Happy happenstance

Marcus Battaglia and Jason Johe Claim 2024 California Circuit Year-End Titles
Marcus Battaglia and Jason Johe both won their first California Circuit year-end titles in 2024.
Marcus Battaglia heading a steer, Jason Johe posing with his buckle.
Crystal Amen photos

Marcus Battaglia and Jason Johe sent off 2024 by winning the California Circuit year-end heading and heeling titles Dec. 31, in Red Bluff, California.

Battaglia and Johe, who actually started the 2024 season as partners before going separate ways, both won their first year-end circuit titles. Battaglia claimed the heading title with $24,110.15, and Johe won the heeling with $35,463.51.

“I started when I was 18, so it means everything,” Battaglia, 34, said. “I’ve been to the circuit finals more than a handful of times, and I won the average back in 2011 with Kyle Lockett, so I was like, cool, this is going somewhere. Then I had some horse troubles and life took a different direction. I came back the last five years, bought a new horse and kind of made the circuit finals again there four or five times in a row. So, to get it done, it’s just dream come true.”

Johe set a goal at the beginning of the year to have the year-end locked in before even getting to red bluff, and he did just that.

“I feel like it’s something that I’ve wanted for a while,” Johe, 30, said. “It’s a nice accomplishment. I set a goal early in the year to try to be $10,000 ahead when I went into the circuit finals, and I was super happy to get that goal. It was something that I really enjoyed.”

Red Bluff seals the deal for Battaglia

For Ramona’s Battaglia, the year-end heading title came down to Red Bluff as he entered the circuit finals fourth by roughly $2,000.

“I knew I had a chance,” Battaglia said. “I had to do good. My goal was just to go try and win the average because I knew the top three guys in front of me rope really good, and they usually have a pretty good circuit finals; you can’t really count them out ever. My partner Todd (Hampton) is a great guy, he’ll never miss his dally, and I know that because he’s tied on. Our game plan was to go in there and go catch three and see what happened and the way the chips fell.”

Battaglia and Hampton had a strong circuit finals, winning second in the average and pocketing $4,958 a man to help Battaglia clinch the year-end title. The two have known each other over a decade, but they hadn’t roped much before they partnered up this April. 

“I’m going to say we just went and caught—we didn’t try and do anything crazy,” Battaglia said. “We used the steers we had and we went to a lot of rodeos. I mean, we went to most of the California rodeos and happened to place at some of the good ones. Our run was not the fastest run, but it was fast enough to get money a lot of places.”

In recent years, Battaglia has primarily stayed on the West Coast as his plate stays full with multiple family businesses. But while the circuit system is more ideal, branching out isn’t totally out of the question now that he’s qualified for the NFR Open in July.

“I’ve kind of talked about it, or thought about it,” Battaglia said of rodeoing more in 2025. “If I have any money won prior to it, I might just go over the summer since there’s a big chunk of money to be won at Pikes Peak. I stay home because I run a parking company and we have a pumpkin patch, so we grow pumpkins in the summertime. We’re a pretty tight-knit family; we kind of stay together and have the family businesses, so I’m always traveling back and forth from Texas to California, working that parking lot. The California Circuit’s nice because I can come home, but I’ll be gone for two or three months at a time. It’s pretty tough, but I’ve always wanted to do it. I’ve done it a couple times but never really had any luck, but hopefully it’s changing.”

Johe’s 2024 dominance

Johe took the driver’s seat on the California Circuit heeling standings in early May and never looked back. The San Luis Obispo native started the year with Battaglia, then roped with young gun Jaxson Tucker for much of the spring and summer, and he ended the year with 2022 Resistol Rookie Header of the Year Tanner James. Despite the partner swaps, Johe made sure to stay consistent in the arena.

“I don’t try to think about [the lead] a whole lot,” Johe said. “I kind of like to put one foot in front of the other and just really make sure I’m covering my end and preparing myself. But it did cross my mind that I was starting the year dominant, and I dang sure wanted to end it that way.”

Dominant might just be an understatement. Johe set the regular season earnings record for the California Circuit, entering Red Bluff with $33,307.47 won on the year. That $11,717.60 lead over the pack also crushed Johe’s goal of a $10,000 lead. But it had more significance behind it than just bragging rights. 

“It was definitely nice—I got to have my parents come up there because I knew I was going to win it,” Johe explained. “That was kind of cool having my parents up there. They haven’t really been anywhere too far away in a while as they’re a little older.”

Equally family and rodeo focused, the circuit system has allowed Johe to foster his rodeo goals while also being close to home to help with family business. 

“My dad’s 83 and we have apartments and stuff here, so I help around here quite a bit with my parents and our place,” Johe said. “So, the circuit rodeos have been easier for me to get to and whatnot. But I have rodeoed; I’ve gone to 65 rodeos a year, but just not 80. I was cherry picking this year where I wanted to go because I’ve rodeoed enough where I know where I wanted to be at for what I had going on.”

In 2025, however, he’s ready to be more all in.

“Obviously I’m still going to be in the California circuit, but I’m in between leaving to go to Texas to push for more and to try to be NFR bound,” Johe said. “But at the same time, I’m still going to get some circuit rodeos in and make sure I win the circuit. This year I’ll probably be branching out a little bit more, going to Texas more, being around certain guys that I want to be around to make things happen.”

Reunited for Colorado Springs

Having roped together years prior, Battaglia and Johe are good friends and have a run together they can make at the NFR Open.

“It didn’t work out with my partner going, but it’s kind of funny how the year-end worked out because me and Jason made the Circuit Finals two years together,” Battaglia said. “Never did any good, and we started off the year roping with each other, but he wanted to go to more rodeos out of state and I said I couldn’t do it. So, that’s how I started roping with Todd, and it’s just funny how life works where we both end up winning it.”

The trip to Colorado Springs will be a first for Johe, and it lines up well with his 2025 goals.

“I’m real excited for that, and I would love to do great there also,” Johe said. “I mean, it’s a great rodeo, they have a good committee and they pay a lot of money out. It’s somewhere that I definitely want to be.”

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