Rookie Turns in Record Breaking Performance at Hobbs Tuff Hedeman CBR

 Eighteen year old rookie bull rider Boudreaux Campbell had one of the biggest nights of his life as he piloted three bulls to the inner’s circle at the Hobbs Tuff Hedeman Championship Bull Riding held Saturday night at the Lea County Events Center. 

“Keep it simple don’t overthink it, go at with everything you got each time and put the time and effort into it because it is a serious game we are playing,” said the young bull rider from Crockett, Texas who seemed relieved to get his first win on the Road to Cheyenne.

Four time World Champion and Pro Rodeo Hall of Famer Tuff Hedeman has been producing top rated events for over 30 years and pulled out all the stops for the CBR’s annual trip to Hobbs.

With three World Champions and ten Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifiers on the roster the restless crowd witnessed a total of twenty-five qualified rides with all three top ranked bull riders in the CBR World Standings putting out remarkable effort to ride all three of their draws on the eighth stop on the CBR’s televised Road to Cheyenne bull riding tour.  

It was the first time in the history of CBR that all four bull riders in the four man Shoot Out round made the whistle and posted a score. With valuable CBR World Finals qualifying points up for grabs in each of the three rounds in Tuff Hedeman’s tournament style event, the top three ranked bull riders in the CBR World Standings rode three in attempt to move up the leaderboard where five time World Champion Sage Kimzey sits firmly at the top.

Campbell who lost his number two seat to Vastbinder after last week’s CBR event in Tennessee, explained his inspiration for week three.

 “I had a bad week in Jackson last weekend and my goals this week was to stay on all my bulls. I went home and refocused and got on some practice bulls and got everything rolling again and started the week off right with some success at Fort Worth and West Monroe which gave me some confidence coming into Hobbs,” continued the rookie after 

Round One

Fifteen of the twenty-seven qualified rides of the night came from the first round with only three rematches on the day sheet. United States Army veteran Juan Alonzo was the first to put the crowd on their feet with his round winning 90 points on the Champion Bull of the Night, C735 Jack Tar owned by JQH Bucking bulls. Last week’s champion Jeff Askey started his night with the second highest score of the round, 89 points on 66 Big Tex (Elite). Reigning World Champion Sage Kimzey sailed in at 88 points on unknown 7 Loaded Dice (Cunningham/Scoggins) while Campbell rode Hurst’s 3713 Cheecho for 88 points.

“I had no idea what this bull would do and was told he would really buck, Sage (Kimzey) gave me some tips and said he would really fire, it made me really go to him and it worked out,” continued Campbell on his first round match up.

After twenty nine outs that included two re-rides it would take an 85.5 to advance. Jacob O’Mara who was 86.5 suffered a shoulder injury in round one and elected not to ride in the semifinal round which left a three way tie of 85 points for the last position in the twelve man round. Dalan Duncan would win the tie breaker decision on the back judges score ending the night’s competition for Cody Rostockyj, Koby Radley and Josh and Joe Frost who all posted scores in round one.   

Semifinal Round

The second round got under way with Eli Vastbinder being the first man to ride two with 87 points on Karaoke (Elite) which elevated him to 172.5 on two. Tyler Taylor answered with 88.5 on -50 Divinity from B & M Bucking Bulls which gave him the lead with 175 points. Kimzey took 38 Pogo (Cunningham Scoggins) for a hard earned 86.5 points which put him half a point off the event lead with 174.5 total points. Campbell would take the lead with 87.5 on a bull he has seen often but never drawn, 132 Yabba Dabba Do from Stock Contractor of the Year, Mike Rawson.  

“I had never been on 132, but I knew my friend Mike Rawson would give me heck if I fell off of him, I have seen him and I have been having problems making too big a move too quick, so before I nodded my head I just took a deep breath and reminded myself to keep it simple,” said Campbell.

Behind the chutes, with three riders left in the semifinal round, Campbell began preparing his rope and plan for the final round, a routine he is familiar with as Hobbs was his sixth time to qualify in the final four man shoot out round on the 2017 Road to Cheyenne.  

Shoot Out Round

Campbell earned the right to select first and without hesitation he selected the tried and true CBR Bull of the year finalist, 911 Hy Test.

“I knew if I rode 911 Hy Test I would win it, I got on him the very first even in Huron and he bucked me off at the whistle, and I would have been a lot of points so I dug deep and said to myself, he is not going to buck me off tonight, ” continued Campbell.

But what Campbell did not know is that all three riders in the Shoot Out would make the whistle. In a winner take all format the four man got underway with Vastbinder riding out of order for 88 points on Rawson’s 293 Wild Cat. Kimzey, the fourth man to qualify, earned 86.5 on Harris’s 21 Big Time. Taylor was next making his first Shoot Out round in 2017 and he was 89 on 222 Yellow Wolf.

With three rides in the books, all the pressure was on the eighteen year old who graduates from high school this week and has enrolled in a college curriculum as he continues to pursue his bull riding dreams.

Campbell would not disappoint the fans on their feet or himself as he took 911 Hy Test for a thrilling 90 points to win his first Road to Cheyenne title.  

Campbell stood with Hedeman for the first time in front of an appreciative crowd to accept the Hy O Silver custom engraved buckle, a pair of Fenoglio boots, an American Hat Co. cowboy hat and a $10,000 check and the chance to talk to Tuff Hedeman about the win.

World Standings Race

Campbell got the big check and the CBR prize package in Hobbs, but Kimzey gained three scores to remain the number one ranked bull rider in the CBR World with 1417.5 points, 703.5 points ahead of number two Eli Vastbinder at 975 points. The rookie Campbell gained four points on Vastbinder but remains the number 3 ranked rider with 970 points, Jeff Askey rode one for 89 points to retain the fourth slot on the leaderboard with two wins on the 2017 tour. Taylor earned the most on the night as he jumped the ladder into the top ten in the number nine position. Eight events are left on the Road to Cheyenne as we reach the midway point on the CBR’s schedule which ends at Cheyenne Frontier Days in July at the five round two day performance of the CBR World Finals.

Bull Team Challenge

The undisputed and clear winner of the Hobbs Bull Team Challenge was Jerilyn Harmon’s Elite team #1. With Mike White on the flanks, Elite won the bull team challenge competition with a 4.26 point margin over the number two team of JQH. Anchoring the two ride score team was 059 Boomer who was 90 points in the rank column as he bucked of NFR cowboy Ty Wallace in round one. Askey would ride 166 Big Tex for 89 points while Eli Vastbinder was excited to ride 626 Karaoke for 88 in the semifinal round. 166 gathered 88.5 in the bull score column while 626 steadied the team with 87.5 points.

Rank bull score of the night was a tie between 06 Wylie of JQH and 210 Chaos Ghost from Winston Bucking bulls and Melton Bull Company. With the top three placing teams all turning in two ride scores, the fourth place team of Cunningham and Scoggins was the only team with three qualified rides on the board, two of which came from the World Champ Sage Kimzey.

1, Jerilyn Harmon Elite 1, 289.3 points, $20,000. 2, JQH Bucking Bulls, 285.08, $12,000. 3, Rafter B/ Rocking C/Harris 282.34, $8,000. 4, Cunningham and Scoggins, 281, $5,000.

Hobbs Shoot Out Results

1, Boudreaux Campbell, Crockett, Tex., 90 points on 911 Hy Test (Harris), $8,050.00. 2, Tyler Taylor, Stephenville, Tex., 89 pts on 222 Yellow Wolf (Rawson), $6,600. 3, Eli Vastbinder, Statesville, NC, 88.5 pts on 293 Wildcat (Rawson) $5,150. 4, Sage Kimzey, Strong City, Okla., 86.5 on 21 Big Time (Harris), $3,700.  

Hobbs Average Results (on 3)

1, B. Campbell, 265.5 on 3. 2, T. Taylor, 254. 3, E. Vastbinder, 261.5. 4, S. Kimzey, 261.
~ CBR