LAS VEGAS (AP) Bareback rider Kaycee Feild put himself in a strong position to win the PRCA world and National Finals Rodeo aggregate standings titles after finishing first with an 85.5 on Dirty Rags during round nine on Friday.
The three-time world champion from Spanish Fork, Utah, remained in first place in the world standings with $231,230. While trying to win his fourth world standings title in a row, Feild also is trying to clinch his fourth consecutive NFR aggregate standings championship. He now has 732.5 points for nine rides after moving up from third to first place.
Feild would join team roping header Leo Camarillo (1968-71) as the only NFR contestants to win four consecutive aggregate titles if he remains in first after Saturday's final round.
''That (securing the aggregate crown) was the deal that fired me up,'' Feild said. ''They were saying that Austin (Foss) and Winn (Ratliff) were ahead of me. I was mad. That fired me up.
''I'm usually bouncing around behind the chutes and encouraging everybody. Tonight I was focused and quiet.''
Austin Foss of Terrebonne, Oregon, didn't place among the top six with a 77.5 on Hell's Canyon but remained in second place in the world standings with $184,475. He also is third in the NFR aggregate standings with 729 points for nine rides. Richmond Champion of The Woodlands, Texas, is second in the aggregate race with 729.5 points for nine rides.
In steer wrestling, four-time world champion Luke Branquinho put himself in position for a gold buckle by placing second in 3.9 seconds and holding onto first place in both the world and NFR standings. He tops the world standings with $153,648 and leads the aggregate with a time of 36.60 over nine head.
Branquinho, sidelined from July 18 until the opening round due to a right arm injury, is now only $1,050 from becoming the eighth individual to win $1 million in career earnings at the NFR. Branquinho also stands to claim a $48,732 bonus if he holds on to first after all 10 rounds.
Trevor Knowles of Mount Vernon, Oregon, is second in the world standings with $134,406 after placing third in 3.8. Dakota Eldridge of Elko, Nevada, won round nine in a time of 3.30.
Other winners included Sage Kimzey (bull riding), Trevor Brazile and Cade Swor (tie-down roping), Nick Sartain and Rich Skelton (team roping), Wade Sundell (saddle bronc riding), and Trula Churchill (barrel racing).
Kimzey of Strong City, Oklahoma, who clinched his first world championship in round eight, secured the NFR aggregate crown with a first-place 87.5 on Foolish Man in round nine. He is the lone rider to cover eight of his nine bulls and the only one of seven bull riders ever to win four rounds at one NFR.
Kimzey leads the world standings with $269,899, just over $110,000 ahead of second-place Trey Benton III of Rock Island, Texas, with $159,874. Kimzey's total also shatters Steve Woolsey's rookie earnings record of $197,646 for a single event.
Kimzey also is first in the aggregate standings with 671 points for eight rides and leads all NFR competitors with $126,734 earned over nine rounds here. He became just the second bull rider to win the world championship during his rookie season. The only other first-year rider to win a gold buckle was Bill Kornell in 1963.
Brazile of Decatur, Texas, tied for first with Swor of Winnie, Texas, in a time of 7.6. The win put Brazile in second in the world standings with $170,778 and third in the aggregate race with a time of 82.80 over nine rounds. He is now first in NFR earnings with $76,929.
Two-time world champion Tuf Cooper of Decatur, Texas, remained atop the world standings with $193,002 and also is second in the aggregate race with a time of 80.30 over nine rounds after finishing third with a time of 7.70.
Matt Shiozawa of Chubbuck, Idaho, remained in first place in the aggregate standings with a time of 80.10 for nine rounds following a sixth-place time of 9.20.
Sartain of Dover, Oklahoma, and Skelton of Llano, Texas, won round nine in team roping in a time of 3.9.
Header Clay Tryan of Billings, Montana, and heeler Jade Corkill, of Fallon, Nevada., placed sixth in 5.20 and remained first in the world standings with $163,357 each and the NFR aggregate standings with a time of 64.10 for eight rounds.
Defending world champions Tryan and Corkill are the only pair to have nine successful rounds.
Heith DeMoss of Heflin, Louisiana, held on to first in the world standings in saddle bronc riding with $163,830 despite getting bucked off of Crash Gate. Spencer Wright of Milford, Utah, remained first in the NFR aggregate standings with 728.5 points over eight rides after finishing third with an 81.5 on Pony Man.
Sundell of Boxholm, Iowa, won round nine with an 82.5 on Broken Camp.
In barrel racing, Lisa Lockhart of Oelrichs, South Dakota, remained first in the NFR aggregate standings with a time of 130.91 over nine rounds following her fourth-place tying ride of 13.96.
But Lockhart remained second behind Fallon Taylor of Whitesboro, Texas, who has earned $221,885 in the world standings after finishing sixth in 14.04.
Churchill of Valentine, Nebraska, won round nine in 13.67.
In all-around, if Brazile, who secured the steer roping world title on Nov. 8 and a record-setting ninth straight all-around crown and 21st gold buckle following the third round, can win the tie-down roping title he will equal Jim Shoulders' record of three triple crowns (1956-58). Brazile previously won his triple crowns in 2007 and 2010.
Brazile has now earned $438,281 this season.
