Timberman gets back in money at the NFR

By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo

LAS VEGAS – Before he even arrived in town to compete at his first National Finals Rodeo, Weston Timberman had already proven himself to the folks who know rodeo well.

He’s won two straight intercollegiate national championships in bareback riding while competing at Clarendon College, and at just 20 years of age, he’s excelled at ProRodeo. He entered the 10-round title bout at the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus with more than $150,000 in earnings and a love affair with the sport.

Since hitting this metro of nearly 3 million people, Timberman is just adding to his pile. He won Thursday night, then returned to the pay window after making an 85.5-point ride to finish fifth in Sunday’s fourth round, worth $8,693. Combined with the $10,000 qualification bonus, he has collected $52,381 at this year’s NFR and has moved to sixth on the bareback riding money list with $206,480.

Timberman matched moves with Macza Pro Rodeo’s Slide Show in the most recent round, which featured the “eliminator pen,” the hardest-to-ride broncs in ProRodeo. The big, athletic brown horse from Canada threw all the power it could, and the Wyoming-born cowboy now living in Columbus, Montana, kept scratching through the eight-second ride.

Though he failed to place in Rounds 2 and 3, he has continued to put on the kind of show that propelled him to the 2024 Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year title. The third generation of his family to compete in this rugged event, he is carrying on a tradition that was first highlighted by his grandfather, Lonnie, who passed it down to his son.

Timberman’s father, Chris, was the 2006 PRCA national circuit champion bareback rider. Uncle Kelly Timberman won rodeo’s gold in 2004; that same year, he earned the average title, then backed it up by winning the aggregate again in 2005.

Weston Timberman is well within position to claim all the NFR has to offer. He’s just six points behind average leader Cole Franks, another intercollegiate champ at Clarendon.

Timberman has six nights remaining on his season, but that offers a boatload of chances to cash in before the curtain closes Saturday night. He will be matched in Monday’s fifth go-round with Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Night Flight, one of the most electric horse in ProRodeo.

There is nearly $1 million still on the table for bareback riders to win over the next few days in Las Vegas, so the opportunities are endless.