LAS VEGAS — Coming into the National Finals Rodeo, the chances of Culver cowboy Bobby Mote winning a third world title in bareback riding seemed remote.

Mote was $63,000 behind the leader in the world standings, who hadn’t been bucked off a horse all season.

But after an amazing 10 days in which he made up the gap with a series of brilliant performances, Mote is again the world bareback champion.

Mote needed only to stay on his ride for eight seconds to clinch his third world title, but he did much more than that in the 10th and final round. Mote rode Wonderland for 88.5 points to win the round, secure his first NFR average crown and take home the gold buckle. Mote finished $50,846 ahead of Clint Cannon after earning $139,880 in Las Vegas to Cannon’s $33,081. Before the NFR, Cannon set a regular-season earnings record for all Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events.

Mote tried his best not to think about what he needed to do in Round 10 heading into the final day, but it wasn’t easy.

“I’ve honestly tried since last night to not think about today too much, because you can build up quite a bit of anxiety,” said Mote, who set a bareback riding single-season earnings record with $310,219. “Last night, we got finished with the buckle ceremony and Charlie, my boy, came up to me and said, ‘Dad, mom told me not to tell you, but you’re winning the average by 15 points, and all you’ve got to do is stay on tomorrow.’ I said, ‘Charlie, that’s the last thing I need to hear.’ ”

Mote was thrilled to be able to overtake Cannon’s substantial lead thanks to a red-hot NFR.

“The last (world title) I won (in 2007), I had such a lead and had just an OK finals, and if it hadn’t been for Houston, I wouldn’t have won it,” Mote said. “This year, I was chasing Clint (Cannon). Clint won Houston and everything else all year long, went to 100 rodeos and out-rode and out-rodeoed everybody. I had the best chance coming in here to catch him, but it was a tall order. He had some stuff kind of hold him back this week, but he’ll be back. I just praise God that I’m here and that it ended up like it did.”

Mote won the NFR average with 847 points on 10 rides en route to the world title, and the first average crown of his career. He won or tied for the win in five of the final six go-rounds at the NFR.

It was a tremendous NFR for two other Central Oregon bareback riders, as well. Prineville’s Jason Havens finished second in the average behind Mote, with 830 points on 10 rides, giving him a payday of $35,661. He took second in the final go-round with a score of 87 points, good for $13,545. Havens finished seventh in the world standings with $155,722.

Redmond’s Steven Peebles also earned two checks on Saturday night. He was fifth in the go-round with a score of 85.5, earning him $4,423. And he finished sixth in the average with 804 points, for a check of $10,781.

Redmond’s Casey McMillen finished the steer wrestling competition with a flourish, taking fourth in the go-round with a time of 3.7 seconds, earning a check of $7,188. Jake Rinehart, of Highmore, S.D., and Dean Gorsuch, of Gering, Neb., tied for first with times of 3.4 seconds. The final night bumped McMillen up to fourth in the average with 51.8 seconds on 10 head, good for a check worth $20,733. Lee Graves won the average at 45.1 seconds. McMillen finished fifth in the world standings.

Charly Crawford, of Prineville, and Russell Cardoza were sixth in the final round of team roping with a time of 7.1 seconds, collecting checks of $2,764. They were third in the average (60.7 seconds on 10, worth $28,197), and Crawford finished seventh in the world standings for headers. Kelsey Parchman, of Cumberland City, Tenn. and Richard Durham, of Morgan Mill, Texas, won the go-round in 3.7 seconds.

Terrebonne’s Brenda Mays was 12th in the final round of barrel racing with a time of 14.30 seconds. Mays finished eighth in the average, earning $4,147. She was 12th in the final world standings.

Trevor Brazile secured his seventh PRCA all-around world championship, tying Ty Murray’s PRCA record for most all-around gold buckles. He won the tie-down roping world title and finished 14th in the team roping heading standings to finish the season with $346,779.

Josh Peek won the NFR’s all-around title after earning $113,802 in Las Vegas, while Brazile was second with $84,701.