Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/709557
BySusanKanode Contributed CHEYENNE, WYO. Itwasasmil- ing Eli Vastbinder who got off of his second bull at Frontier Park on Thursday, and an eight-sec- ond bull ride was critical for Gar- rett Smith at the Cheyenne Fron- tier Days Rodeo on Friday. Vastbinder, from Statesville, N.C., rode Smith, Harper and Morgan Rodeo's bull named Kill Switch for 83.5 points, the exact same score that he received on his first bull on Wednesday. With the two rides, the 25-year-old cowboy moved to the top of the leaderboard in the overall stand- ings with 166 points. Roscoe Jar- boe from New Plymouth, Idaho is in second with 165. Vastbinder is not ranked in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), but Chey- enne's rodeo could make a big difference for the up-and-coming bull rider. Even though he has a very slim shot of earning enough money between now and the sea- son's end in September to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR), a win here would be very important for him. The money he earns this year will help him to qualify for rodeos next winter that limit their en- tries and give him greater oppor- tunities in 2017. Three-time Cheyenne Fron- tier Days saddle bronc champion, Cody DeMoss is looking good for a fourth title. He scored 81 points on Thursday to give him a total of 163. The Heflin, La., cowboy is currently second behind Zeke Thurston from Big Valley, Al- berta, who has 171. With eight members of the saddle bronc riding Wright fam- ily competing over the last two days, it's no surprise that some of them are headed to Saturday's championship finals. The oldest of the clan, Cody Wright and the youngest, his son Ryder Wright are tied for fourth place overall with 160.5 points on two head. Ryder Wright had the high- est marked ride in saddle bronc riding Thursday. He rode Three Hills Rodeo's Prom Nite for 83.5 points. His dad has been com- peting here since he joined the PRCA in 1998. Ten years later, Cody's brothers started coming to Cheyenne. Between the eight family members that competed here, they have 25 NFR qualifi- cation and four world titles to their credit. However, none of them have ever won Cheyenne. Cody Wright's brother-in- law, CoBurn Bradshaw, moved into seventh place and Spencer Wright is now ninth. They will have to wait through two more days of competition to see if they will get on a third bucking horse here. Once again, there was a new overall barrel racing leader Thursday. Tillar Murray, from Fort Worth, Texas, who won sec- ond in the first round, followed that up with a 17.58. That cur- rently is just sixth in the second round, but put her first overall with 35.14. Sherry Cervi, from Marana, Ariz., is now in second with 35.31. Smith, from Rexburg, Idaho, scored 87 points on Rafter G Ro- deo's bull named J Lazy who was anything but lazy in Frontier Park. The bull earned 42 of those points while Smith's riding style and ability earned the remain- ing 45. That score put Smith in a tie with Ty Wallace from Col- lbran, Colo., who rode his first bull here last Monday. They each got $5,166 for their efforts. That money is critical for both of them as they are try- ing to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR). Wallace is currently in 14th CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS RODEO NORTH CAROLINA IS WELL REPRESENTED Eight seconds adds up for bull rider Smith a er he ties for 1st in round PHOTOSBYDANHUBBELL—CONTRIBUTED Eli Vastbinder's 83.5-point ride on Smith, Harper and Morgan Rodeo's bull named Kill Switch moved him to first place overall. Garrett Smith scored 87points on Ra er G Rodeo's bull J Lazy at the 120th Cheyenne Frontier Days, tying for first in the opening round. By Dan Gelston The Associated Press LONG POND, PA. Martin Truex Jr. has one of his four career Sprint Cup wins at Pocono Raceway. He added his 10th career pole, too. Truex extended Toyota's recent romp, and turned a lap of 179.244 mph to win the pole Friday. Truex and Carl Edwards made it a 1-2 Toyota front row. Edwards just missed the top spot for Joe Gibbs Racing with a lap of 178.873 and he thought his No. 19 Toyota might have had enough to best Truex's chart-topping speed. "That must have felt really good because mine was great," Edwards said. Toyota has 10 wins this sea- son and nine in the last 15 races, highlighted by consecutive wins by JGR drivers Matt Kenseth at New Hampshire and Kyle Busch last weekend at the Brickyard. "It's a really neat time to be driving a Toyota for Joe Gibbs," Edwards said. "Hopefully, we can keep this rolling." Truex won his third pole of the season in the Furniture Row Rac- ing No. 78 Toyota and the 10th of his career. His win this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway might have been the most dominant per- formance by any Toyota driver in a race in years. NASCAR SPRINT CUP Truex wins pole spot at Pocono Raceway INDIANS5,ATHLETICS3 Up next: Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians, 4:10p.m. Satur- day, TV on CSN-CA. THESCORE By Steve Herrick The Associated Press CLEVELAND Abraham Almonte scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in Cleveland's four-run sev- enth inning in the Indians' 5-3 comeback victory over the Oak- land Athletics on Friday night. Cleveland erased a 3-1 defi- cit after being held to four hits through six innings. Jason Kipnis' bases-loaded single tied it, and Al- monte scored from third on Ryan Dull's wild pitch one batter later. Cody Anderson (2-4) pitched a scoreless seventh. Cody Allen worked out of ninth-inning trou- ble for 20th save. He allowed a pair of one-out singles in the ninth, but struck out Jed Lowrie before Josh Reddick flied out to deep center. Kendall Graveman (7-7) al- lowed four runs — three earned — in 6 1/3 innings and lost for the first time since May 19. Reddick and Khris Davis hit back-to-back homers in the sixth for Oakland. BASEBALL A's stumble in 7th inning, fall to Indians 5-3 SETH WENIG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Robert Streb watches his tee shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the PGA Championship tournament at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. on Friday. By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, N.J. Robert Streb became the latest player to shoot 63 in a major, and hardly anyone noticed in a PGA Championship with endless action across Baltus- rol on Friday. Streb was on the far end of the rain-soaked course when he hit 6-iron into 20 feet on his last hole, the par-3 ninth, and made the putt to become the 28th player with a 63 in a major. It was the third round of 63 in a major in the last 16 days, following Phil Mickelson (first round) and Hen- rik Stenson (fourth round) at the British Open. "Happy to join the club that seems to be ever growing," Streb said. Equally thrilling was to be tied for the lead with Jimmy Walker, who shot a 4-under 66. They were at 131, matching the 36-hole record at the PGA Cham- pionship first set in 1983 by Hal Sutton at Riviera and last done by Jason Dufner in 2013 at Oak Hill. Streb badly missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole, and he was determined to at least give himself a chance on the ninth. He knew was at stake, and so did the small gallery that gathered around the ninth green. "It was pretty noisy for the 15 people that were out there," he said. Most of the crowd was at the par-5 closing holes at Baltusrol, and there was no shortage of en- tertainment. In a summer of scoring records at the majors, Walker looked as though he would set the 36-hole mark when he was at 10 under with two par 5s remaining. But he hit into the hospitality area well left of the 17th and scrambled for par, and then his tee shot nar- rowly missed its mark and found the water on the 18th, leading to bogey. Even so, he was tied at the half- way point of a major. "It's going to be a new experi- ence, and it will be fun," Walker said. "You still have to go perform. Doesn't matter what tournament it is." PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Strebfires63,tiesWalkerforlead Both match 36-hole record for this season's last major tournament RODEO PAGE 2 GOLF PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, July 30, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1