The first every Kid Rock's Rock N Rodeo had AT&T rocking with concerts and cowboys until early into the next morning. This one-of-a-kind event had groups of rodeo athletes competing against each other as teams for the grand prize of $500,000. All of the teams, except the winning Free Riders, were formed in Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo Draft. The Free Riders team was formed based on the results of the recently held World Champions Rodeo Alliance Major Rodeo Corpus Christi.
The Free Riders were fierce competition, winning three gold medals in Round 1. In the champion round, they earned their spot at victory by winning four of the events. The team was lead by PRCA bareback riding champion Bobby Mote and Women’s Rodeo Championship Commissioner Linsay Rosser-Sumpter. The team's first win of the night came from Makenzie Mayes, who had already wowed fans at the Women's Rodeo World Championship just days earlier by setting a new barrel racing arena record with a lightening fast 12.946 run at The Cowtown Coliseum. Mayes earned her team the first win of the night with a 18.197 run.
RC Landingham won team the second gold metal in the bareback riding with a beauty of an 87.5-point ride on French Love. The team's third metal came in the team roping with a 5.42 sec run by Douglas Rich and Jake Smith.
The Misty Mountain Hop also advanced to the championship round led by Charmayne James and Justin McKee. They had picked up a gold metal in the steer wrestling thanks to a 5.58-second run by Tyler Waguespack. This gold metal combined with a second-place in the team roping and breakaway roping, and third place wins in the barrel racing, saddle bronc riding and tie-down roping earned them a spot in the championship round.
The Free Riders won in the bareback riding with Landingham's 87.5 point ride on Scarlett From Hell. The Misty Mountain fired back winning the steer wrestling with a 5.56-second run by Waguespack. They got in their second win in the team roping with a 5.15 sec run by Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira. The Free Riders answered back with a win in the saddle bronc riding with Cole Elsher's 81 point ride on Tomo Jo. They scored a second win in the breakaway roping with a 3.0 run by Kieley Walz. The Misty Mountain Hop responded to evened the score with Caleb Smidt's winning 11.36 run. It all came down to the barrel racing and once again , Mayes came in clutch with a 18.80-second run to secure The Free Rider's victory in the championship round.
The event was not without some criticism. Rodeo fans were not happy with the high price of parking and drinks. Fans watching at home were less than pleased that there wasn't much rock to the Rock N Rodeo as there was commentary over all the musical performances. The event also ran until almost 2 am, causing several of the planned events including the bullfighting to get scrapped and had many saying it could have been shorter, better organized, or should have been started earlier.
Fan did like the team style and it was fascinating to watching two teams competing at once. The event also drew more people that were not traditional rodeo fans which is a win for the growing sport of rodeo.
Will we see more untraditional rodeos in the future or a second Kid Rock's Rock N Rodeo next year?
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