coming into Sunday's finalé, Jess Davis held the Bareback lead. Bowers ride pushed Davis (79 points) to second place, followed by Marv Hurley (78) and Trent Coates (77).
Luke Walker (74) and Ben Londo (73) - a Cal Poly cowboy who is the reigning NCAA Div. I men's college All Around champion - had Sunday's second and third best rides.
Not to be outdone, the Saddle Bronc riders posted the two best scores of the rodeo.
Coming into Sunday, Levi Conry and Steve Dollarhide shared the lead at 78 points. But they went home splitting third and fourth place money.
Cody Martin took the lead Sunday with a 79-point ride aboard Leaving Las Vegas. That lead was short lived as Rusty Allen posted an 82-point score riding Billey Buck to win the Santa Maria championship and push Martin back to second place.
The Bull Riders got a lot of payback on Sunday. Coming into the day, the bulls sent 42 of the first 47 riders into the dirt.
They outdid the cowboys again Sunday, 9-7, but all seven of the successful riders posted good scores - seven of the top nine.
Bryan Richardson took the championship with an 87-point ride on Tuff Target.
Zach Oaks and Tim Wood split second and third place money after identical 83-point rides. Ian Male hit an 81 for his ride that good for a tie for fourth with Luke Haught, the leader heading into Sunday.
Shane Gordon, Bobby Waller and Brady Williams all posted 77s on Sunday, good for a three-way tie for seventh.
The Santa Maria Elks have two local team roping competitions every year as part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) event.
In the Elks Team Roping Open division, the teams were back for their third go-round - having qualified for Sunday's finals over the first three days of this rodeo.
Mike Draper and Luke Andrews total time of 29.8-seconds on the three runs was good for the championship. Their final run Sunday was 9.6-seconds.
Bill Wineman and Dustin Noblitt had Sunday's quickest run at 8.6-seconds. Their three-go total of 37.4-seconds earned them second place.
Adam and Glenn Teixeira came home with third place.
Shane Torres and Erik Pybas won the Elks Team Roping 5 1/2 Division championship with a 10.4-second run. The competitors in this event qualified during the annual Elks qualifiers over the weekend of May 20.
Torres and Pybas bested three other teams of finalists - Marcey Teixeira and Dr. Van Snow, Chuck Doss and Brad Teixeira and Hannah Lewis and Pete Simmons.
Pat Grohl and Chris Nobles had the day's fastest time - 6.3 seconds - in the PRCA team roping. But it wasn't good enough to get them into the money. Their two-go total of 13-6 seconds wasn't quick enough to get in the money there either.
The PRCA Team Roping champions for 2006 are Kyle Lockett and Wheatley with a two-go total of 10.7-seconds.
Second place went to T.J. Collett and Cody Cowden (11.9), followed by two teams at 13.1-seconds - Travis Woodard and Trent Cornelius and Dan Williams, Jr. and Caleb Twisselman.
In Steer Wrestling, Ron Schenk had Sunday's quickest time at 6.3-seconds but it wasn't enough to catch second go leader Levi Rosser who won the go-round with a 5.0-second time.
Blake Knowles and Rhett Kennedy tied for second/third (5.3) with Tommy Cook in fourth (5.4).
Cook is the overall champion. His 4.1 first go time gave him a 9.5 for the event and the winner's buckle.
Knowles was second at 10.9-seconds with Trevor Duhon finishing third in 11.7-seconds.
In the Tie Down Roping, San Luis Obispo's Clint Cooper was the fastest at 9.9-seconds but that was only good enough for 6th in the go. It wasn't fast enough to catch Daniel Green who's 9.0-second run won the second go.
Green is also the overall champion with a two-go time of 22.3-seconds.
Green was followed by Travis Ortiz (23.4), Jeff Jones (23.5) and Jesse Egan (24.1).
In the Women's Professional Rodeo Association's (WPRA) Barrel Race, Buellton's Jessica Bainer was the quickest through the three barrel course on Sunday with a time of 17.47. She was followed by Stephanie Cosca (19.70) and Kelly Strohmenger (18.06).
Bainer's time was fifth fastest in the second go. Renee George was the second go winner (17.15) followed by Jolee Latauret (17.21), Leandra Spence (17.46) and Rashell Fehlman (17.46).
Sonia Gorrell is the 2006 Santa Maria Barrel Race champion with a two-go total of 35.14-seconds. Tyra Kane (35.16), Sheena Robbins (35.36), Virgina McClintock (35.36) and Lita Scott (35.38) rounded out the top five.
“One one-hundredth or even one one-thousandth of a second can make a hue difference in barrel racing,” said Cindy Roberts. “They are all such good riders and they are all such good, strong horses.”
Roberts lives in San Luis Obispo and is a barrel racer during the summer months only. The rest of the year she's a math teacher and rodeo coach at Atascadero High School.
“My passion is teaching. When I'm not teaching in the classroom, I'm teaching in the arena,” she said. “Three of the cowboys and cowgirls who competed here and are now on the professional circuit took my match classes in high school - Jana Lee Davis and the Arnold Brothers (Justin and Evan).”
The three-man Jason Boone team claimed the final Wild Horse Race victory. The Boone team was followed by the Mike Royle team and the Alex Nacarato team.
The overall Wild Horse champions are the Wade Agin team from Los Alamos.