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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Chilili Bull-A-Rama Features Rough Ridin'

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    The bulls, not a hamburger steak among them, beat the cowboys 27-1 on Sunday. Rankin Lindsey, who calls Hillsboro down in Sierra County home, was the only cowboy out of 14 riders to remain astride a bull for the required eight seconds at the Chilili Bull-A-Rama on Sunday.
    The victory earned Lindsey a healthy purse in the first of two Bull-A-Rama competitions this summer. The lanky cowpoke had won the all-around title and the bullriding crown at the state high school rodeo finals in Carlsbad earlier this month.
    In Chilili, Lindsey was bucked back into an open chute by his first of two draws, a bull simply called No. 72. But Lindsey, as calm as if he was on a children's carousel, stayed upright aboard a spinning Indian River until the buzzer sounded in the second round.

Click to view slideshow

    Lindsey scored 77 points in his winning ride.
    "He got his money ($1,600) and left," said Chilili Rodeo Club treasurer Alex Gutierrez.
    The real winners were the roughstock, seemingly one of the rankest and beefiest herds competing in a local rodeo in quite a while.
    Chilili's Antonio Ortiz and his wife, Annette, brought four bulls to the event. The Ortizes' Badattitude Bucking Bulls was among several outfits that delivered their stock to the Chilili arena.
    "None of our four were ridden," said Antonio Ortiz, 29. "We started doing this about eight, nine years ago. We love it. We've run through 40, 50 bulls to get where we are today."
   
A tough day
    Ortiz's bull After Shock, who served some time in the Professional Bull Riders' series, was the star Sunday. He tossed the 5-foot-2, 120-pound wiry body of Chilili's Santos Garcia, a recent Estancia High graduate, in the second round.
    Chilili's Geno Moya sailed off New Guy in the first-go. He doggedly stayed on No. 221 as the bull spun to the center of the arena in the second round, but the 22-year-old, a welder by trade, fell once again.
    "There are off days in bull riding," Moya said. "You just deal with it. But there were some good roughstock out there."
    Estancia's Dominic Coché, who also is a recent high school graduate, wasn't a happy camper after being dislodged by Wizard and Red Dog.
    "I'm going to (Central New Mexico Community College) this fall," said Coché, who has family roots in Chilili. "I had wanted to get my PBR card, but the way I've been riding (lately), I don't know."
    Rodeo announcer Tim Romero, who lives in Edgewood, said rider William Oliphant had to be taken to the hospital with a broken rib or two after his first-round bull, M-Bar, forcefully planted his rear hooves on the Tucson, Ariz., rider.
    The horses followed with a sweep of their own in the bareback event. None of the five riders scored.
    "They had some NFR (National Finals Rodeo) stock here," said J.R. Chavez of Torreon. "But I had a close ride, seven seconds on a bronc."
    Albuquerque's Anthony Aragon, who competed in bulls and bareback, didn't have a scoring ride. Aragon, who drew the bulls Mucho Dinero and New Guys, had won both events at the Escobosa Riders Club Rodeo on June 3.
   
The draws
    The other bull riders, all of whom failed to score, and their draws included:
   

Albuquerque's J.T. Garcia (Perfect Stranger, No. 70) and Rick Navarrette (Indian River, No. 23);
   

Belen's Avelino Baca (No. 314, M-Bar), Cody Morgan (Red Dog, Smarty); and Daniel Morgan (Doc and B14);
   

Los Lunas' Matt Clauser (After Shock, No. 13);
   

Tomé's Richard Finley (Nickel Back, Wizard);
   

Chad Roberts of Glendale, Ariz. (No. 70, No. 72); and
   

Alfonso Francis of Winslow, Ariz. (Smarty, Doc).
    The second and final part of the Chilili Bull-A-Rama series will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. The winner will again get a $1,000 bonus, and the overall winner, with Lindsey having the advantage, will get an additional grand.
    "We've got a lot more sponsors this year," said 12th-year Chilili Rodeo Club president Fernando Gutierrez, who also does the bullfighting duties. "That's why we were able to add the extra money."
   
New paint
    In addition, the club has spruced up the rodeo grounds quite a bit.
    A new bright-white paint job coats the corral and crow's nest. Good, deep dirt, nicely graded, covered the arena's interior.
    "The members got together and just worked to improve the grounds," Gutierrez said.
    Chilili's other remaining events— these are of the ranch-rodeo variety— are scheduled for July 29 and Aug. 19.
    "The sponsors were OK this year (for the Bull-A-Rama)," said Juan Sanchez, who has been the land-grant president for 20 years. "It helps the community, not just the rodeo club."
    "Now we need to start getting the young guys interested in the club, like Santos Garcia, he joined, and Robert Gutierrez," Sanchez said. "Guys like Dominic Coché, too."
    For information, call Fernando Gutierrez at 286-1679 or Sanchez, also the club vice president, at 281-4726.
    On the Web
    For a slide show of the action at the Chilili Bull-A-Rama, visit www.mvtelegraph.com