NASHVILLE – He’s ba-a-a-a-a-ack!
If there was any doubt about reigning PBR world champion Justin McBride, and how strong he’d turn it on returning this late in the season, it was put to rest in Nashville Saturday night.
A shot at back to back world championships may be out of reach, as the Jack Daniels Invitational in Nashville this weekend is stop 28, but only McBride’s third Built Ford Tough Series event of the year. Making it more impressive is that he finished 7th in his first event back, in Dallas in June, then went on to win the Tulsa Oklahoma event in July.
So winning Nashville in August and one of only two riders to cover all three bulls shouldn’t be such a surprise.
Just imagine if McBride had been riding all season.
As it stands now, the Nashville win brings him less than $20,000 away from breaking the $5 million career mark. It also secures his spot in the 2008 World Finals in Las Vegas, starting on Halloween night.
Not bad for just three events.
McBride looked impressive all weekend, but the win didn’t come easy. Coming down to the last ride of the weekend on Saturday night, he had to fend off surprise young gun Ryan Dirteater, who wowed the crowd with an 89.75 pointer in the short-go on Grey Dog (D&H Cattle/Junk Bull Co). Dirteater, who is still new enough on the tour to have many in the crowd asking “who?” was the only other rider to cover all three bulls, and finished an impressive second.
But the weekend was definitely McBride’s. Although he didn’t win either of the first two rounds, his 88-pointer in Friday’s round one aboard Handsome Jack (Hebert Bucking Bulls) and then an 87.25 on Chance (Teague Bucking Bulls) in round two left McBride in the driver’s seat heading into the short go with the highest average, at 175.25. That meant he got first pick in the short-go bull draft, and he went for revenge against Billionaire (Bailey Rodeo Co), a bull that bucked him off in Dallas in June. Revenge was sweet, as McBride not only held his seat on Billionaire, but took to spurring, landing the event-high score of 93.0 on the bull.
High scoring rides and high flying buck-offs
McBride’s win came after a wild round of riding in the Sommet Center on Saturday night. The night appeared to be made up of two extremes – solid scoring wild rides and high flying buckoffs and landings that would have made the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team proud. There were few if any routine buck offs. If the rider lost his seat – and 35 of the 45 riders did in round two – it meant twists, turns and flips although thankfully everyone left the arena under their own power after landing, no matter how dramatic the takeoff.
Round two went to Louisiana rider Nick Landreneau, with a confetti-launching 91.75 pointer on Red Bull (Teague Bucking Bulls). He was followed by current points leader Guilherme Marchi, with a 90 on Blue Boy (C Berger/R Ward).
Also making their round two rides were Ryan Dirteater with 87.5 on Tar Baby (Bailey Rodeo Co); Sean Willingham with 86.75 on Fraggle Rock (Roy Carter); McKennon Wimberly with 85.5 on Handsome Jack (Hebert); Valdiron de Oliveira with 86.5 on Barbosa; Renato Nunes with 87.75 on Wrangler Big Rig (J Robinson/Broken N/Bar N); Kody Lostroh with 85.0 on Encore (Robinson/Anchor Bull Co); and Wiley Petersen, with an 82.75 on Fine Wine (Frontier), which also picked Petersen up a $5,000 bonus as the Enterprise Ride with the Best, having won Friday night’s round.
Making it into the championship round on one score were Reese Cates, Colby Yates, Kasey Hayes, McKennon Wimberly, Cody Byars, Bryan Richardson, Pistol Robinson, Landreneau and Marchi.
In the championship round bull draft, riders pick their bulls from a preselected list, based on their average after the first two rounds. The short go picks, and results, in order of selection were:
Justin McBride, 93.0 points on Billionaire
Sean Willingham bucked off Cat Man Do (#10 Bucking Bulls) in 4.7 seconds, finished 4th in the event
Renato Nunes bucked off Nervous Waters (Frontier/Teague/Ron White) in 6.7 seconds, finished 5th in the event
Valdiron de Oliveira bucked off What I Say (Hebert) in 7.6 seconds, finished 6th in the event
Wiley Petersen bucked off Chicken on a Chain (Robinson/Tedesco/Larry the Cable Guy) in 5.8 seconds, finished 7th
Ryan Dirteater rode Grey Dog for 89.75 points, finished 2nd in the event
Nick Landreneau bucked off El Presidente (Kenny Jack/Jerry Hargis) in 2.5 seconds, finished 8th
Guilherme Marchi rode Bad Blood (C Berger/C Struve) for 88.0 points, finished 3rd in the event
Pistol Robinson bucked off Gnash (Rafter 7R) in 4.8 seconds, finished 9th
Bryan Richardson bucked off Copperhead Slinger (C Berger/C Struve) in 3.0 seconds, finished 10th
Cody Byars bucked off Jacob’s Pet (D&H Cattle/Runyan) in 3.8 seconds, finished 11
McKennon Wimberly bucked off Bones (Teague) in 2.7 seconds, finished 12th
Kasey Hayes, in his first event back after a broken neck suffered in early May in Des Moines, Iowa, had a scary landing on his head when he bucked off I’m a Gangster (Teague) in 2.6 seconds, and finished the event in 13th place
Colby Yates bucked off Scene of the Crash (Frontier/Teague/Ron White) in 4.8 seconds and finished in 14th place
Reese Cates bucked off The Game (Brandon Gasper Bucking Bulls) in 7.3 seconds, then challenged the call and lost (actual time 7.41 seconds), finishing in 15th place
As the winner of the event Justin McBride got to challenge one of his fellow riders for the Zantrex 3 Grudge Match Challenge, which will take place in Grand Rapids, Mich., on the weekend of Sept. 12-13. When asked who he would be challenging, McBride told arena announcer Brendon Bates, “You know who I’m going to pick,” and then challenged Guilherme Marchi, the current points leader who finished #2 behind McBride in 2005 and 2007. The much anticipated match-up, which was supposed to take place in Edmonton in late July but injury knocked McBride out for two weeks, should prove a thriller for fans as the two riders go head to head for the $15,000 bounty.
Scott Schiffner, who was injured in Friday night’s round and left the arena on a backboard for what was later reported as a concussion, did not compete in Saturday night’s round. Matt Austin was listed to compete Saturday night, but did not ride.
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