That strange blip on Vandenberg Air Force Base's radar screen Thursday night just might have been Ad Bugenig.

The Ferndale cowboy was, quite simply, launched by Billy Buck during the Saddle Bronc competition on opening night of the 64th annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo at the Elks/Unocal Events Center.

While the bronco Billy Buck wowed the crowd with the liftoff he provided Bugenig, the busted bronc buster had plenty of company in the dirt.

The cowboys always have it rough in the rough stock events and this opening night of the four-day rodeo wasn't any different.

Four of the eight bronc riders and seven of the eight bull riders suffered the same fate - though their dismounts weren't nearly as spectacular.

The bareback riders, though, had the last laugh - six of the seven bareback riders pulled off complete eight-second scoring rides.

The rough riders - bareback, saddle bronc and bull - get just one shot at success in Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events.

Advertisement

They have to ride these wily animals for a full eight seconds to score - then wait until all the other cowboys get their one shot over the next three days to see if their score holds up.

“There's nothing fun about it when they dump you in the dirt because you ain't gettin' paid,” said Cody DeMers, one of the leading rough stock riders in the country. “So when you hear that (eight second) whistle - well, that's a great feeling because you know you've got the chance to win some money.”

DeMers is sitting tall in the saddle after the first night of bareback riding. His 76-point ride has him atop the leaderboard. But he'll have to wait until late Sunday afternoon to see if his 76 holds up. Also watching the leaderboard will be Budd Munns (75), Kaycee Feild (72), Mac Erickson (71), Kevin Grudin (70) and Chase Erickson (70).

DeMers didn't fare as well in the saddle bronc riding competition. He was one of the cowboys whose ride ended early.

“That ride didn't go as well,” said DeMers. “Still I love coming to Santa Maria. They've got great weather, a great crowd and the stock is excellent. It's great to come back here every year.”

Rusty Allen leads that chase with a powerful 87-point ride. Cody Allen (79), Johnny Hammack (76), Roy Johnson (72) and Shane Moran (72) follow Allen on that leaderboard.

“That was a pretty good score,” said Allen. 󈭇 may not hold up through the weekend but it sure is a solid place to start.”

And then there were the bulls. The PRCA saves the bulls for last. Everyone loves watching the bull riders. And the bulls - well, they love to please the crowd and do their best to send the cowboys into the air. For those keeping score, it's Bulls 8, Cowboys 1. Only Ted Bert managed a full eight-second ride aboard Domino, good for 76-points. (Do you think Domino got razzed by his buddies back in the bullpen for being the only guy to get scored upon?)

The PRCA's other events are timed races. The cowboys get two runs in each specialty with day money paid to the riders with the lowest total time in each round and champions money paid to the lowest total time of the two rounds combined.

The same holds true for the one Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) event - barrel racing.

The PRCA's team roping led off the timed events.

The team, with header listed first, with Thursday night's fastest roping time was Danny Garcia and Brent Lockett, lassoing their steer in 8.8-seconds. Hot on their heels, at 9.0-seconds, is the duo of Wes Goodrich and Joey Acevedo. Eric Cozzitorto and PK Kennedy (11.9) and Clint White and Tarek Goddard (12.5) sit third and fourth.

Cal Poly grad and San Luis Obispo resident Clint Cooper holds the top spot in steer wrestling after a 7.7-second run. Cooper is followed by Ted Bert (9.9), Daniel Rosenberg (11.5), Justin Ritchea (16.7) and Michael Berg (17.0).

“You never know if your time will hold up,” said Cooper. “But 7.7 is a pretty good run so it should, at least, help me out with the average.”

Chad Krainock's 10.9-seconds was the quickest among the tie down ropers. The early leader is followed by Travis Fowler (12.2), Cliff McLaughlin (13.0), Joe Clarot (14.9) and Cal Poly's Chad Rava (15.0).

Then there's the WPRA barrel racing. Talk about split-second timing. Less than one second separates the top seven in this event.

Gina Graham, the WPRA Rookie of the Year for 2006, posted the fastest time at 17.84-seconds around the three barrel course. Heather Burton-Gibson had the slowest time at 18.56 - just .72 of a second behind the early leader.

In between were Mary Ann Miller (17.99), Dude Overton (18.00), Brittany Pozzi-Pharr (18.00), Lauren Jovin (18.37) and Jennifer Rosenberg (18.46).

Also on the schedule was the three-man team bronc riding event where the team tries to catch a wild horse that's never had a saddle on, get a saddle on him then ride it across the finish line. Of the seven teams entered, just two - the Wade Agin team and the T.C. Button team - managed to cross the finish line before the two-minute time limit was up. Agin's team captured the race.

The Santa Maria Elks Rodeo has another unique aspect. It is one of the few rodeos that has local cowboys and cowgirls taking part in their own event. There were two divisions of Elks Team Roping and one in Elks Recreation Barrel Racing.

In the Elks Open Team Roping the local team of Mike Draper Jr. and John Patino posted the night's fastest run at 10.7-seconds. They were followed by Jim Settle and Brad Teixeira (11.6) and Eric Pybas and Josh Wineman (16.5). There will be Open competition during each rodeo performance. The top six teams are invited back for their championship run on Sunday.

In the Elks Recreation 5.5 team roping division, the team of Jeff Smith and Todd Ruffoni (9.3) won the championship. These cowboys qualified for Thursday night's finals in mid-May. There will be buckle runs for the other Elks Rec divisions during each of the rodeo's remaining three performances.

Smith and Ruffoni outraced Mike Draper and Glen Teixeira (10.2), Andy LaRoche and Danny Fleming (14.7) and Cheyne Torres and Glen Teixeira (17.0) for their title.

Christy Mang won the 1D Elks Rec Open Barrel Race finals. As with the team roping, these young ladies qualified for Thursday's finals in mid-May. There will also be finals for the other divisions during the rest of the rodeo.

Marcey Teixeira was a close second (17.76) followed by Mariel Murphy (18.22), Taylor Jacobsen (18.32) and Taylor Salazar (23.20).

The rodeo continues tonight at 7 p.m. It wraps up over the weekend with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.

June 1, 2007