Shane Proctor Sits on the Bull Riding Bubble

SAN ANGELO, TX — Shane Proctor has been riding bulls professionally for 15 years. The cowboy from North Carolina is currently tied for 11th in the 2020 San Angelo rodeo standings through performance number 9. There are two more nights in the bull riding competition remaining, one on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and the last on Thursday, Feb. 13 at the same time.

Poctor’s standing, tied with Tyler Bingham with a score of 81, puts him in a tough position. Only the top 12 make it to the finals called the Short Go on Friday night. He has to hope no one breaks an 81 for the last two regular performances. He sits on a bubble for sure.

“I hope I’ll be back next week,” Proctor said. At the time of this interview, right after the 7th performance, he was in 8th place. Two more performances knocked him down to the tie for 11th.

Saturday, he was riding United Pro Rodeo’s Black Knight. The bull gave him some good twists left and then right but didn’t have as much kick as needed, Proctor said.

“There’s no guarantees in this sport,” Proctor said. That’s because the bucking stock has as much to do with the score as the rider. “It depends on those matchups,” Proctor said, referring to drawing the right bull.

In all his 15 years bull riding, Proctor remembers a bull named After Party. That bull was the 2010 PRCA Bull of the Year and a NFR and PBR Finals Bull. Proctor rode After Party 5 of his 6 attempts. In bull riding vocabulary, “riding” a bull means the rider hung on for the entire 8 seconds to score.

After Party is no longer, but his children are still around. “One of After Party’s sons was here during the San Angelo rodeo’s inaugural XTreme Bulls competition Feb. 2.

After the 9th performance Sunday, here are the bull riding leaders:

Bull riding leaders: 1. Stetson Wright, 89 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Candy Man; 2. Bayle Worden, 88.5; 3. Elliot Jacoby, 86.5; 4. (tie) Ty Wallace, Boudreaux Campbell and Parker Cole McCown, 84; 7. Jeston Mead, 83.5; 8. Trey Benton, 82.5; 9. (tie) Brody Yeary and Jeff Askey, 82; 11. (tie) Shane Proctor and Tyler Bingham, 81.

The video and interview are sponsored by First Financial Bank.