Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp proved their gold buckles had nothing to do with luck when they stopped the clock in 3.8 seconds to win second in Round 10 and seal the deal on their second straight world titles—Thorp’s third overall—with season earnings of $361,480.

In doing so, Wade, of Terrell, Texas, and Thorp, of Throckmorton, Texas, bested the single-season earnings record, previously held by Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira set in 2022 of $340,708.23.

But in spite of their record-breaking season, their world championship was far from guaranteed as they rode into the box at last out in the tenth round. In fact, as they watched the teams in front of them falter, they found themselves alone in the alley, shouting back and forth at each other trying to figure out what sort of run they needed to make.

“Wesley’s like, ‘We just got to make our run,'” Wade, 32, said. “I’m like, ‘How fast do we got to go?!’ I heard fast. He’s like, “Fast enough.” I’m like, do we need 4.8 or do we need 3.8?!’ But our steer was good enough. I feel like we knew if we caught him, we had a good shot. I told Wesley when we got the text on the steer, I said, ‘Hey, they’re going to give us a shot right here.’ And I was just glad to capitalize on it.”

Wade and Thorp had the steer Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin had been 3.5 on to win Round 7, and Wade pinged the barrier.

“I was pretty sure I really did think he got out,” Thorp, 29, said. “There was just a spot where he looked back and I was wondering what he was looking at. And I’m like, well, maybe he knows something I don’t.”

But Wade was in fact safe at the barrier, and he and Thorp knew were confident they’d sealed the deal as they rode out of the arena.

“I remember last year when I was on stage with Wesley, they said, ‘Two world titles are it cool because it proves it wasn’t a fluke.’ And I’m sitting over there with one, so I was like, oh, all right… So it’s really cool to do it again.”

Thorp, who won his first world title in 2019 heeling for Cody Snow but splitting the title with Clay Smith, said the third buckle feels a whole lot different than the first one.

“It was split, and it was a crappy timing,” Thorp said. “Covid was the next year, and things were weird, and it just felt like—it didn’t feel like I won. I didn’t know if I deserved to win the world. I really didn’t know. I just didn’t feel like a world champion either. I didn’t feel like world champion going into it. And I roped good at the Finals, and I left being a world champion. And it kind of messed with my whole perspective. So I got through all that and changed my whole perspective and outlook so I don’t get caught up too much in counting the trophies now. Or maybe one day it would be fun to sit down at the coffee shop and say something about, but I don’t really care about that now.”

Wade and Thorp entered the 2024 NFR second in the PRCA world standings with $191,737.56 each, behind Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord. In feast-or-famine-fashion, Wade and Thorp kicked off the Finals with a first and second round win, then struggled as Wade missed two in a row. They got another win in Round 5, then split second in the sixth round. In Rounds 7 and 8, they again took a no-time, but bounced back with a safe catch run in Round 9 to set up the near one-header in Round 10.

Wade rode his 2024 AQHA/PRCA Head Horse of the Year, Espuela Bro, on all 10 had at this year’s NFR. The 17-year-old gelding is the same horse he won the world on in 2023.

Thorp rode Patrick Smith’s three-time and reigning Heel Horse of the Year, Kadabra King. The horse already has an NFR average title and the NFR aggregate record with Smith, making the gold buckle the last feather he needed in his cap.

“I think it’s super cool because I mean, it goes to show you how both horses won horse of the year, and then we won the gold buckle, and it was still that close,” Thorp said. “I mean, that’s the tiny bit of difference that it can be, and how much horses really matter because he grew up being able to throw his whole rope and ride any horse. I grew up riding literally anything. I mean we both grew up riding anywhere from a $2,500 horse—I mean maybe the yellow horse was $1,500 horse—that we first had, and he was the same way. And so some people have the idea that, ‘Oh, these guys can ride anything.’ Well, here we are.”

“It does a lot for us too to say, ‘Hey, that guy knows a good horse’ and that we know the difference,” Wade added. “So I think long-term wise, when we call someone, when we’re done rodeoing maybe someday, and say, ‘Hey, we got a good one.’ We know what a good one is and got proof of it. So that’s kind of cool too.”

Related:

• Right Where They Left Off: Wade & Thorp Back at No. 1 in PRCA World Standings with 3.7-Second Round 1 Win
• Momentum in Utah: Wade, Thorp Win Spanish Fork and Ogden
• Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp Are 2023’s PRCA World Champion Team Ropers

Team roping world standings

As of Dec. 14

NFR team roping average standings

As of Dec. 14

NFR Team Roping Round 10