Ring of Fire Bullriding Series Finishes

Friday, May 16, was the last session of the Ring of Fire Bullriding series at the Texas Longhorn Club.

For the past five sessions, riders had been earning points leading up to this night.

Josh Durant and Casey Stone were tied for first place with 29 points each and Dawson McKee was in a close second place with 27 points.

The championship was not decided because anything can happen in the arena at any time.

The bounty bull was from SYJ Productions pen of quality bulls.

Shane Young had selected Scooby-Doo to be the bull of the night.

Scooby-Doo is four years old and had not been ridden in 40 times out of the chute.

“He has some good moves; he bucks hard right out of the chute and is very fast.

He also had a good pair of horns,” Young said.

David Self of David Self Ford in Orange and Winnie had put up a $1,000 bounty on the bull.

If he was ridden, the cowboy would be $1,000 richer in addition to the money in the pot, plus the $250 added money that Ray Cotton puts up each session.

Fans had the opportunity to win some money.

At the Calcutta, the auction that gives a fan the opportunity to win money if he or she is the high bidder on the bull rider’s ability to ride, the pot was $1,260.

There was a lot of money to be won if the winner could ride Scooby-Doo.

Terry Allman, highly experienced and competent and Dickie Richards, a Hall of Fame member and a long-time judge, judged the event.

Bullfighter Cody Chaisson kept the cowboys out of trouble.

After the club lights went down and the arena lights went up, the first rider was Jonathan Minix on Blue Boy.

It only took about two seconds and one hard crow hopping up and down for Blue Boy to put Minix in the dirt. In spite of wining one session of the Ring of Fire, Minix would go home with no money and dirty clothes.

Caleb Smith was next.

He got bucked off hard and everything that could go wrong went wrong from the time Smith nodded his head.

He came out looking more like a sack of warm lard than a bull rider.

His position was totally wrong and he was in trouble.

When he bucked off, he went into his hand and got hung, slung, tromped and stomped.

After all that, he still managed to be under the bull and the bull’s back hooves rolled him like a tin can on the highway.

No score and he went home sore.

The fourth bull was White Out.

White Out put Amos Romero in a spin that caused him to go down in less than two seconds.

Another no score.

Greased Lightning lived up to his name when he spun Nathan Dupree off of the left side in about one second.

Dupree hit, and rolled and went home with empty pockets.

Tim Murphy may have had a chance on his ride.

His position was good and he had a good grip on his hand rope and was gripping with his knees.

Then all heck happened.

Game Over was his bull and he made the game over when he hit the fence so hard that it made Murphy hang into the fence just long enough for Game Over to pull away.

For a brief moment Murphy resembled a scarecrow more that a bull rider.

The first nine bulls put the first nine riders in the dirt and were efficient in doing it.

Young had brought tough bulls.

The next rider was Dawson McKee, somewhat in contention for the bounty ride.

McKee drew Bo Diddly, a crossbred bull with Bramah and Watusi bloodlines.

Bo Diddly came out hard and popped McKee off the rumble seat like he had flipped a quarter.

McKee nearly made a complete flip in the air and landed hard and appeared a little shaken up by the ride, but he was able to walk out of the arena.

Casey Stone in the tie for first place came out on Dumpster and Dumpster dumped him right in the front of the chute in about one second.

Stone did not look like a contender for first place on this ride.

Beach Baby was the ride for Josh Durant, the other rider tied for first.

Durant went down fast and landed hard.

The score for the night was SYJ’s bulls 12 cowboys 0.

The judges and Rodeo Director Coleman Peveto had decided that if there was no covered ride that the two top riders would draw another bull and they would be timed with the one on board for the longest time being the winner.

After enough time for the two riders to re-group a little, two bulls were brought into the chutes for the buck-off.

Josh Durant was first out and got bucked off after a hard spin by Killin’ Time.

His time on board was 4.93 seconds.

Casey Stone was next out and got bucked off of C-40 after the bull made a high kicking buck and pushed him off the rumble seat at a time of 3.50 seconds.

Josh Durant was the winner of the Ring of Fire Series and would win the $500 buckle and the chance to ride Scooby-Doo for the $1, 000 bounty.

Scooby-Doo was brought into the chute and Durant got his rigging on the bull, took his seat, nodded his head and the ride was on.

In two jumps with a back-end twist the ride was over.

Scooby-Doo put Durant in the dirt in just a little over two seconds.

Durant was awarded a custom designed belt buckle that proclaimed him the winner of the series.

All the money for the night was unclaimed.

The regular bull riding series will resume on June 6.

The money from the Calcutta pot will carry over to the new series.

That pot will start with $1,260 added to whatever money the next Calcutta produces.

June 6 will be the beginning of an exciting series with some more great bull riding action, Calcuttas, and Friday night deals at the largest entertainment complex between Houston and New Orleans.