Riley Minor and Brady Minor tied with Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp for first in a smoking-fast Round 6 of the 2017 WNFR with a time of 3.7 seconds worth $23,480.77 a man.

Before Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp went at 10th out, Jr. Dees and Tyler McKnight had already laid down a 3.9-second run, and Erich Rogers and Cory Petska, Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, and Garrett Rogers and Jake Minor had all been 4.1. 

“We didn’t really have anything to lose,” Thorp said. “We’re out of the average and we needed to turn it around. We knew we had a good steer.”

Snow got it on him fast on his 8-year-old mare, Annie, and Thorp was able to clean it up on Dennis, the roan he won the BFI on in 2016. 

“I got on my mare—she’s real easy to catch on,” Snow said. “I thought I needed to do something different. I changed ropes, and it got a lot better. Our reaction is fast so if we just go rope how we rope then it’s fast enough usually. We won the most all year is when we just trying to rope our steers.”

Clay Tryan and Jade Corkill roped right after Snow and Thorp, and tried it on him but ended up .1 second slower than the go-round leaders.

“I was almost thinking about trying to maintain my spot in the average,” Riley said. “My plan was just to get a good start if it worked then we would win something. The steer was good—straight down the middle, and Brady got around him and heeled him very fast.”

“I was thinking just catch two and keep our spot in the average,” Brady added. “I finally got down the arena to heel him fast.”

Riley made a horse change in Round 5 to the runner-up AQHA/PRCA Head Horse of the Year Bob after riding a borrowed mount to start the week.

“I got back on Bob,” Riley said. “The mare did good on the first couple then she didn’t want to face on one. Bob is a little bit stronger. The times are so fast this year it seems like I need a little more snap right there.”

The Minor Brothers are now sitting sixth in the PRCA world standings with $141,067.65, moving up from ninth and eleventh, respectively, the night before. Snow is twelfth with $112,716.35, and Thorp is thirteenth with $114,317.16.

After six rounds there are only three teams that have a time on six head. Holding their number-one spot is Erich Rogers and Cory Petska with 31.70 seconds on six head. The Minor brothers jumped up one spot to second in the average with 39.30 seconds on six head, while Chad Masters and Travis Graves are behind them in the number-three spot with a time of 40.90 seconds on six head.

Round 6 

1/2. Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp, 3.7 seconds, $23,480.77 each.

1/2. Riley Minor and Brady Minor, 3.7 seconds, $23,480.77 each.

3. Clay Tryan and Jade Corkill, 3.8 seconds, $15,653.85 each.

4. Jr. Dees and Tyler McKnight, 3.9 seconds, $11,000.00 each.

5/6/6. Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, 4.1 seconds, $3,666.66 each.

5/6/6. Erich Rogers and Cory Petska, 4.1 seconds, $3,666.66 each.

5/6/6. Garret Rogers and Jake Minor, 4.1 seconds, $3,666.66 each.