When Andrew Ward and Jake Long backed in the box to win the 2025 WCRA Rodeo Corpus Christi Saturday, May 10, they were gunning down an $18,000 prize and a spot in Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo for Ward.
While Long already had a spot on the Lowriders team, coached by 26-time World Champion Trevor Brazile, Ward needed the Corpus win to join team Free Riders, coached by 4-time Bareback Riding World Champion Bobby Mote. They sealed the deal with a 5.43-second run in the Rodeo Corpus Christi Kid Rock Rodeo Round, also bringing their coastal earnings to $28,000 a man.
“That’ll be fun,” Ward, 34, said of Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo. “I mean, it’s always fun to get invited or win a spot, and it’s fun to rope in Arlington. I’m sure it’ll be a good time–I’m excited.”
Ward will, unofficially, rope with Trey Johnson at the May 16, rodeo in Arlington. Long, a 14-time NFR heeler, will be back behind Clint Summers, whom he won the 2024 NFR aggregate title with.
“We’ll get the band together, I think that’ll be our last hurrah over there,” Long, 41, said. “It was a fun deal last year, though. It’s a cool atmosphere, and it’s a neat format. It’s kind of fun too, I guess for lack of better terms, drag race another team roping team. It’s a unique feel to make a run and you’re not looking at the clock. For us, we were on the left side of the arena, so the other team was behind us when we roped. So, I dally, see the flag drop and then I’m turning over my shoulder to see if they’re still going or not. It’s a different deal.”
Corpus domination
The Oklahoma and Kansas team started their week in Corpus Christi in winning fashion, pocketing $2,500 for the Wild Card win Wednesday, May 7, with a 6.04-second run. Ward and Long picked up back-to-back round wins with a 5.82 in Progressive Round 1 for the $5,000 round win and a sweet taste of personal redemption.
“The first round of the progressive rounds, we actually drew a steer that we had roped at a jackpot up there in Hugoton, Kansas, like a week ago,” Long said. “And the steer actually fell down on us at the jackpot, so it was kind of good to get redemption on him here. We made a really good run and got the win in that round.”
Though out of the money in Progressive Round 2 with a 7.42, Ward and Long won second in the progressive average for another $2,500. Their win in Round 1 also secured them an early spot in Saturday’s Showdown Round.
The Showdown Round wasn’t for the weak; Ward and Long won second in the six-man round with 5.43, moving them to the Kid Rock Rodeo Round.
“I love when we have rounds like that where everyone gets tapped off,” Long said. “You get your competitive juices rolling just a little bit more whenever each team’s besting the team in front of ’em. That’s a fun round of team roping. It’s just one you want to hopefully be at the end of, that way you need to be a little more aggressive when they go to stacking runs down like that.”
Another 5.43 in the three-man round ended their Corpus trip the same way it began: with a win. And while Ward and Long seemed to dominate all week, the stoplight start system took some serious thought.
“I don’t know if I was nailing it or not,” said five-time NFR header Ward. “I just went with the strategy of when the gate opened, get going. I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to the lights. Then I was riding Biscuit, and he’s really good in the box, so he just lined me up and let me take off. That was kind of my strategy. That was my first time against those lights, and I didn’t ever even think about timing it to get a great start.”
With the complicated drag race start, Ward’s Biscuit–registered as Cole E Man–came in clutch, along with some other key factors.
“Jake’s a really aggressive heeler, and I felt like my timing was pretty good when I started my rope,” Ward explained. “It’s all about getting my swing off as I’m leaving the box, and I felt like I matched up with my swings pretty good [last night] and then was able to throw on my third swing. That’s going to make the time a little faster. Then Jake’s going to heel them fast, so I don’t have to be super aggressive or take any chances. I think Biscuit’s awesome at that because he just sits in there and doesn’t wiggle until you release him to go out in the arena.”
On the heel side, Long called on JC Bar Diamond, aka “Roger.”
“I hadn’t been riding him much,” Long admitted. “I rode him at The American, and then I flew to California and met my rig out there and I was riding my new horse that I bought out there. I’ve been on him the last three weeks, I guess. Then I just thought, well, with us, we’re going to go over to Nashville and stuff, so I thought I’d get some practice runs on Rog and some competition where the runs are aggressive.”
WCRA Fans
Ward has a long history with the WCRA that extends to the beginning of the association and includes a VRQ Bonus along the way.
“I think the guys at the WCRA try to help the cowboys out,” Ward said. “I mean, it seems like they add a lot of money, and we just won say $30,000 this week; a lot of our biggest rodeos don’t pay that good. So to win that in one hit, and I had to drive 10 hours for it, but then I just sat there. It wasn’t like I had tons of diesel or extra added travel expenses to get there. I just drove down there, got to rope at it and then you win $30,000. That’s awesome. So, I really enjoy the WCRA rodeos, and I think they’re trying to help.”
Long is on WCRA train, too. Having played the WCRA game a few times himself, when Ward asked if he would nominate at their start of their 2025 partnership, Long agreed.
“I think the money’s obviously great,” Long said. “Corpus, I honestly didn’t even realize it paid this good. Andrew had already had points and when we decided to rope, he just asked me if I wanted to try to get qualified for it. And then I didn’t even really look at the payout until we got down here and I was like, holy crud. That’s a heck of a rodeo. Anytime you get to rope for that kind of money and you rope for a living, you need to be part of those deals.”
