LAS VEGAS (October 21, 2010) - Kody Lostroh has been here before, so he had a few simple words of advice for Austin Meier.
“I told him to keep doing what he’s been doing all year,” the reigning champ said, “and not let any of the distractions get to him. And don’t ever look behind you.”
Meier came to Las Vegas with a 241.25-point lead over J.B. Mauney. After the first round of the 2010 PBR World Finals, he extended that lead to 326.75 points. Renato Nunes, who is third in the standings, placed second in the first round, and is now within 947.25 points of Meier.
“In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter, because you still have to do your job,” Lostroh said, “and you can’t worry about what that guy does.”
Last year, Lostroh came to Vegas with Guilherme Marchi and Mauney right behind him.
The three riders were separated by less than 800 points, and although Mauney won the average – he was the first man to ride all eight bulls at the Finals – Lostroh still found a way to win his first world title by a margin of 594 points.
“The PBR does a great job of making a lot of hype for this event, to get fans here,” Lostroh explained, “but at the same time, as bull riders, we have to put that hype behind us, and treat this like any other event we’ve been to all year. It’s not any different. It’s still bull riding.”
As for all the distractions of Vegas, including family and friends, media responsibilities and whatever else presents itself over the course of the week, he admitted, “It’s pretty tough, mentally, to get past all that.”
While Lostroh had the experience of contending for a title before last year’s run – he’s twice finished in the Top 5 – he noted that it’s a whole new experience for Meier.
Last year was the only season in which Meier finished in the Top 10, and even then he came into the Finals in 12th place. His 5-for-8 performance was enough to move him up to sixth in the final standings.
Lostroh said that because of his own past experience, he “kind of had a gist of how that pressure feels, and how to get that out of my mind and not deal with it.”
“J.B. Mauney, on the other hand, is going to be the most experienced at this point in the season,” he said. “Austin is dealing with a lot of new stuff, but he’s a tough guy mentally and physically, so it shouldn’t be any problem.”
Aside from the pressures of competing in the most important bull riding event of the year and being this close to a $1 million bonus, Lostroh said that it’s an adjustment to ride as the leader and not the pursuer.
“For me, I have to act like I’m still striving for success, still striving to catch someone,” he said. “For me, that’s how I dealt with that position. For everybody it’s different.”
Of course, Lostroh has his own bulls to ride this week.
On Wednesday night he nearly became the first to end Mad Max’s unbeaten streak.
Lostroh’s trip aboard Tino Martinez’ ABBI Classic bull ended at 7.91 seconds. The arena clock read 8.0, but the official judge’s stopwatch had him less than 1/10 of a second away from paydirt. In the process, Mad Max’s record at all levels of PBR competition moved to 16-0 in 2010 and 23-0 all time.
“That bull’s kinda tricky, he’s kinda tough to get by,” Lostroh said. “He’s got some awkward jumps to him. I felt like I was riding him where I needed to be until right there at the end, and then, you know, rules are rules. I didn’t ride 8 seconds so I didn’t get a score – unfortunately.”
Despite missing so much time this season recovering from surgery, the 2005 PBR Rookie of the Year qualified for his sixth straight World Finals. A nearly $35,000 victory in the fifth event (Anaheim, Calif.) boosted his cause. Despite the stakes being different from what he encountered a year ago, Lostroh’s mindset at the 17th Las Vegas showcase is the same.
“I approach every bull riding the same,” he said. “It’s always to do the very best I can on every bull I get on. Sometimes it really works out well and other times it doesn’t. That’s the approach I use and that’s what works for me.”
Lostroh said his riding arm is feeling “awesome” and his left elbow hasn’t felt this “good in years. To have it not hurt any more is almost unreal.”
Like every rider with zero chance of making room on his belt for the 2010 World Champion’s gold buckle, Lostroh has the Finals event crown in sight. He placed second in the event last year and in 2006.
“The event title is what I have in front of me, and I’m really not worried about that,” said Lostroh, who made $1,628,442 in 2009. “Like I talked earlier about riding each bull the best I can individually, if I do the very best I can on every bull, it doesn’t matter about [the end result,] that stuff takes care of itself.
“That’s the way I approached all last year and won a world title doing it, so I’m not changing a thing.”
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