$10,000 ride is just the ticket | Warwick Sport | Local Sports in Warwick

Lucas Wilson shows his style in the APRA National Finals Rodeo early in 2009.

WARWICK cowboy Lucas Wilson is home from a year of saddle bronc riding and travelling around North America in a black Cadillac.

Wilson and best mate Tyrell Smith, of Canada, compete as the War Party Enterprises team and can travel full-time to rodeos as they have excellent sponsors and pool their winnings.

While Smith finished the higher of the two, in 20th place on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys’ Association (PRCA) standings in 2009, Wilson gained the bigger payout, $US10,000, for second place in the saddle bronc ride at Miles City, Montana.

After he scored 88 at Miles City, Wilson thought his score would be enough to win but the next cowboy out scored 89 and relegated him to second.

The 88 at Miles City equalled Wilson’s career best, an 88 on the Happy Gill-horse Paper Rock at Southport three years ago.

Wilson was a full-time cowboy in 2009 but will return to the US in late March with a sporting visa which will allow him to obtain other work if necessary.

On the July 4 Independence Day weekend in 2009, there were nine PRCA rodeos during the three-day celebration.

Wilson and Smith competed at a rodeo in Alabama last year, then jumped in the Cadillac for an 18-hour drive to Montana, where they arrived just as the rodeo started.

“We have a 95-litre tank and the car goes forever on a tank,” Wilson said.

He didn’t miss a rodeo with injury last year. Wilson dislocated a hip at a pro rodeo in Canada but the sports medicine team fixed him up to ride the next night.

This year, the War Party Enterprises team has a new Cadillac, courtesy of their sponsors. They also had floor seats to a 2009 LA Lakers basketball game through a business partner.

While in Australia, Wilson will head south this week to rodeos in Victoria and Tasmania.

He has already competed in the Australian Professional Rodeo Association Christmas Run, which started on Boxing Day, and won the saddle bronc at Deliniquin, in New South Wales.

At the end of this year, Smith will return to Australia with Wilson for some rodeos down under.

Wilson won’t be at the Warwick Rodeo as both cowboys aim for top 15 spots in the PRCA and there are many rodeos in North America in October.

The two saddle bronc riders live at Vaughn, outside Great Falls in Montana, only an hour’s drive from the Canadian border.