The Stanislaus County Fair hosted the California Cowboys Professional Rodeo on Thursday as fans from all over the Valley packed into the Food Maxx Arena grandstand, welcoming local and other competitors from around the country.

Rodeo fans got plenty of action as they watched eight events across the board: Breakaway Roping, Bareback Riding, Calf Roping, Saddle Bronc, Steer Wrestling, Team Roping, Barrel Racing, and Bull Riding.

Turlockers Blake Hirdes, Rikki Perezchica, and Lizzy Cupples were among the local competitors in Thursday’s rodeo, with Hirdes emerging as the most successful with a second place finish in the Calf Roping and a first place finish in the Team Roping alongside teammate Cord Forzano.

Perezchica finished second and Cupples finished third in Breakaway Roping.

Other representatives from the Valley included Joe Chamberlein of Newman, Cody Reich of Patterson, and Shelby Stansbury who finished second in Bull Riding and third in Barrel Racing.

 While many benefited from their hard work and were rewarded with top five finishes, there was also a fair share of disappointment. Hilmar’s Duck Burgess was one of the rodeo participants who walked away in frustration as he and his partner were disqualified from the team roping event due to a false start.

“I was pretty pumped up before, especially with it being a local rodeo and we placed last year,” Burgess said. “I hate losing. We go home and practice to recover from that and fix our mistakes and that’s all we can do. In the rodeo you got to put it behind you and move on to the next rodeo; you can’t dwell on that last run or you might as well stay home. “

Burgess currently stands in ninth place in the Cowboys Professional Rodeo rankings. The top 12 competitors move on to the finals at Red Bluff.

“Our goal is to make it to finals at the end of September,” Burgess said.