ARLINGTON, Texas (February 21, 2010) - Known for drama in the arena, Valdiron de Oliveira was even more emotional outside of it.
Carried off on the shoulders of his fellow Brazilians as the crowd of 46,321 cheered, the 30-year-old won the Iron Cowboy Invitational Saturday night in Arlington, Texas. He was all smiles as the PBR presented him with a check for $260,000—a PBR record for a single-day payout, and the richest paycheck of his career. The money comes just three days shy of the closing date for his new ranch – a ranch he’ll now have the luxury of paying off in full.
But when all the interviews were done and the cameras were turned off, Oliveira could no longer fight back the tears of joy.
In a room underneath the stadium, he laid his face in the shoulder of Paulo Crimber, and for the next few minutes broke down.
“He was thinking about where he had come from,” said Crimber afterward, “when his family was poor and starving because they didn’t have any money.”
Oliveira is within $80,000 of surpassing $1 million in career earnings. But for a few moments he wasn’t the tough bull rider who had just faced four of the rankest bulls in the world. Instead, he was humbled at the thought of the new life – both personally and professionally – that lay ahead.
To win his second Built Ford Tough Series event of the 2010 season, Oliveira rode Little Mr. T (88.25) and 2008 World Champion Bull Bones (89.5) in Rounds 2 and 3 before besting his head-to-head competition on both Big Tex and Code Blue.
Oliveira was less than a half-second better than McKennon Wimberly on Big Tex – 6.9 seconds compared to 6.5 – and nearly a full second better on Code Blue (4.5 seconds) than Travis Briscoe.
“He said it was really hard,” Crimber translated, “especially those caliber of bulls, but he said he did his best to try and get it done. He said he wished he could have rode and covered 8 seconds on all of them, but he got a few and it worked out.”
Bothered in recent weeks by a bruised shoulder, Oliveira has remained one of the most consistent riders on the BFTS.
After nine events, he is covering 66.7 percent of his bulls, compared to a career average of 61.5 percent, and has now won four events in his career since coming to the United States. His win comes a week after finishing fifth in Oklahoma City, and he’s effectively earned seven short-round appearances in nine events.
“He said he’s just worried now about how he’s going to manage all this kind of money, and I told him we’ll help him out,” said Crimber. “He said he’s very confident this year, riding great and really focused, and he said he’s pretty sure he’s going to be crowned the World Champion.”
NEWS and NOTES
Surprises and disappointments: Anything can happen in a tournament, and Saturday night, pretty much everything did. Dustin Elliott was the first rider to turn in a disappointing 3.7 buckoff time, only to advance to the second round when Skeeter Kingsolver came down in just 3.2 seconds.
Elliott’s travel partner and reigning World Champion Kody Lostroh was 88 points on Ground Zero, only to be knocked out of the tournament by Travis Briscoe’s 89-point effort on Smack Down. Josh Koschel fell out in the opening round, but more surprising was how easily Elliot Jacoby eliminated him.
Ross Coleman, Randy Bernard’s pick to win the Iron Cowboy, was impressive in his first two rounds, despite an issue with his riding hand. Coleman said beforehand he was “ready to take care of business,” and that’s what he did, until Guilherme Marchi got past him in Round 3. Afterward, a stunned Coleman asked, “What’s up with Uncle Buck tonight? He usually goes around the other way.”
A big story of the night was McKennon Wimberly advancing all the way to semifinals before giving way to eventual event winner Valdiron de Oliveira. Wimberly, who carried a Texas state flag with him into the arena during introductions, was behind the chutes helping Oliveira pull his rope, even after coming down in 6.5 seconds. The Cool, Texas, native had knocked the heavily favored J.B. Mauney from the bracket one round earlier, but Oliveira was less than a half-second better.
In spite of an event-winning ride on Lone Star just a couple weeks ago, Austin Meier’s quest to be the Iron Cowboy ended in just 4.9 seconds on the same bull.
Georgia cowboy Sean Willingham said the crowd was enough to motivate him, and he eliminated Renato Nunes and Robson Palermo before being knocked out by Oliveira. Willingham came down off Major Payne in a mere 1.3 seconds – the fastest buckoff of the night – and Oliveira tamed Bones for 89.5 points.
Twice the nastiness: Big Tex, Voodoo Child and Code Blue each bucked twice on Saturday night. The bull scores for Big Tex and Voodoo were within one point of each other. However, in spite of Rick Wagoner’s confidence that Code Blue would be ranker the second time, the two outs were remarkably different.
Code Blue earned a bull score of 46.75 points in his first out with Briscoe, compared to 40.5 points with Oliveira. The weaker out may have given Oliveira the opportunity to outlast Briscoe 4.5 seconds to 3.6 seconds.
Before the event, Wagoner told a story of a time Code Blue bucked twice in one night, “The second time, Lord have mercy, he was mad. He about wanted to kill that boy, he slammed him so hard. Long story short, whoever gets on him the second time, I wouldn’t want to be him.”
Giving thanks: In the days leading up to the Iron Cowboy Invitational, Wiley Petersen was thankful to be a part of the historic event at Cowboys Stadium. Saturday night, he was honored when Bernard asked if he would give the invocation during the opening ceremonies.
Cowboy songs: After his performance during the intermission, Justin McBride embraced Bernard and thanked him not only for the opportunity to play a few songs at Cowboys Stadium, but also for all he’s done as CEO of the PBR.
The Iron Cowboy Invitational was Bernard’s last major event before leaving for the IRL, and was one of the reasons Michael Gaffney was on hand. “I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
Click, click, boom: According to production guru Clayton Cullen, the opening for a typical BFTS event features $3,500 worth pyrotechnics. The Iron Cowboy featured $11,000 worth of pyro, $8,500 for one particular flame effect and another $8,500 for a second flame effect and lasers.
Memories of the Fan Zone: Kody Lostroh, Brian Canter and Flint Rasmussen signed autographs in the Enterprise tent earlier in the day, but Lostroh had to be pulled away at 3 p.m. to take part in a Celebrity Cowboy Cook-off with J.B. Mauney and Gaffney.
With the help of some local celebrity chefs, the cowboys faced off in an hour-long barbeque challenge. Their food was judged by Ty Murray, Shorty Gorham, Raghib “Rocket” Ismail and country singer Randy Houser, who enjoyed the food so much he inquired about taking a to-go box with him.
“I have a whole band to feed,” said Houser, who was willing to buy Murray’s second plate from him for $10. That particular plate was prepared by Gaffney, who won a Big Green Egg smoker and grill valued at over $1,000.
During various interviews throughout the grilling, Lostroh said his specialty was grilling steak, but as for everything else, “I got married for that.” Mauney, a bachelor, said his cooking experience starts with cereal and ends with hot pockets.
Just passing by: Friday morning, Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda was coincidentally on an American Airlines flight from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Dallas, Texas. He and Tom Teague co-own Deja Bleu, who bucked off Mike Lee in 3.1 seconds in the opening round of the Iron Cowboy.
