Bullnanza Carrizo Springs

Middle Rio Grande Valley Entertainment
I was fortunate enough to get to be the announcer again this year at the Dimmit County Chamber of Commerce Bullnanza fundraiser held on April 26, 2008. All the folks in Carrizo Springs put their hearts and souls into making this event successful. This year they hosted a free concert from "Grupo Vida/The Electric Cowboys" at the conclusion of the bull riding. I hope that this event will continue to grow and be beneficial to the community.

Twenty-five cowboys competed in an event that included a "long" round and a "short" round. If you are not familiar with the terminology:
Long Round-preliminary round where each contestant draws and attempts to ride one bull.
Short Round-the top scoring cowboys from the long round draw and attempt to ride a second bull.

The long round was pretty darn good. As usual Ronnie Kitchens did not disappoint; he is a spectacularly exciting bull rider who was the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Rookie of the Year and PBR Finals Champion in 1996. When I am announcing him at an event I characterize him as a "Dragon Slayer." I use that term for a couple of reasons 1) because he wants to draw rankest bulls he can so that he has the best chance of winning, and 2) because he is so aggressive in his riding style. He had the high marked of 86.5 in the long round on a bull called War Paint. He bucked off his short round bull, Bad Company Rodeo's #110 Warrior, but not without starting a ride that would have been in the 90s had he not come down before the buzzer.

Only two riders covered (rode) their bulls in the short round. Jake Mann marked 86 points on Bad Company's #71 Jungle Love and Travis Prejean scored 77 points on Dx3's #27 Ralphy. These cowboys won first and second respectively in the average.

Results (Unofficial)
Long Round:
1. Ronnie Kitchens-86.5
2. Cody Atwood-85.5
3. Jake Mann-85
4. Donald Francis-84
5. Kevin Ventura-83
6. Travis Prejean-82.5
7. Jonathan Brown-76
8. Reid Barker-7.14 (Time Qualifier)

Short Round:
1. Jake Mann-86
2. Travis Prejean-77 (declined re-ride option)

Average:
1. Jake Mann-171
2. Travis Prejean-159.5
3. Ronnie Kitchens-86.5

Promoter: Dimmit County Chamber of Commerce
Producer: Marshall Schlessinger
Stock Contractors: Mack Altizer's Bad Company Rodeo, Wesley McManus' Dx3 Bucking Bulls
Bullfighters: Chris Hammack, Cody Morman
Officials: Jimbo Kimbro and Guy Holman