Calf roper Matt Shiozawa apparently likes to take a few nights at the National Finals Rodeo to get warmed up.
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The Moapa Valley High School graduate and Las Vegas resident, who won three rounds late in the 2005 NFR, hopes he has kicked off another hot streak with his win Tuesday night before 17,343 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
A year ago, the 26-year-old native of Chubbock, Idaho, won the seventh and eighth rounds and shared first in the ninth.
"I guess I'm starting to see a pattern. As long as it happens like it did last year, I'll be happy with that," said Shiozawa, who won $16,022. He has won $35,144 in the NFR, moving up to fifth in the season standings with $109,713.
Shiozawa spent Tuesday afternoon practicing at Wesley Adams' ranch in Logandale.
"I got a little tuneup today, and it helped to knock some rust off," Shiozawa said.
He also opted to switch to the same horse he rode to the three first-place finishes last year. He rode the mare Adalida, owned by Adams.
• ALL-AROUND -- Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, pushed his season earnings to $310,801 after finishing fifth with Rich Skelton of Llano, Texas, in team roping.
Joe Beaver is a long shot to catch Brazile, but the Huntsville, Texas, roper gained a little ground by placing third in team roping and fifth in calf roping to move his season total to $197,004.
• BAREBACK RIDING -- Royce Ford of Briggsdale, Colo., scored 87.5 points on Wise Guy to win the round. Wise Guy was the same horse Wes Stevenson, one of Ford's traveling partners, rode to victory in the first go-round.
It was the first round in which runaway money leader Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas, failed to earn a paycheck, placing 12th in the 15-man field.
• STEER WRESTLING -- Luke Branquinho didn't cool off for long. After failing to turf his steer Monday, the bulldogger from Los Alamos, Calif., came back to complete his run in 3.9 seconds to tie Gabe Ledoux of Kaplan, La., for the sixth go-round victory.
Branquinho won two of the first three go-rounds.
It was Ledoux's first victory in his first Finals.
• TEAM ROPING -- Header Garrett Tonozzi of Fruita, Colo., and heeler Brady Minor of Ellensburg, Wash., won their first go-round, after placing in the top five twice. They completed their run in 4.1 seconds.
Logandale brothers Jason and Randon Adams failed to get a time for the second consecutive night after winning the fourth go-round.
• SADDLE BRONC RIDING -- Cody Wright of Milford, Utah, scored 89 aboard Fire Fly to win his first go-round of the event, holding on just long enough to make the eight-second buzzer.
"I was just spurring away at her trying to stay in there, and I didn't have hold of anything," he said. "The buzzer came just in time."
• CALF ROPING -- Although Shiozawa won, Cody Ohl of Hico, Texas, placed third to make $9,561 and take his season total to $208,959. That increased Ohl's lead in the event to $67,000 over Brazile, who was out of the money Tuesday. Ohl is $14,000 from topping his season earnings record in calf roping, with four go-rounds remaining.
• BARREL RACING -- Kelly Maben of Spur, Texas, won her fourth go-round, in an arena record-time of 13.58 seconds on Bubba, a 13-year-old gelding.
The first-place check moved her into first place in the world standings with $145,008. That figure includes $73,647, the most won this year in the NFR.
Brittany Pozzi of Victoria, Texas, started the NFR and the night in first place but dropped to third in the standings when she finished out of the money for the fifth time.
• BULL RIDING -- It was an emotional night for Dustin Elliott, who won the go-round with a score of 88.5 aboard Foolish Man.
The opening ceremony included a tribute to former NFR contestants who died in the past year. Bull rider Shane Drury, with whom Elliott occasionally traveled, died of cancer in October at age 27.
"Someone was riding with me," said Elliott, the 2004 PRCA world champ.
B.J. Schumacher took the lead in the world standings after placing fourth.
