Third time a charm for Silcox

RENO - The third time was a charm for Wesley Silcox.

Silcox , who had been thrown off Western Rodeo's Rough & Ready twice previously, including once in Reno, scored a 91 on his second ride to win the Dodge Xtreme Bulls Hard To Ride Tour event Thursday night at the Reno Livestock Events Center.

Silcox finished with 178.50 on two rides (87.50 and 91), 6.5 points better than Jarrod Craig, who posted rides of 87 and 85 for 172. Chance Smart, who came into the event ranked No. 2 in the world, was third with a 168 after an 83-point ride on Big Bend's V1 Rapid Reloader.

Those were the only cowboys in the field who completed two rides, as the bulls certainly had their way with some of the best cowboys on tour.

Certainly Silcox felt he redeemed himself with his second-round ride. The Utah cowboy won $13,262 for his 16 seconds of work.

"I got the bull here and rode him right to the whistle," Silcox said. "I was happy to get him again and ride him. The third time was a charm.

"This year has been kind of slow. I won at Diamond (small rodeo). I'm riding the best I have for a long time. Reno has always been pretty good to me."

The reason it's been slow for Silcox is that he broke his wrist last year, and eventually had surgery.

"It had been broken for a while, and I had surgery in January," Silcox said. "I took about five weeks off. I started riding with a cast. Ever since I got the cast off I've been rolling."

Silcox started the night with an 87.50 ride on Growney Brothers' Fully Loaded.

"I'd never had that bull before," Silcox said. "He's just a good bull. He spun right into my hand (out of the gate). I got a little weary at the end. It was a good bull to draw."

Silcox was one of four riders to complete a ride in the second round along with Jarrod Ford (88), Craig (85) and Smart (83).

Only 11 riders had successful rides in the first round. The leader after the first go-round was Howdy Cloud, who recorded a 90.5 aboard Growney Brothers' Lights Out.

"He turned back into my hand," Cloud said after his round-leading effort. "I'd never seen him before. Everybody said that's what he would do. He was a spinner."

Cloud said the ride ranked among his top 10. He entered the event ranked 13th in the world.

Cloud wasn't so fortunate on Flying U's Werewolf. Needing a 79 for the title, Cloud was thrown off just seconds into his ride.

Defending world champ J.W. Harris was fourth after the first round with an 84.50, and Mike Moore was fifth at 83.50.

Moore's ride had to be mentally exhausting. Rosser Rodeo's 1 Carisa Plains was docile in the pen. Several times the bull just stuck his nose down in the ground. It took quite a bit of coaxing from rodeo officials and cowboys to get the ball active and willing to come out of the chute.

"That bull has been around for a long time," Moore said. "You just have to stay focused. It was the only shot I had. It was a matter of staying focused. It takes a lot of effort to stay (cool) when he is acting like that."

You had to feel for Jason McClain, Cody Hancock and Fred Boettcher, all of whom fell just short of reaching the second round.

McClain was thrown off at the 7.97 mark, .03 shy of making a successful ride. Hancock, ranked fifth in the world, hung on for dear life before being deposited to the ground 7.62 seconds into his effort. Boettcher, who was awarded a re-ride when his bull sat down, was thrown off just .50 seconds short of completing his ride.

A scary moment came during section 2 of the first go-round. Cooper Kanngiesser, aboard Stinger, was thrown approximately 10 feet in the air. It appeared that Kanngiesser, ranked seventh in the world, had fallen forward on the bulls' horns and then was flipped up into the air. He was unhurt, and didn't need any help getting back to the chute area.

Notes: Since only 11 riders had successful rides, Ford was inserted into the 12th spot in the finals because he was the highest-ranked rider in the standings that didn't complete his ride. In all fairness to Ford, he drew Reindeer, who had only been ridden twice in 75 rides, and nobody has stayed on him in the last two years. Ford's ride lasted just 2.4 seconds ... The 88th annual Reno Rodeo officially starts its nine-day run tonight at 7 ... The attendance on Thursday was 5,381, a record for the event which has been held in Reno four times ... World leader B.J. Schumacher, aboard Little Marvin, was thrown off 0.3 seconds into his ride.