By rdnewsNOW staff

payday in ponoka

Thurston caps off big weekend with second Ponoka Stampede saddle bronc title

Jul 2, 2019 | 9:13 AM

July Long Weekend is known in rodeo circles as Cowboy Christmas. Big Valley’s Zeke Thurston packed his stocking extra full this year by winning a cool $26,000 and jumping into first place in the Canadian saddle bronc season standings.

The 2016 World Champion saddle bronc rider started his big weekend by rolling into Williams Lake, B.C. for the Finning Pro Tour stop and matched up with Duffy Rodeo’s CFR selected Appaloosa mare, Rip n Zip for 86.5 points and the win.

After adding a small cheque at the Airdrie Pro Rodeo, Thurston saved the high drama for Canada Day at the Ponoka Stampede. Having already won the long go with 89 points on C5 Rodeo’s Showtime, the 24 year old mastered a pair of Calgary Stampede buckers—Timely Delivery for 88.25 to win the short go and clinch the average, then another 89 point ride on Ancient Delivery in the Showdown for the biggest of his six weekend cheques—a $9750 strike.

Mexican-born bull rider Edgar Durazo picked up the win at Ponoka on Monday, including a spectacular 90 point effort on Vold Rodeo’s Whisky Hand in the Showdown round.

The Manning twins from Edson grabbed a share of the long weekend rodeo spotlight – Taylor for her Williams Lake barrel racing win and Tristen for earning the Ponoka junior steer riding title.

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Mike Beers, 23-time NFR qualifier and 1984 World Champion heeler and his partner, from Kamloops and Chad Evenson (Pritchard, B.C.) came away from the weekend over $10,000 richer courtesy of their performance at Ponoka that included the Showdown win (8.3 seconds) for over $7500 each.

Other 2019 Ponoka Stampede champions include Hailey Kinsel (Cotulla, TX) in ladies barrel racing, Tanner Brunner (Ramona, KS) in steer wrestling, Richmond Champion (Dublin, TX) in bareback riding, Chett Deitz (Milo, AB) in novice bareback and Sawyer Eirikson (Okotoks) in novice saddle bronc. A tie-breaker was needed to determine this year’s tie-down roping champion, with Tyson Durfey winning the buckle over Reese Riemer.

In Chuckwagon racing, Mark Sutherland – driving the Friends of Sutherland Racing/Brand USA outfit, and along with outriders Rory Gervais and Cole Somerville collected the first-place winner’s cheque and the 2019 Ponoka Stampede Tommy Dorchester Championship. It was the first Ponoka Stampede Championship for Mark Sutherland, earning him $50,000.

In a penalty-free championship final, Sutherland captured the crown with a run of 1:20.24 from barrel position number two. Logan Gorst and Kirk Sutherland were involved in a dead heat for second and third in the heat from barrel position number one and four, respectively, a mere four one-hundredths of a second behind the champion Mark Sutherland, while defending Ponoka Stampede Champion Vern Nolin had to settle for fourth place from barrel position three.

(With file from CPRA and WPCA)