2009, by the numbers

By Keith Ryan Cartwright
Posted Sunday, October 25, 2009

LAS VEGAS (October 24, 2009) - When it comes to the PBR, it’s all about winning.

There have been 31 Built Ford Tough Series events over the past 10 months, and still there is no clear-cut favorite to win this year’s World Championship, much less the fast-approaching 2009 PBR World Finals.

In less than a week’s time, the Top 40 professional bull riders in the world will descend upon Las Vegas to compete in eight rounds over 10 days.

While much can change between now and Sunday, Nov. 8, here’s a look some of the interesting statistics from the regular-season events.

The Top 3 riders in the world standings – Kody Lostroh, Guilherme Marchi and J.B. Mauney – account for 11 of the 31 event wins. Add Zack Brown to the equation and the Top 4 riders account for 15 of the 31 wins.

There are six riders – Ryan Dirteater, Cody Ford, Ryan McConnel, Michael Manes, Cody Nance and Shane Proctor – who won their first-ever BFTS event in 2009. Ford and Nance won twice.

With the Top 4 having won 15 events, and the first-timers accounting for 8, that leaves only six other riders – Kasey Hayes, Brian Canter, Ednei Caminhas, Wiley Petersen, Chris Shivers and Travis Briscoe – who account for the remaining 8 wins. Canter, who has been nagged by injuries, still managed to win three events.

Each of the three former World Champions still competing on the BFTS – Caminhas, Marchi and Shivers – won an event in 2009. Marchi won two event titles.

Only seven times this season has the winner of Round 1 gone on to win the event. Lostroh and Ford did it twice. Lostroh did it in Fresno and again Tulsa, while Ford managed the feat in Glendale and Nashville. Dirteater (Dallas), Canter (Omaha) and Mauney (Reno) also went on to win an event after claiming the top score of the opening round.

In 17 of the 31 events, 11 different riders used the high-marked ride of the short go to win the event. The Top 4 riders in the world – Lostroh, Marchi, Mauney and Brown – all did so twice, while Canter did so all three times he won a BFTS event in 2009. The other six are Hayes, Ford, McConnel, Manes, Shivers and Nance.

There are 34 riders who either outright won or tied for the high-marked ride in a total of 69 long rounds. Half of those riders did so more than once. Lostroh won or tied for the most round wins with nine. Dirteater did it six times, followed by Mauney and Briscoe with five round wins apiece. Marchi and Renato Nunes managed to win or tie four times, while seven riders did so three times and four others twice each.

Petersen and Cord McCoy are the only two riders to have won a short go and not win or tie in a long round all season.

Mauney won or tied for the high-marked ride four times in the short go this season, while five other riders – Lostroh, Marchi, Brown, Robson Palermo and Canter – did it three times. Shivers, Hayes, Ford and McConnel all do so twice and seven others did it once.

A trio of riders – Hayes, Brown and Palermo – won or tied for more high-marked rides in the short go than they did in all 69 long rounds. Brown and Palermo each had a ratio of 3 to 1, while Hayes had a ratio of 2 to 1.

There are eight riders – Brown, Caminhas, Lostroh, Petersen, Briscoe, Mauney, Proctor, and Nance – who won an event without winning or tying for the high-marked ride of any round in that particular event. It happened to Brown twice (Tampa, Uncasville).

NEWS and NOTES

CBS Sunday: Be sure to catch the Built Ford Tough Race to Vegas this Sunday on CBS. You'll be treated to the best rides, the worst wrecks, and a buck-by-buck review of the closest season in PBR history. Check local listings.

Road to Vegas: All roads are leading to Las Vegas! At this time of the season, the PBR is all about the World Finals, which is Oct. 30 through Nov. 8. Call 866-PBR-SHOW for ticket information or log onto www.unlvtickets.com to order your tickets for what will be one of the tightest finishes for the world title.

Winter reading program: The PBR has released a new 176-page hardcover coffee table book, “The Official Guide to the Toughest Sport on Earth,” this month through Triumph Books.

The book is available wherever books are sold. It retails for $29.95, and will available at all PBR merchandise stands throughout the upcoming World Finals.

In fact, plans are in place for an official book launch signing featuring Flint Rasmussen. Other signings are also in the works with various bull riders competing at this year’s Finals. The book, which is illustrated with 211 full-color photos, was authored by Jeff Johnstone and Keith Ryan Cartwright. Ty Murray wrote the forward.