Cervi takes over barrel racing domain

Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

SPECIAL TO THE SUN

There's no doubt about it. Sherry Cervi dominated professional barrel racing in 1995.

On Aug. 8, Cervi became only the second barrel racer in history to earn more than $100,000 during the regular season. Charmayne Rodman was the first, on Nov. 4, 1986. But it took Cervi fewer months to achieve that mark. At the time, Cervi was almost $40,000 ahead of the PRCA';s all-around leader, Joe Beaver. By the time the $3 million National Finals Rodeo began Dec. 1 in Las Vegas, the barrel racer was still $24,759 ahead of Beaver.

It was only the second time in professional rodeo history that a single-event athlete has gone into the NFR with more money than the all-around leader (Rodman was the first in 1987).

By the time the whole thing was said and one, Cervi earned $157,172 -- a new barrel racing season earnings record -- and claimed her first world championship. But Cervi is modest about her achievements.

"One reason I'm breaking records is they're adding more money," she said. "I'm sure my records will be broken, too."

Cervi finished the 1995 regular season with $129,584. Among her wins were the PRCA's two biggest regular-season rodeos -- the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days. She earned $18,970 at Houston.

Cervi's barrel racing career really took off last year, when she qualified for her first NFR. Not only did she place in nine of 10 rounds at the 1994 Finals, she also set an NFR record when she rounded the barrels in the fifth round in 13.80 seconds. At the 1994 NFR, Cervi earned more than $50,000, finished second in the world to Kristie Peterson. Only a tipped barrel in the third round kept Cervi from winning the world title.

"Last year was the first year I ever went hard," Cervi said. "I wanted to go real hard. But I never expected it to be this good."

Cervi entered the 1995 NFR more than $40,000 ahead of Peterson, the second-place qualifier. But Peterson narrowed that gap to about $7,000 by the end of the Finals.

"(Peterson) definitely had a really good Finals and Bozo (Peterson's horse) was really working good," Cervi said.

Cervi started out the 1995 NFR with a second-place finish in the first round, earning $6,720 for her 14.26-second run. She went on to place in three more rounds, pocketing $27,588 in NFR earnings.

Peterson, on the other hand, earned more than twice that -- $61,028 -- at the NFR. Peterson placed in eight rounds, winning two of them. She also won the average by more than 3.0 seconds.

"I was a little nervous," said Cervi about Peterson's NFR performance. "But thanks to my family, I kept my head up."

Cervi also owes much of her success to her two horses, Trouble and Hawk. Trouble, a big, gray gelding, is normally Cervi's most consistent horse. But not at the NFR.

"The bay horse definitely won me the most money," Cervi said. "He came through for me. And the gray horse just didn't like the ground. He didn't work like he did last year. But they both are really nice horses."

Cervi, who has had her Women's Professional Rodeo Association card since she was 12 years old, said next year she'd like to slow down a bit.

"I'll be going to the big winter rodeos to start out," she said. "My husband's (Mike Cervi Jr.) going to go, and when I can enter, I'll enter.

"This year was an awful long year. It's definitely been a good year, but I just want to go and have fun."