Roughstock cowboys end season with inaugural Duel at the Dunes championships
ROGGEN, Colo. — The PRORODEO road had one more stop before the end of the regular season on Sept. 30.
The Duel at the Dunes, set on the sand dunes behind the Cervi Ranch and between the first and 18th holes at the new Rodeo Dunes Golf Club in Roggen, Colo., hosted 20 of the best roughstock cowboys in saddle bronc, bareback and bull riding to compete one last time.
Many of the cowboys were comfortably in the Top 15 of the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings, meaning they had already punched their tickets to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. But there were still a few vying for a chance to ride at the Thomas & Mack Center, making the Duel at the Dunes a make-or-break event for cowboys on the bubble.
The final standings audit will be watched closely by some, but bareback rider Jacob Lees, saddle bronc rider Weston Patterson and bull rider Hudson Bolton ended the season on a high note with a little more cash in their pockets and as the inaugural champions of the Duel at the Dunes.
“I kind of struggled the last bit of the season and it cost me going to the NFR, but a new season starts tomorrow and I’m blessed to be out here doing this,” Lees said. “Ready to get back at it.”
The three events were broken up into two sections for the long round, with the top three scores moving on to a showdown round.
Lees made the most of his first ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Colorado Cayenne with 86 points to win the long round.
The No. 19 bareback rider in the world standings, Lees entered the Duel at the Dunes with the hope of ending his 2025 season with momentum heading into 2026. When he saw he drew Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Womanizer in the short round, a world champion NFR bucking horse, he knew his odds were good.
“I knew that she had been there, done that and been Horse of the Year before,” Lees said. “I’ve actually been on her a long time ago and she gave me a pretty good stinger in my neck. But I was able to get her back a little bit.”
Lees followed up his long-round ride of 86 points with an 88-point trip in the short round. He beat out Orin Larsen’s 87.5-point ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Wild Thang and Waylon Bourgeois’ 84-point ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Mike Honcho for the championship.
Saddle bronc rider Weston Patterson has lived up to the big moment all season. He did the same thing on Sept. 30.
His 89-point ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Triple Threat helped him cruise to the Duel at the Dunes saddle bronc riding title, beating Sage Newman’s 87-point ride on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Hitman and Lefty Holman’s ride of 84.5 points on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Steak Sauce.
COOL EVENT
“This event was pretty dang cool. It’s not everyday you get to go ride in the middle of a golf course,” Patterson said. “The atmosphere here was awesome, the horses bucked and I’m just really blessed to be able to head to my first NFR and finish the season like this.”
Patterson, who sat No. 11 in the world standings heading into the final day of the season, now ends his season on a high note as he prepares for his first trip to the NFR.
But with the 2026 campaign kicking off Oct. 1, Patterson isn’t planning too much time out of the bucking chutes. He immediately packed up in Roggen, Colo., and headed north for the Brad Gjermundson Xtreme Broncs match, the first major event on the 2026 Rank 45 Xtreme Broncs Tour with over $160,000 in added money in New Town, N.D.
Patterson said competing in North Dakota will hopefully help him get off to a fast start in 2026, but he still plans for some down time before Las Vegas in December.
“We’ll go to New Town, N.D., to start off 2026,” Patterson said. “We’ll go there, then take some time off before the finals.”
As the sun set on the rolling sand dunes of Roggen, Hudson Bolton climbed on his final bull of the 2025 regular season.
Comfortably in the top 10 at No. 6 in the bull riding world standings, Bolton rode Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Ringling Road for a 92-point trip. He was the only qualified rider in the finals, as Luke “Colorado Kid” Mackey and Elijah Mora, a walk-up who made the finals after turnouts and doctor releases, were both bucked off.
“This is one of my favorite rodeos, it’s the first one they’ve ever had,” Bolton said. “I didn’t know much about that bull, but they told me Stetson (Wright) has been 92 on him, so I figured it was going to turn out pretty good. I ride better when I don’t know too much about them.”
The payday won’t improve Bolton’s place in the standings, but the 19-year-old Resistol Rookie bull rider, who began to make a move in the standings in July when he won nearly $20,000 at the Gerry Volunteer Firemen’s Rodeo in New York and Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown Pilesgrove, N.J., shored up his spot atop the rookie bull riding standings.
“There’s a good group of rookies this year,” Bolton said. “It’s not over until it’s over in Vegas. I’m just excited to get ready.”
The final standings will undergo an audit beginning Oct. 2, with final results expected by the middle of October.
