Belt Rodeo: Comebacks abound as event gets underway

BELT – For a few hours here Saturday, this rodeo-loving community was turned into Comeback City.

The saddle bronc riding and bull riding, in particular, featured athletes trying to find their former form as the 55th annual Belt Rodeo got started on a warm evening before an overflow crowd.

Chase Brooks of Deer Lodge took the lead in the bronc riding with an 82-point ride.

“When she started off she was electric,” Brooks said, referring to a JS Rodeo bronc named Kitty Hawk. “She felt just awesome. Really explosive.”

Brooks, 20, didn’t ride at all in 2014 after suffering multiple injuries last summer in Stanford.

“I got stepped on and broke seven ribs, collapsed a lung and lacerated my liver,” he said. “Then on my first one back I got my elbow stepped on and dislocated it, plus tore my bicep …”

Brooks laughed.

“Last summer was bad,” he said. “But it was probably good for me. I hit the gym and now I think I’m riding better than ever before.”

While Brooks hopes to one day reach the big-time, former world champion Jesse Kruse of Great Falls would like to get back there.

Kruse, the 2009 world champion in the bronc riding, has been sidelined for more than a year because of hip and groin injuries that required surgery and extensive rehab. The C.M. Russell High graduate and former Montana Grizzly cowboy earned a qualified ride and received a 75-point score Saturday night.

Afterward he was a bit sore, but the only rodeo world champion in Great Falls history was also happy to be back in the saddle.

“Groins are a little sore and the hip has its days, but you know, we’re going to give it a whirl,” said Kruse, 29. “I’ll dang-sure do the circuit rodeos this year. Maybe not go too hard.”

Kruse qualified for the National Finals Rodeo from 2009-11, but has battled injuries ever since. He cracked out for the first time this season Friday night in Sturgis, S.D.

“It didn’t go very good,” Kruse said with a smile. “Tonight wasn’t very good, either, but I got one covered. So I can’t complain.”

That’s because it’s nice to be back aboard a bucking horse.

“It feels really good,” said Kruse, who was on crutches last summer following surgery. “It was pretty iffy if a guy was going to do it, but now it’s back and a guy’s gotta be thankful for that.”

Kruse said the Guy Nordahl family in Helena has a bucking machine that he’s been able to use.

“That really helped me,” Kruse said. “It gave me the confidence that I could do it without it hurting real, real bad.”

Meanwhile, Parker Breding of Edgar is also trying to recapture the momentum of the past. And the 22-year-old bull rider appears to be doing just that.

Breding, who made his first appearance at the NFR in 2013 and missed last year’s rich rodeo thanks mostly to a broken arm suffered in Clovis, Calif., has been on a hot streak. He won an Xtreme Bull competition in Union, Ore., and finished second at a similar event in Sisters, Ore.

The result is that Breding is in the top five in the PRCA world standings. He made a spectacular 90-point ride Saturday night to take the lead in the event.

“Between the PBR here in Belt (the Dusty Gliko Bull Riding Challenge) and that bull riding there in Union, it’s given me some confidence and shown me I can do it,” said Breding.

That’s correct, even NFR veterans need a dose of that once in awhile.

“Confidence is the biggest thing of it. It’s such a mental game,” Breding said with a grin. “I can win a rodeo and the next day I’ll still question myself.”

Breding is feeling fine these days.

“I’m blessed to be walking around doing this,” Breding said.

In the team roping, Cut Bank star Dustin Bird and his new partner, Chase Tryan of Helena, had a solid 6-second run.

“We’ve been going to Canada a little bit and had some luck,” said Bird, the exceptional header who has qualified for the last three NFRs. “Now we’re headed to Reno.”

Bird was mounted aboard “Dolly,” his award-winning 16-year-old mare.

“This was Dolly’s first trip back since late March,” Bird said. “She’s been resting and now she’s ready to go.”

Bird has teamed up with heeler Paul Eaves of Texas in recent years. His new partner is from Helena.

“Chase ropes real good,” said Bird, whose family has an extensive ranching business near Cut Bank. “We’ve been practicing lots. It’s a little easier to get together for a practice session.”

Other leaders following Saturday’s first performance were Casey Delaney of Havre (7.7 in the steer wrestling), the Canadian duo of Levi Simpson-Jeremy Buhler (4.6 in team roping), Kyle Bowers of Alberta (80 in bareback), Ryan Siemsen of Worden (9.6 in tie-down roping), and Lindsay Kruse of Winston (17.67 in barrel racing).

The rodeo, which annually kicks off the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit season, continues Sunday morning at 9 with a section of slack in the timed events. The event, under the direction of rodeo chairman Clancy Sivertsen, concludes Sunday afternoon at 2.