LAS VEGAS – Wyatt Casper didn’t have a lot of time to reflect, but he knew he’d just done something special.
He closed out his fifth National Finals Rodeo with an 85.5-point ride on Kirsten Vold’s Captain Hook. Though he didn’t place in the 10th round, he did finish the rodeo with a cumulative score of 853 points and staked claim to the second most prestigious title in ProRodeo: the NFR average championship.
“I came up a little short on the overall goal,” said Casper, who was shooting for the world championship, which went to Utah cowboy Ryder Wright. “I knocked out one of my goals for this year, and that was to come here and be the best on 10 head. I’m excited for it.”
He should be. The aggregate winners in each event earn an extra $86,391 for accomplishing that feat. It increased his Las Vegas earnings to just shy of $220,000. Casper finished third in the world standings with $439,332.
Captain Hook, which helped Wright to a share of the fifth-round title with an 89.5-point ride, didn’t have the same trip Saturday night. With half the score coming from the bronc, Casper needed another point to place in the round.
“I feel like I came up short on the drawing end of it, but that’s part of bronc riding,” he said. “It’s going to happen.”
So are victories, and he had his share of them this year. He entered the NFR fourth in the world standings, then doubled his money in a week and a half of work. He has plenty of things from which to build toward next season.
“I’ll just use this to light a fire in me,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “Every year you come out here, you want to come back next year and do even better, so that’s what I’m going to strive for, what I’m going to push for this year.
“It’s been a remarkable season. I owe a lot to my great family, my great friends and a lot of fans out there. I’m just glad to be able to get it done this year and come back and do even better next year.”