The brother-in-law team of Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins made a 4.4-second run on a strong steer to move to the lead of the Woodward (Oklahoma) Elks ProRodeo, putting them half-a-second ahead of the field heading into the last two performances.
[Read More: The Hawkins-Ward Connection]
“That’s the run we’ve been building as a team since we started last fall,” Hawkins, who heeled at the 2013 and 2018 NFRs, said. “We’ve been trying to get ready for this time of the year ever since. We thought we’d have made more runs by now, but that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Another 50-some more of them, hopefully.”
They had the second run on their steer, who they watched go uncaught in the windy slack on Tuesday, Hawkins said, but didn’t know much about him.
[SHOP: Hawkins’ Gear Bag]
Oxbow Tooled and Beaded Breast Collar
(As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links.)
“That’s about as fast as you can go on that particular steer,” Hawkins said. “When steers get long-strided the clock gets going fast. The way it’s set up over here those 4.9s were all really good runs. But then at the same time, 5.1 was splitting 6 last night. So with 30-some guys to go you don’t want to be 5.1 and hope it wins money, but if that’s where you end up you don’t have to be mad about it. When everybody knows what to do everyone is trying to beat you.”
[Listen: Buddy Hawkins on The Score Podcast]
Hawkins is currently 14th in the PRCA world standings with $17,414.05 won, while his partner Ward is 13th with the same amount won. They will compete in Coleman, Texas, this weekend, and then will resume their campaign at the Bob Feist Invitational June 20.
Results So Far:
1. Andrew Ward/Buddy Hawkins II, 4.4 seconds
2. (tie) Pace Freed/Dustin Searcy, Charly Crawford/Logan Medlin and Brenten Hall/Chase Tryan, 4.9 each
5. Reno Stoebner/Lane Siggins, 5.0
6. Chad Masters/Wesley Thorp, 5.1.
