Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp hit $302,799.10 in season earnings with their Round 5 win at the 2024 NFR, putting them $38,000.58 ahead of the second-place team of Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord, keeping the standings race interesting at the Finals’ halfway point.

Reigning world champs Wade, of Terrell, Texas, and Thorp, of Throckmorton, Texas, were 3.6 to win the day money Dec. 9, 2024, worth their third set of $33,687.18 checks in five runs.

“I thought we had the best steer,” Wade, 32, said. “He was straight and honest, and when you turn him, he just handled normal. I got a really, really good start, and then I skipped it on him, but I threw such a bad loop that my horse just kept running and just kind of turned him normal. And then when Wesley caught up, he shut the rundown.”

Thorp got a late start himself, so he didn’t notice anything was amiss in the way his partner caught the steer.

“I just was a little bit late, and I kind of missed the nod when he nodded,” Thorp, 29, said. “I just didn’t get gone quite as fast as I wanted to. I didn’t really see the head loop hardly at all. I knew after he caught him when he turned, but I was trying to get where I needed to be, and I didn’t really see the skipper honestly.”

But Thorp pantyhosed the steer and Kadabra King—Patrick Smith’s Horse of the Year Turbo—got back fast to finish the run. Wade’s Horse of the Year, Espuela Bro, faced fast, and they jumped ahead of Cody Snow and Hunter Koch’s 3.7 to get the win.

Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira picked up $20,103.64-a-man checks for third with their 3.8, to keep the world standings race tight as ever going into Round 6.

NFR 2024 Team Roping Round 5 Results