Landingham wins NFR bareback go-round as cancer-stricken mother watches

Bareback rider R.C. Landingham won his first-ever National Finals Rodeo go-round to open the seventh night of competition Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center. 

He did it in front of his mother, Wendy, who has been battling cancer.

“She’s on some pretty strong chemo, and she’s worn out,” Landingham said. “But it means the world to me that she’s here. It’s a blessing.”

Landingham posted an 84.5 to edge world leader Tim O’Connell.

Saddle bronc rider CoBurn Bradshaw took first, and Jake Watson, Jacobs Crawley and Jake Wright finished in a three-way tie for second.

“I feel as good as I did the first day, really,” Bradshaw said. “Luckily, I’m not taking any hard knocks.”

Other winners included Matt Shiozawa in tie-down roping and Elko native Dakota Eldridge in steer wrestling.

Mary Burger, a 68-year-old barrel racer, won her first go-round and continues to hold a sizable lead.

Garrett Tribble, Cody Rostockyj and Shane Proctor each posted an 85 to finish tied for first in bull riding. Proctor is the only one to have ridden all of his bulls and has placed in every round.

Matt Sherwood and Quinn Kessler took first in team roping, while the top two all-around leaders — Dustin Bird and Russell Cardoza — finished sixth.

Bird is first in the all-around standings, followed by Cardoza, Junior Nogueira, Clayton Hass and Caleb Smidt.

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.