by Navajo bull rider seizes CBR bull riding number one ranking
Bucking on the Rio Grande at the Santa Ana Star Center
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – January 17, 2018 – CBR announced today that Navajo bull riding World Champion, Cody Jesus of Sawmill, Arizona, is the new number one ranked bull rider in Championship Bull Riding. Last weekend the nineteen year old Jesus rode two bulls in Enid and one in Jackson, Tennessee to edge out PRCA Rookie of the Year, Boudreaux Campbell by 12 points for the top ranking in the nationwide professional bull riding tour. Jesus’s rise to the top of the CBR is no surprise to four time World Champion and CBR Chute Boss Tuff Hedeman.
“It is exciting to see a young guy come into a big event and our sport and deliver, it is extremely difficult to be successful at the highest level, and he was riding with extreme confidence which is a very important factor in bull riding,” said four time World Champion and Chute boss, Tuff Hedeman about the rising CBR super star.
Fans can see Jesus during the BR’s 16 city nationwide tour stop on Saturday January 27 at 8 pm at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, NM at 8 pm. With tickets starting under $20, the Bucking on the Rio Grande, a premier event on the CBR’s Road to Cheyenne tour, features super star bull riders in a three round tournament style event closing in a four man Shoot Out round worth $30,000.
Jesus is number one today but he will have many major league contenders including multiple World Champions and NFR super star Trey Benton, III, and CBR’s #2 Boudreaux Campbell of Crockett, Texas, who will no doubt be on fire to take the title back that he has held since August of last year.
New Mexico’s Tustin Daye and Travis Briscoe will join Former Cibola High School bull rider Tyler Taylor as the hometown favorites on the dirt.
Jesus who earned the introduction of “The bull riding sensation of the Navajo Nation” launched his CBR career in Rio Rancho last season winning the title at the 2017 Bucking On the Rio Grande. He would go on to ride 75 percent of his bulls on tour finishing the season in the number 4 position. Jesus kept pace with three World Champions and surpassed the top three men in the CBR to ride four of five bulls and win the average title in Cheyenne at the 2017 CBR World Finals to close out the 2017 season. The eighteen year old Navajo bull rider left the arena at Frontier Park with the largest check and thrill of his young career…and life.
“Bull riding is an individual sport and everyone has a different way of executing – learning to ride at the highest level is hard and I mean riding when it means something, no matter where you are,” continued Hedeman when asked about Jesus’s performance.
Last July, Jesus arrived in Cheyenne for his first professionally sanctioned World Finals competition and claimed the average title that came with a Hy O Silver trophy buckle, CBR logo Fenoglio boots and Jesus’s personal favorite, a check for $41,050. To win that title he accumulated two 90 plus points rides, spurring his way to the top as he topped the field of 24 of the elite bull riders where he says everyone has made him feel at home.
The CBR who annually brings pro bull riding to Rio Rancho and Window Rock had this to say about their rising star.
“You can see in Cody that he loves riding bulls and competing, the Navajo competitive spirit motivates him and he represents not only the Navajo spirit but the sport of bull riding at its finest,” said Benny Cude, CBR Chairman of the Board.
“There are two things fans want to see, big rides and high scores and CBR provides both in a star studded entertaining family friendly event,” said four time World Champion and Pro Rodeo Hall of Famer, Tuff Hedeman who oversees the production of the Road to Cheyenne tour.
Hedeman, now in his 14th year with CBR presides over the Real Cowboy Sport’s elite 24 riders matched to the industry’s best bucking bulls, both reaching for the $100,000 bonus check awarded at the World Finals at Cheyenne Frontier Days. The Fox Sports televised Road to Cheyenne tour travels to 16 cities and pays out over a million dollars annually in cash and prizes to the riders and the bulls.
The reigning 2017 CBR World Champion, CBR and PRCA World Champion Sage Kimzey of Strong City, Oklahoma dominated the world of bull riding in 2017, breaking all CBR records in 2017 when he won an unprecedented third CBR Championship and went on to win his fourth consecutive PRCA gold buckle as well.. Kimzey currently holds seven bull riding World titles.
The CBR event includes three human gladiators, the Famous Energy Bullfighters, who will be signing autographs and taking selfies on the concourse before they take the dirt to risk their lives each and every time the chute gate opens.
The annual CBR trip to Rio Rancho also is center stage for the CBR Bull Team Challenge, a three bull format competition for stock contractors featuring the best bucking bulls competing for cash and prizes including stock trailers, saddles, and buckles and a check for $45,000 will be awarded to the Rio Rancho Champion.
In between the world class riders and notorious bucking bulls, funny man who gives the audience something to watch at every break in the bull riding action. JJ Harrison will be walking, talking and entertaining fans with his dancing style of comic relief as he combs the crowd challenging ticket holders and giving away merchandise from CBR and their sponsors.
“It’s like a combination of a great rock and roll concert ending in a heavy weight prize fight and all refereed by Tuff Hedeman,” said CBR Chairman of the Board, Benny Cude.
CBR awards over one million dollars annually to bull riders and bull team owners making it one of the richest competitions in bull riding. The Road to Cheyenne CBR tour is featured nationwide with the Road to Cheyenne airing on Fox Sports in prime time. Follow the Real Cowboy Sport on cbrbull.com; Facebook at Championship Bull Riding; @cbrbull on Twitter; and CBRBull on Instagram.
LOCATION: 3001 Civic Center Circle – Rio Rancho, NM – (505) 891-7300
Bucking On the Rio Grande Tickets or call 888.694.4849, www.SantaAnaStarCenter.com or in person at the Santa Ana Star Center Box office presented by Don Chalmers Ford.
