OKLAHOMA CITY (February 14, 2010) - After claiming a share of the top score in the opening round of the Express Classic, J.B. Mauney won Round 2 in Oklahoma City with a 91-point ride on Top Notch.
It may have looked like the best ride of the night, but Mauney said it felt a lot different than it looked.
“He was a lot harder than I thought he was going to be to ride,” said the 23-year-old from North Carolina. “I just luckily held onto him. He was snatching on me pretty good. I knew just keep my hand shut and keep going at him and don’t quit.”
Although Mauney had never had the opportunity to ride Top Notch before last night, he was familiar with the North Carolina bull. He said he liked the fact that he not only bucks every time out, but that he has “a lot of whip to him.”
Top Notch had been ridden in four of his 11 previous outs on the Built Ford Tough Series. Aaron Roy covered him 91.75 points last year, and Guilherme Marchi was 90.75 points on him.
In nine outs last year Top Notch was never scored less than 44.25 points, with his best trip coming in Round 3 of the PBR World Finals when he bucked off Pete Farley and earned 45.25 points.
“I figured the position I was in and as good as he is, I might as well take him and try to win another round,” said Mauney.
Mauney is riding with an injured knee, but said it felt as good as could be expected Saturday night. His mentor and family friend Mike Laws provided him with a home remedy that helped bring the swelling down. “It took the pressure off of it and made it feel better,” Mauney said.
Aside from winning the round outright, Mauney has a commanding lead in the average with 180.25 points, compared to 175.5 for Josh Koschel. Oklahoma cowboy Austin Meier finished the round in second with 89.25 points on Gringo Honeymoon, and is third in the average with 173.5 points.
Last year’s winner Ednei Caminhas finished fifth in the round behind Mauney, Meier, Cody Campbell and Koschel. He’s fourth in the average.
Travis Briscoe came into the event atop the PBR world standings, but has gone 0-for-2, allowing the Top 3 men in the average to make substantial gains on him.
Mauney, who trailed Briscoe by 211.25 points, looks have the new lead by 154 points. Meier has cut his deficit in half, as has Koschel.
“I’m just trying to do my best every bull I get on,” said Koschel, who fixed a couple issues since last season and has been working out during the week in the gym along with riding barrels. “I’ve been drawing good and picking good and just trying to make it count.”
As for any lead changes in the standings, Mauney added, “All I can do is my part, and that’s ride my bulls, and the rest will take care of itself.”
The final two rounds are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. CT and the conclusion of the Express Classic can be seen on Versus beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
NEWS and NOTES
Canter trades hat for helmet: A couple weeks ago Brian Canter borrowed Brendon Clark’s helmet for one round in Tampa, Fla., and said, “I didn’t even know it was there.” Clark was cut from the BFTS and the helmet Canter ordered didn’t arrive on time for last week’s event in Winston-Salem, N.C. so he was wearing his traditional hat.
This week, he’s donned a helmet, and said, “I’m going to keep wearing it, and I think it’s going to help me out in the long run.”
The Tiny Tar Heel said he never thought he’d wear a helmet, but realizes that after taking a number of blows to the head in recent weeks “you can only stand so much.” Canter, who said he hasn’t felt good in the last two weeks, added, “I’m a new fan of the helmet.”
Dirteater remains patient: With a little more than four months of rehab ahead of him, Ryan Dirteater is just trying to stay patient and not rush the process. The Oklahoma cowboy stopped by the Ford Center on Saturday evening to be examined by Dr. Tandy Freeman.
“He said everything looks good,” said Dirteater, who’s had two surgeries since dislocating his knee. He had the ACL and MCL repaired two weeks after the wreck, and recently had the PCL repaired. “He messed around with it and he’s still saying around July, so that’s the good news about it.”
In the meantime, he’s trying to use his time wisely by staying in shape and mentally keeping himself focused on bull riding by watching tapes of his old rides. He’s also studying all the new bulls being used at the BFTS events.
“Time will tell,” said Dirteater, who might compete at some Touring Pro events and open bull ridings to test the strength and durability of his reconstructed knee before returning to the BFTS. “I just need to get my confidence back.”
Off to the races: In the last interview he’s allowed to do before being embargoed from making any public comments, Cord McCoy talked one last time about his experience on The Amazing Race. The hit CBS series premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” said McCoy of all the attention. “It’s pretty new for me, because the last 10 years of my life I’ve done lots of interviews and stuff on TV and radio, but they were usually bull riding questions.
“It’s changed a little bit the last couple weeks. Most of the questions I’ve had were amazing questions,” he joked. “Usually before I was explaining my sport…now it’s a different type of entertainment.”
McCoy, who has not seen the edited episodes of the show, said he’s as excited as the fans to watch tonight’s premiere. McCoy and his older brother Jet McCoy are one of 11 teams competing in a 40,000-mile race around the world, with the winning team claiming a $1 million prize.
Event Center: Follow all the action from Oklahoma City, by logging on to www.pbr.com and entering the “Event Center,” which is accessible from the tab located at the top of the main Web page. The Event Center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related Podcasts, where this weekend you can find complete interviews with Canter, Dirteater, McCoy and others.
