August 2009

Spikers Host Bull Riding Event / Spiker Buggy Makes its Debut

Recap of the Bull Riding event at John & Sue Spiker's farm. First peek at the restored Spiker buggy.

Spikers Host Bull Riding Event

By Cathy Gregis

Rain and thunderstorms couldn’t keep the approximately 1500 people from enjoying an evening at the rodeo. The Third Annual Championship Bull Ride was held at John and Sue Spiker’s farm in Jane Lew, WV, Saturday, July 25, 2009. An evening of good food, riding the mechanical bull, mutton bustin’ and the featured championship bull ride was followed by fireworks.

The event was coordinated by Kate and John Bob Spiker along with Matt DeJohn of the Buckin B Cattle Company. Jeff Wolf from North Carolina was the announcer.

Several former world champions in the IBR and Sebra organizations participated. These included Dwayne Hare (2006 IBR World Champion), Trinity Dunkleberger (2008 IBR and Sebra World Champion) and Ryan Radford (2006 Sebra World Champion.)

The bulls seemed to be the leaders as one bull rider after another went down before the eight second bell. As the evening progressed, a winner emerged. Jake Rassau from Ohio was the only rider to win both the long round and the short round. Bull fighters were Luke Elton (in the orange shoes), Brandon Gough (in the black socks and knee pads) and the famous 2009 Bullfighter of the Year, John Bob Spiker (in the white socks and knee pads.)

Editor’s Note: Cathy Gregis and Kate Spiker shared some of their photos of this event. Click here to view the photo album. (EDIT - album unavailable after merge.)

Spiker Buggy Makes its Debut

By Bobbi Spiker-Conley

Spiker Buggy

Spiker Buggy

Sarah Smith gave us a sneak preview of the restored Spiker Buggy. Here are the images she shared with us on Facebook. We are hoping to receive more information about this project soon. Check back with us next month.

Announcements

  • There are no announcements this month but I do have a suggestion…
  • When I attended the family reunion, I was excited to see all the photographs lining the walls, scattered across the table and tucked into boxes in the “pool table room”. Perhaps one (or more) of the people that often visit the Spiker Family Farm can take the initiative to copy as many of these valuable photos as possible onto a CD. I think it would make a perfect item for next year’s auction. Anyone up to the challenge?