Resistol Rookie of the Year contender Brodey Clemons banked $13,768 in his first big week of the summer run, splitting the win at the Ridgeview Pro Rodeo in Driggs, Idaho, with hauling partner Shane Hanchey, winning the big-money Sisters (Oregon) Rodeo, and placing 10th at Eagle.

The week vaulted Clemons 22 spots in the world standings, from No. 37 to No. 15, with $41,095 won on the year. It also moved him to second in the Resistol Rookie standings, roughly $10,000 behind leader Kyan Wilhite’s $51,069. The Sisters win was worth $7,649, the Ridgeview split $4,935 and the Eagle check $1,184.

“Oh, it was awesome,” Clemons said. “It was everything I imagined.”

Inside Brodey Clemons’ Sisters and Ridgeview Wins

Clemons is hauling with Hanchey this summer, and the veteran’s read on where and when to enter helped shape the week.

“He’s really helping me, mainly just kind of where we need to enter for what day and where it’s going to be the best run on the calves,” Clemons said. “That really factored in this weekend. A re-run at Sisters was where they won all the money. And at Driggs, they were fresh, so it didn’t really matter. And honestly, at Driggs, that was the best set of calves I’ve seen in a long time. I feel like almost everybody had a chance even on a fresh calf, which is usually not the case. But it’s been good. I’ve been learning a lot.”

At Ridgeview, Clemons and Hanchey roped in the slack and tied for the win, both stopping the clock at 7.8 seconds.

“We were up at Driggs in the slack, so I had a pretty good game plan,” Clemons said. “I just got a good start. I was a little off the barrier, but it didn’t matter because they were fresh. They were just kind of trottin’ out, and I roped her good. My horse was really strong and jerked her down, and then she kind of just came up perfect, and I put two wraps on her, and it was 7.8. And Shane was next and went 7.8 again. So it didn’t last very long winning it.”

Clemons rode the big stopper of a mare he bought last fall, Light Merada Talks, “Riata,” all weekend.

“I feel like I’m really now just clicking with her, just now getting things figured out,” Clemons said. “I won a good bit on her, but still didn’t have it really figured out. I knew she was going to be good out here this summer. A lot of them are outdoors and big arenas and the starts a little longer. I knew she was going to be good, just the kind of style of horse she is. But I didn’t know I was going to go this good. She’s been great.”

At Sisters, Hanchey looked at the draw and called Clemons at the trailer to tell him he’d drawn one of the best calves in the pen.

“Shane called me and said I had the loper, the best one on them, so that made it a little bit easier,” Clemons said. “But then I was overthinking it a little bit, like how am I going to keep this calf on its feet with my horse being strong. I needed to run decently close, that way I could stay in the stirrup and spin her around, because it’s a pretty weak calf, not very strong. And once I got her spun around, it was a sigh of relief. I just knew if I tied her down, I was going to win good money.”

Clemons Balances Pro Rodeo and the College National Finals

Alongside his busy ProRodeo schedule, Clemons is roping at the College National Finals in Casper, where he sits well in the average after his mom hauled his older horse, DMAC Iron Spoon, “Ernie,” out to join the rig for the rest of the summer.

“It’s kind of a marathon over here,” Clemons said. “There’s only like 40 guys, so it’s not crazy tough, but it is tough to get four calves tied down. So the game plan is just go calf by calf and don’t make any major errors and just get them all tied down. But like Sisters, it’s just one head this year and you had to go fast, versus here, you don’t have to nail the barrier, just run in there, make sure you rope them, tie them down tight and stay the course.”

Resistol Rookie of the Year Race Tightens

Clemons isn’t the only rookie stacking up checks, and he knows the race is far from over.

“There’s definitely some competition,” Clemons said. “Every time I have a big week, he [Kyan Wilhite] has a big week right after me. I think it’s going to go back and forth for a while. All the guys rope good, and usually there’s just that one guy that just dominates and beats them, but I feel like this year it’s pretty stacked. I hope it leads right on into December and we get to have a little calf roping for 10 head. That’d be fun.”

After a quiet winter, Clemons entered heavy for the summer, with a loaded Fourth of July run and a couple of Canadian rodeos ahead.

“I didn’t go to a lot of rodeos during the winter, so I entered up pretty heavy this summer,” Clemons said. “We got up decent over the Fourth, so we got a lot of rodeos to go. I’m feeling great. I’m roping really good, and things are really going my way. I’m ready to see new places and rope calves.”