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The 2009 Y's Men's/Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo kicked off Thursday night in impression fashion.

A plethora of big rides and fast times highlighted the opening night of the four-day event being held at the All Seasons Arena.

Capping the night was a head-to-head battle between South Dakota bull riders Taylor Cowan and Charles Zoss.

Zoss came out strong with an 86-point ride on a bull called Black Bird.

"It was a good way to start things out, but I didn't know anything about the bull so it was nice to get a good ride," Zoss said.

What Zoss didn't know was that no cowboy was able to clear eight seconds on Black Bird in 2009, making the Forestburg bull rider the first to do so this year.

"I had no idea but I guess they said it was the first one," Zoss said. "Sometimes it's good to not know too much about a bull because it can make you think about things too much. It was just nice to get out to a good start for the weekend."

Not to be outdone was Ft. Pierre's Taylor Cowan. Cowan did two better than Zoss as he turned an 8-second ride on the Mossbrucker bull Jokers Wild into a round-winning score of 88 points.

"If felt good," Cowan said of the ride. "I've been riding good and I got on a good bull."

Cowan will look to carry his momentum through the weekend and into next weekend's Heartland ProRodeo Championship finals in Waco, Texas.

"Hopefully we will have a good four days here and then go to Waco and have another good four days," he said. "It's been going good, so hopefully we keep winning and can take home some good money to make the national finals."

Cowan and Zoss weren't the only 80-plus rides of the night.

The highest opening round ride went to J.J. Elshere, who rode the Korkow Co. bucking horse Raylene for 88 points to win the first round of the Saddle Bronc. Money leader Cole Elshere had a decent start as he looks to capture the title. He finished sixth on the night with a score of 72 on a horse named Lights out. Buffalo, S.D. cowboy Rollie Wilson put up an 82 for a second place finish on the night.

Bareback rider Joe Gunderson, Agar, S.D., scored an 86 on Vera Sun to win the first round on the Sutton Co. bucking horse. In the same event, current money leader and defending Aggregate Champion Scott Montague got off to a healthy start. Montague scored an 81 on another Sutton horse Royal River to place him a tie for third with Travis Sharp in the average.

Former All-Around champion J.B. Lord turned in the quickest run of the timed events. Lord opened the weekend with a 3.7 second run to win the first round of Steer Wrestling. Clay Cowan followed closely behind with a 4.0, Clint Doll had a 4.1 and Jim Hansen was third with a 4.2.

Multi-time Badlands Circuit barrel racing champion Lisa Lockhart also got off to a quick start. Lockhart turned in the only run under 13 seconds (12.99) to take home some first place money. Britany Fleck (13.06) and Shari Amiotte (13.08) came in second and third on the night.

Tie-down roping money leader Justin Scofield of St. Lawrance, S.D., moved a step closer to capturing the circuit championship Thursday with a quick time of 9.0 seconds. The run was just 1/10 of a second faster than Josh Graff's 9.1.

Team ropers Drew Gartner, Killdeer, and Tim Franzen, Dickinson, won the opening night of their event with a time of 5.8 seconds. Parshall's Preston Billadeau and Upham's Jesse Fredrickson were close behind with a time of 6.0.

Action at the 55th Annual Y's Men's/Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo will continue tonight starting at 6:30 p.m.