Redding, Calif.-Defending WPRA World Champion Lindsay Sears had a heck of weekend. The Canadian cowgirl who spends her winters in Texas has been patiently following her game plan all winter. For Sears, entering is a science and she picks her venues very carefully.

Unlike many contestants who went to California for the lucrative spring run beginning with Red Bluff and stayed through the Redding Rodeo, Sears came out for Red Bluff, which she won, and went back home to Texas. About a month later she and super horse Martha were back in Northern California for the Redding Rodeo, a Silver Tier stop on the Wrangler ProRodeo Million Dollar Tour presented by Justin Boots.

Nobody knows Martha like Sears does. Once again the 2008 AQHA/WPRA Horse of the Year proved why she and Sears were the champions a year ago breaking every record along the way. The pair won the rodeo to move into the top 10 of the Tour standings to date and continue to inch up in the world standings as well. They are now third behind another pair of World Champions, 2006 WPRA World Champion Mary Burger and 2007 World Champion Brittany Pharr.

Redding has been a stop on the Tour in years past and has a long history within its community. The committee does everything from hosting a Tough Enough to Wear Pink night which has raised over $10K for the local Breast Cancer Society, to annually giving away 100 new and refurbished bicycles to needy kids. It was the fourth of 17 stops on the Tour this year.

Competition began with the first round in slack on Wednesday morning. The star of the first round was Californian Danyelle Campbell. Her 17.66 second run was worth $1,718. Like Sears, Campbell would also have a great weekend, taking victories later at Hayward and Las Vegas aboard her 6-year old star Repete Fame for nearly $5,000.

Sears drew a check on the first day with a solid 17.79, good enough for sixth. Competition was tight with just .18 seconds separated first from 10th in the round money.

It was in the second round that Martha would set them apart. Running in the first performance Thursday, Martha and Sears wowed the crowd. With a blazing fast 17.19 Sears took the lead in both the go and average.

Although she would eventually be surpassed in the go round by Kyna Schrader's 17.12 second run, which was the fastest time of the rodeo, the average championship would never be in doubt. She was the only contestant to finish under 35 seconds on two runs and collected $3,844.

Sears and Martha were not done winning money, however. The pair made the trek back across the northern border to the town of Surrey, British Columbia and the Cloverdale Rodeo. Cloverdale went to an invitational format last year and is no longer sanctioned by the primary rodeo Associations such as the PRCA and WPRA but still attracts some of the finest contestants due to the big payoffs.

Like they have done so many times in the past, Sears and Martha turned it up when the most money was on the line. With a 15.78 in the Finals on Monday, nearly four full tenths faster than the rest of the field, Sears and Martha also cashed a $20,000 check for the championship there. Although it doesn't count for championship points in the WPRA, the money certainly pays for a lot of fuel to get through the upcoming busy summer.