Two months off and a fractured leg couldn’t keep Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira from winning $14,041 a man in their official return to the 2025 ProRodeo road.
The 2021 and 2022 world champions took a hiatus from the road after the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo in April, making the June 11-15, weekend their first outing of the summer run. Their $14,041 weekend skyrocketed Driggers from 40th in the world standings to No. 17 and Nogueira from 36th to No. 15, both with $33,950.84 won on the year.
The major weekend success also marked an especially meaningful return as Nogueira suffered a horse accident while practicing May 12, that fractured his right tibia and damaged the ligaments around his knee. For Driggers, the weekend also marked the return of “Colt 45,” registered Fin Bar Whiskey One.
“Starting out at Vernal (Utah) first one back in two months, Junior having a bad leg and me back on my good rodeo horse since the NFR, there was a little pressure of just wanting to get the ball rolling going into the summer run,” Driggers, 35, said. “My horse came back really good thanks to Josh Harvey and his team at OE and also Danita Walker, a huge thank you to them. And Junior was just Junior, you could tell it hurt after the run but he heeled them all really good as usual.”
Driggers and Nogueira kicked off their weekend at Vernal’s Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo in Utah June 11, where they split the win with a 4.3 for $4,780 apiece. They continued the winning streak at the Eagle Rodeo in Idaho, pocketing another $4,494 a man for the win with a 4.7-second run. They rounded out the weekend in Oregon at the Sisters Rodeo June 14, where their 5.6-second run pocketed them $4,767 a man for second.
Being back in Top 15 territory as the summer run gets underway is significant, but what is crucial to the team is capitalizing at the PRCA Playoff Series rodeos. Each year, 60 of the highest-paying rodeos of the ProRodeo season are included in the Playoff Series tour where the standings are based on the points won at the specific tour rodeos. The Playoff Series culminates in September at the Cinch Playoffs in Puyallup, Washington, followed by the Cinch Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at the end of the month. In 2024, we watched the $30,000 Governor’s Cup solidify Andrew Ward and Kollin VonAhn’s NFR trips. In 2023, the then $25,000 payday punched Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin’s tickets. Knowing how much money is up for grabs in both Puyallup and Sioux Falls and the effect it can have on an athletes season, Driggers and Nogueira are locked in.
“We have some really good rodeos coming up and just wanting to try and keep climbing the standings ladder,” Driggers said. “Tour rodeos being our main emphasis with Puyallup and Sioux Falls at the end of the year. They can give you a big push going into the NFR, so we just need to keep catching steers and doing the best that we can.”
