BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Sage Kimzey is the No. 1 bull rider in the world entering the National Finals Rodeo. He’s done it again this year and he’s in search of his seventh straight World Championship.
Kimzey made $92,334 in 2020, however, more than half of that came from the $50,000 he earned for sharing the title at RFD-TV’s The American with Joao Ricardo Vieria.
Kimzey’s other big wins in 2020 came at the Herriman City Xtreme Bulls, where he rode Hail Storm for 88 points to earn more than $4,004 and in Gooding, Idaho, where he was 90 points aboard Near Miss to collect another check of exactly $4,004.
SAGE KIMZEY RIDES NEAR MISS FOR 90 POINTS
Kimzey also won some nice second-place checks in 2020 as well.
In Cody, he teamed up with Hard Times for 88.5 points, which banked him $3,901 and in San Antonio, he took home $3,611 for his 88-point ride on Flight Risk in the Championship Round.
The Oklahoma cowboy got an early season lift by finishing third at the New Year’s Eve Buck and Ball at the end of 2019. His 84-point ride earned him close to $3,000.
Kimzey has won the last six World Championships, but is more vulnerable this year. He has three cowboys, Ky Hamilton, Boudreaux Campbell and Dustin Boquet, all within less than $12,000 of him. He also won just six Go-Rounds in 2020 and his previous low in his reign was 14 in 2014. By comparison, he won 28 Go-Rounds in 2018.
There’s no reason to believe Kimzey has slowed down, however. Last year, he made more than any bull rider ever has in a rodeo season with $480,797, breaking the mark he set in 2017.
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Six-time bull riding world champion Sage Kimzey reacts to NFR announcement
