This one's for you Donny

look mom, no hands: A cowboy looks and reaches for the ground to break his fall as he is bucked off his bull at the Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride in Cottonwood. The bull ride was put on by Outlaw Rodeo of Wheatland.

47 riders prepared behind the chutes to ride yet one more time for Donny Martin. The 3rd annual Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride was held at the Bobby Jones Arena in Cottonwood on Saturday, July 17, and featured riders from Texas, Wyoming, Nevada, Oregon and California, with nine of the bull riders from Anderson and Cottonwood.

Bull riders took a break from the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit to spend a night riding in Cottonwood for Martin, who was a friend, bullfighter, brother and son. The event also raised money for the scholarship that was established in Martin's memory.

The Redding Rodeo Junior Girls Drill Team presented the colors after all 47 bull riders were introduced. The bull riding was sanctioned by Southern Extreme Bull Riders Association (SEBRA) and presented by Outlaw Rodeo of Wheatland and the OK Coral in Cottonwood.

Stock contractor Travis Moniz, 8, was on hand to answer questions from bull riders about some of the rankest bulls in the pen, three of which he personally owns. Moniz is the lucky owner of a bull named Back Draft, who is the son of Reindeer Dippin'. Back Draft was used in the short go and promply bucked off his cowboy. The top 15 cowboys in the event went back into the short go round, including local bull riders DJ Cooper, Billy Soksoda, Travis Gonzales, Keith Roquemore, and Jay Foscalina.

Keith Roquemore of Cottonwood, who is ranked in the top 45 in the PBR won the Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride with an 86 point ride on TA1 and in the short go rode for 89 points on GQ for a total of 175 points. Placing second was Clayton Beche of Johnson City, Texas with 172 points on two head. Third place went to Jessie Aitkin with 161 points on two head, forth was Jacob Tyner of Sacramento with 151 points on two head. Fifth place went to Cottonwood bull rider, DJ Cooper with a score of 88 points on one head, bucking off in the short go. In sixth place was Chico's A.J. Hamre with 87 points.

"I am honored to win Donny's Bull Ride," said Roquemore. "I am able to spend time with my family during the week and ride on the weekends."

In pre-rodeo, the mutton busting was won by Alexis Renihan, a young lady from Cottonwood.

Other highlights of the evening featured the auctioning off of bull fighting jerseys signed by Flint Rasmussan, and a shirt signed by bullrRider J.B. Mauney. A custom made bull rope was donated by Jay Foscalina of Cottonwood and he will work one-on-one with the bull rider to custom fit it. This bull rope brought in $550 to the scholarship fund.

There were approximately 600 people in attendance with a superb pen of bulls. Howard the Bull, owned by young stock contractor Moniz, was brought to businesses in Red Bluff and Cottonwood on Friday and Saturday to promote the event by sponsor request. Area residents were able to get on Howard, who is a 2,600-pound Bahama Bull.

At the end of the night, the bull riders came back into the arena for a final tribute to Martin and the reading of a poem written by Martin's brother, Logan Martin, titled "In the Line of Duty."

The Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride was presented by Jo and Brain Moniz of Outlaw Rodeo in Wheatland and Cody's OK Coral of Cottonwood. The Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride will return to Cottonwood in 2011.