Durfey One Step Closer To Repeat Trip To American

FORT WORTH, Texas; February 21, 2015 – Tie-down roper Tyson Durfey, who lives just outside Fort Worth, Texas, is handily dominating the $500,000 American Semi-Finals rodeo in Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum.

On Saturday night, Durfey’s run of 7.72 seconds was the second-fastest in the third round and easily qualified him for Sunday’s top-10 short round. On Sunday, Durfey must post one of the six fastest times to advance March 1 into RFD-TV’s $2 million rodeo, The American presented by Polaris Ranger, held at AT&T Stadium.

At The American in Arlington last year, Durfey won his event and $100,000 plus roughly $40,000 in prizes. This year, because Durfey gained entry via the Semi-Finals rather than being invited as one of the top 10 in the world, he could win the $1 million bonus as a repeat champion.

Also on Saturday night, Tyler Wade and Kinney Harrell made the fastest run of the entire week – a 4.20 – to lead the team ropers into the short round, while steer wrestler Riley Duvall also carries plenty of momentum into the sudden-death round after posting a 4.28-second time in his event.

Bareback and bronc riding fields on Sunday will feature 14 competitors; bull riding 11; and all timed events except barrel racing will feature 10 (the 10 barrel racers running on Sunday will be competing against the 20 who ran on Friday and Saturday for the 10 open positions into The American). Just five slots are available into The American in bareback and bronc riding and team roping; six slots in steer wrestling and tie down roping; ten in barrel racing and one in bull riding.

The $500,000 American Semi-Finals continues Sunday at 2 p.m. (Central) and will be broadcast live on RFD-TV. Tickets are available at the Cowtown Coliseum box office, by calling (800) COWTOWN, or at stockyardsrodeo.com.

Tickets for RFD-TV’s The American, presented by Polaris Ranger, and the Iron Cowboy VI are on sale at the AT&T Stadium Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations and at americanrodeo.com.

Tyson RFD-TV Photo by Scott Reed