High-stakes was the name of the game for the 2021 September WSTR Title Fights held in Abilene, TX. The roping that has historically been held in Hamilton, TX in late October was moved due to scheduling conflicts but paired nicely with Shelley Productions' Ariat WSTR Qualifier and Resistol Hats Abilene Special. The payout for the weekend was just shy of $600,000 making Abilene the place to be in late September.
Although the Title Fights is predominantly a WSTR special fees event from top to bottom, the stand-out roping was the 9.5 Heartland Finale which paid out a total of $146,000 in cash. Tommy L Smith from Lovington, New Mexico and Chase Wardlaw of Sonora, Texas ended up ringing the bell and taking home $34,000 plus Cactus Saddles and Gist Buckles.
When it came time for the short-round, the wheels started to fall off of the bus. Out of the top ten teams in the short-go only three teams connected for average checks. Tommy and Chase came into the final steer with a 32.57 on three. They drew a good one and ended up with the fastest time in the final round; a 7.68 making them a total of 40.25 on four steers.
With over half of the teams in the final round going out with a miss and only eight clean runs, the 9.5 Heartland Finale was anybody's fight to win or lose that stepped into the ring. Michael Bailey and Scott Tiner of Aurora and Decatur, Texas took home $4,000 in the consolation two-steer and also got a piece of the fast-time money by winning the third round with an 8.99. The team would split $6,500 for roping just two steers.
The Heartland Finale Ropings were designed to give local ropers the big money, Vegas Finale feel without the trip to the South Point. To date, the Heartland Finale events have paid out $1,731,200 making them the highest paying single events in the team roping industry.
