Rodeo: SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo kicks off season

The 2008 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association season ended just three weeks ago.

The 2009 campaign began Friday night.

As it has for the past 75 years, the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo kicked off the new season with the first of six performances through Jan. 10.

The rough stock cowboys highlighted the evening, with 2008 saddle bronc world champion Cody Wright headlining the program.

"It feels great to come back to Odessa as the world champion," said Wright, who won SandHills last year to start his championship run.

"I hope that I can have the same success this year and get another run at the world championship. I just need to keep the momentum from last year into this winter and I think I can do it."

Another cowboy looking for a return trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December is bareback rider Cody DeMers, from Kimberly, Idaho. He's been three times since turning professional in 1999 and Friday's action gave him a solid start toward returning to the Thomas and Mack Arena.

Working his hand into his rigging aboard Dusty Valley, DeMers showed the form that has earned him nearly $1 million in career earnings. Marking Dusty Valley out of the chute, DeMers quickly found his rhythm aboard the bronc and rode his way to the top of the leader board with an 82-point ride.

That is six points better than Wyatt Hancock, with five performances left.

"It felt great to get the season started," DeMers said. "I went to Billings and won there, so this is the second good out this year and that's going to give me a good foundation for the rest of the winter.

"I'm going to be in Denver, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, all the big rodeos and I'm looking forward to a good year."

Other cowboys that got off to a good start were steer wrestler Spud Duvall, who stopped the clock in 4.0 seconds and barrel racer Cassie Moseley, who ran the cloverleaf in 14.45 seconds.

In tie down roping, Miles Thompson of Hobbs, N.M., leads with a 9.0-second run, while Sean Case of Riverside, Calif., leads the bull riding with an 80-point ride.

Wright's night was fairly successful with a 77-point marking aboard Coyote Kid. That left him in fifth place as the broncs that stock contractor Harry Vold brought to the arena bucked well.

Rusty Allen leads the bronc riders with an 85-point score, with Chuck Schmidt (84) and Dusty Hausauer (82) in second and third, respectively.

"It was a good horse," Wright said. "It was nice to get introduced as the world champion, but that was last year and I have to go back out and do my job every night and that's what I'm going to do.

"I want to win another world title."