Asay, Proctor among entrants

Powell native Kanin Asay and former Northwest College Trapper and defending 2011 Cody-Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls champion Shane Proctor will be joined by 38 other riders this Saturday when the Xtreme Bulls tour pulls into Park County.

Forty of professional rodeo’s top bull riders will compete starting at 7 p.m. against some of the toughest bulls that professional rodeo has to offer. Their goal will be to earn a spot among the top 12 riders and be invited to return to the arena later in the evenng for the finals. At stake is a $50,000 purse that will help get Cowboy Christmas off to a good start for those performing well on Saturday.

Money earned at the Xtreme Bulls stop also counts toward PRCA world standings, which, in turn, are used to determine the qualifiers to the 2012 National Finals Rodeo later this year.

Many of those scheduled to attend Saturday’s event are no strangers to the world standings. In addition to Asay, currently ranked No. 4 in the world standings, seven other members of the current top 10 are scheduled to compete.

Current PRCA bull riding leader Cody Teel is slated to be on hand in Cody, as are world No. 2 Cody Samora, No. 5 Trey Benton III, No. 6 Ardie Maier, No. 8 Trevor Kastner, No. 9 Tate Stratton and No. 10 Tyler Willis.

Proctor, the reigning world champion, currently ranked No. 32, and 2007 world champion Wesley Silcox, currently sitting at No. 25, will add more top-level talent to the arena floor.

Of course, the cowboys are only half of the equation. Those hoping to lay hands on the payout cash will have to navigate a stable of bulls that’s every bit as talented as the riders. Among the bulls scheduled to be in the chutes in Cody this Saturday is the Mo Betta Rodeo Company’s Bailey Hou, a bull that has shook off every cowboy attempting to ride him in the 2012 season.

Other headline bulls include Thomas the Train, a Jeff Robinson Rodeo Company bull described as a “solid performer.” Cody Whitney produced a ride of 89.5 points on the bull at hte Okeechobee Xtreme Bulls event earlier this season. Mr. Slim, another Jeff Robinson bull that has bucked off 74 percent of its riders in 2012, will also be in town.

General admission tickets for the Cody-Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls event are $20 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under. They can be purchased online at www.codystampederodeo.com or by calling 1-800-207-0744.

Saturday’s Xtreme Bulls event will also be broadcast on the Great American Country (GAC) Network as part of the network’s coverage of the 10-stop Xtreme Bulls tour. The broadcast of the Cody-Yellowstone event will take place July 17 from 8-9:30 p.m., local time.

Saturday’s Xtreme Bulls event will serve as the kickoff to the 2012 Cody Stampede Rodeo, which runs July 1-July 4 and is part of the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour.

Scheduled to compete

Here’s a list of cowboys scheduled to compete at Saturday’s Xtreme Bulls tour stop in Cody. Numbers in parenthesis indicate each cowboy’s current position in the 2012 PRCA world standings as of Wednesday morning.

Austin Ambrose, Kanin Asay (4), Travis Atkinson (23), Trey Benton III (5), Chandler Bownds (16), Riker Carter, Howdy Cloud, Paul Coppini (21), Clint Craig, D.J. Domangue, Tag Elliott (11), Patrick Geipel (35), Seth Glause (12), Ty Hamaker, Trevor Kastner (8), Tanner Learmont, Rankin Lindsey (47), Ardie Maier (6), Corey Maier (19), Colin McTaggart (13), Brent Menz (29), Sonny Murphy (38), Corey Navarre, Nevada Newman (24), Matt Pojanowski, Shane Proctor (32), Shawn Proctor (37), Bryan Richardson (39), Cody Rostockyj (18), Cody Samora (2), Sunshine Schwartz (22), Wesley Silcox (25), Tate Stratton (9), Cody Teel (1), Jake Wade, Cody Whitney (28), Tyler Willis (10), Stormy Wing, Steve Woolsey and Sam Wyatt.