Bareback rider Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas, clinches the PRCA world title Thursday with a second-place finish in the eighth go-round of the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

When rodeo athletes decide to get conservative to protect a big lead, it's called "safetying up."

That term isn't in the vocabulary of bareback rider Will Lowe or calf roper Cody Ohl.

They came to the National Finals Rodeo eight days ago with what looked like insurmountable leads and all they did in the 48th annual rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center was extend their margins.

Lowe, 25, placed second in Thursday's go-round to win $12,021. That pushed his season earnings to $228,285 and clinched his second consecutive world championship in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

That season total, which includes $76,361 in the NFR with two nights to go, breaks by $3,000 the 2-year-old season record set by Kelly Timberman.

But the humble cowboy from Canyon, Texas, would not concede that he is the undisputed champion.

"There's still two rounds left," he said a few times as he dodged requests to comment on his latest coronation.

"You can't take anything away from the guys behind me," he said. "They all ride phenomenally, and they're all champs. We'll let everything figure itself out after the 10th round (on Saturday)."

But there's no question that Lowe is the 2006 bareback riding world champ for the third time in four years.

Lowe, 5 feet 5 inches and 150 pounds, has won two go-rounds, shared first in another and placed second twice. Only one night has he left the arena without a check.

The only cowboy who had a remote chance of catching him, Andy Martinez of Pavillion, Wyo, placed seventh and out of the money in the go-round, won by Tom McFarland of Wickenburg, Ariz., before 17,740, the biggest NFR crowd this year.

Ohl and roping all-around contestant Trevor Brazile also will add to their collection of world championship gold belt buckles.

Ohl, of Hico, Texas, won his fifth title, and Brazile, competing in calf roping and team roping, regained control of rodeo's ultimate prize after not winning it last year for the first time in four years.

For Ohl, the championship helped to wash away a bitter taste left a year ago when he lost the calf roping world championship to Fred Whitfield on the final day by about $2,100, which by rodeo standards could be a tenth of a second on one run.

Ohl, 33, rodeoed harder this year and made a late-season surge by cashing in his last 22 rodeos.

"You wake up in the middle of the night with a dream like this," he said. "My season has been phenomenal. Tonight wrapped up the world championship ... tonight has outdone them all."

Like Lowe, Ohl attacked each go-round going for first-place money and it paid off. He won only the second go-round, but finished in the top six each time except opening night when he failed to cash.

Brazile virtually had locked up the all-around title before arriving in Las Vegas with a $135,000 lead over Joe Beaver, who along with Brazile were the only contestants competing in two events. He made it official by placing sixth in calf roping to earn $2,584 and Beaver finished out of the money in his events.

Brazile has won $318,812 this year by combining his earnings in calf roping ($143,991), team roping ($87,703) and steer roping ($87,090), which is not contested at the NFR.

With two rounds remaining, the other championships are too close to call and will likely go down to the wire in Saturday night's 10th and final go-round.

The outcome of those races will hinge on positions in the NFR aggregate standings, which will pay a $41,088 bonus to the top performers in each category over 10 go-rounds and $33,335 for second, $26,358 for third and down to $3,876 for eighth.