We have entered the home stretch of the 2022 NFR and there is still plenty to be sorted out in several World Title races. Here are your Round 7 News and Notes.
- Logan Hay makes it three wins in a row after another great showing in Round 7. Hay may have come into the 2022 NFR overlooked, but nobody is doing so now after his third straight win thanks to a 90-point ride. Hay is no projected to finish second in the world behind current average leader Zeke Thurston. The Gold Buckle race will likely come down to whoever wins the average where currently, Thurston holds a six-point lead over Hay.
- Wenda Johnson takes over the lead in the Barrel Racing average and is now projected to win the World Title. Johnson has only placed in three rounds but is one of four who have yet to knock a barrel. Johnson took the round last night with a 13.70-second run and with over $70,000 awarded to the average winner, she is in the driver’s seat for a World Title.
- Stetson Wright continues to break records. After earning over $30,000 in last night’s Bull Riding alone, Wright has set the new single-season Bull Riding earnings record with $482,784 earned.
- Jess Pope is nearing his first Gold Buckle after winning the average each of the last two years. Not only is Pope leading the Bareback World Standings, but he also leads the average at the NFR with 606 points on seven head. Pope is leading the average by over 10 points, and if he is able to ride in the next three rounds he will be a World Champion.
- Kincade Henry has impressed in his NFR debut, collecting his second win of the rodeo in Round 7. Henry came into the NFR with four runs at 4.5 seconds or better in his young career, at the NFR he has three. Henry has placed in five rounds and is averaging 7.66 seconds per qualified run.
- Bull Rider Lukasey Morris is being held out of Round 8 with a concussion he suffered in Round 7. Morris will be reevaluated before Round 9, but has not yet been given the green light to return.
- Tonight features several big matchups in Bareback riding. Caleb Bennett is matched up with C5. Rodeo’s Virgil who was named the bareback riding stock of the night in Round 5 after bucking Tilden Hooper off.