Harris holds on for victory

When the National Finals Rodeo started nine days ago, all-around cowboy Trevor Brazile and bull rider J.W. Harris were expected to clinch world championships midway through the 10-day rodeo.

Their regular-season totals were nearly twice that of their closest pursuers.

So much for predictions.

Harris, who missed four go-rounds after fracturing his right (riding) hand on the second night, clinched his second consecutive world title Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center before 17,484.

But Brazile will have to wait until tonight's final round to match Ty Murray's record of winning seven all-around world championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

The only competitor who can catch Brazile is Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colo. Peek kept his slim hopes alive by tying for third in steer wrestling but trails Brazile by $115,258 and has not been mathematically eliminated.

The bull-riding race tightened after Harris' injury forced him to sit out the third, fourth, seventh and eighth go-rounds before he decided to ride Friday, when he was bucked off at the six-second mark.

"They had a chance to catch me," Harris said. "I had to try to do something. I kept my hand closed ... but I just couldn't stay on him."

Harris didn't know it, but his championship was clinched after Kanin Asay and Corey Navarre were bucked off right before he rode.

Harris is the first world champion since Bill Nelson in 1971 to go penniless in the Finals and first since Freckles Brown in 1962 to not reach the eight-second buzzer in the Finals.

"It's dang sure a good thing I came in with the lead I had," said Harris, who won 18 PRCA rodeo titles this season. "I'm just going to sit back (tonight) and enjoy it and let it soak in."

He has surgery scheduled for Thursday and will miss six to eight weeks of competition.

Winners in the ninth go-round were Bobby Mote (Culver, Ore.), bareback riding; Casey McMillen (Craig, Colo.), steer wrestling; Chad Masters (Clarksville, Tenn.) and Jade Corkill (Fallon), team roping; J.J. Elshere (Quinn, S.D.), saddle bronc riding; Clint Robinson (Spanish Fork, Utah) and Justin Maass (Giddings, Texas), tied in calf roping; Cassie Moseley (Farwell, Texas), barrel racing; and Cody Hancock (Taylor, Ariz.), bull riding.

• NOTES -- Logandale's Randon Adams and team roping partner JoJo LeMond of Andrews, Texas, set a world record by catching their steer in 3.4 seconds. But five pairs later, the record was reset by one-tenth of a second by Chad Masters of Clarksville, Tenn., and Jade Corkill of Fallon. ...

Hancock, 34, was knocked out at the end of his winning 89.5 bull ride and carried from the arena after being hit in the head by a horn. He regained consciousness after being carried from the arena and was transported to a hospital for further evaluation. ...

Two-time world bareback riding champion Will Lowe's Finals ended after he injured his neck in Thursday's go-round.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.