Way out West Festival goes off

Presented by PBR Australia, the Bulls, Bands and Bikes After Dark weekend included Australia's second-largest bullriding prize pool of $50,000, with Townsville's Braydon Wellby returning to the sport after a few years in rodeo to claim the winner's cheque.

His 86-point ride in the short go or championship round saw him put together an aggregate of 171.5 from two nights of competition.

Both he, Boston Leather, who's currently leading the PBRA standings, and Lane Mellers scored 85.5 points on Friday night.

The win puts him fourth on the PBRA ladder for 2024.

Braydon last competed in PBRA in 2020, and the winner's buckle in Winton is is first since 2017 where he won two events, in Gladstone and Atherton.

The 27-year-old, who did a bit of bull-catching round Kowanyama, said the good prize pool brought him back, where he's found a 'younger generation' coming through and the calibre of bulls improving.

He had an easier trip to Winton than many, who had to negotiate floodwaters in the south west, including Brisbane's Lara Hansen and son Leo, who slept beside the creeks that were up at Augathella for one night before backtracking to Roma and up to Emerald, all to see rock band Screaming Jets in action.

A PBRA spokesperson said they'd had a number of walk-up ticket sales this year, possibly because of the uncertainty caused by the weather.

As well as the bulls and bands, around 400 people turned out for Winton's race meeting on Saturday afternoon.