FRESNO, Calif. (March 20, 2010) - A bizarre day came to a fitting close for Renato Nunes.
The 28-year-old from Brazil has been in the news all week after being left off the World Cup roster. Friday night he made headlines of his own by winning the opening round of the Table Mountain Casino Invitational in Fresno, Calif.
Nunes brought the Save Mart Center crowd to its feet with a 91-point effort on The Juice.
“Before I got on him, one guy came to me and said, ‘He is not very easy. He bucks,’” Nunes recalled. “I got a little scared, but I (did) it.”
Earlier in the day, Brazilian team captain Adriano Moraes talked for 21 minutes in an interview posted on www.pbr.com about reversing course and officially adding Nunes to the Cup roster.
However, PBR officials had yet to hear from the fourth-year captain, and when they contacted him, Moraes told them to leave his team roster “as it is.”
“I am very surprised,” Nunes said. “I don’t know what happened.
“I want to thank very much the PBR and the fans (who) want me. … The American people are supposed to not want me there because I want to ride all my bulls I get on, and they don’t care. … I am very happy about that.”
Whether or not he’s on the team, Nunes continues to make a run at his first world title.
The sixth-year veteran has now competed in all 13 Built Ford Tough Series events in 2010, and has yet to go two consecutive events without qualifying for the short round. He has five Top 10 finishes, three of which are Top 5, including last week’s fifth-place finish in Glendale, Ariz.
He came into this weekend’s two-day event as the fifth-ranked rider in the world, trailing J.B. Mauney in the top spot by only 874 points. After Friday’s win, Nunes made up 191 of those points to cut Mauney’s lead down to 683.
“I’m focused on the world title,” said Nunes. “I hope to (have) the top finish.”
He later added, “Now I want to ride all the bulls I get on regardless of which way they go.”
In all, there were 16 qualified rides Friday night.
Rounding out the Top 5 for the first round were Mike Lee (88.75), Shane Proctor (88.25), Pistol Robinson (87.75) and Aaron Roy (87.5). All three active riders ranked higher than Nunes – Mauney, Austin Meier and Travis Briscoe – bucked off their bulls.
Round 2, which can be seen live on Versus, will feature a rare bull draft for a two-day event.
Saturday’s broadcast will be preceded by a live 30-minute World Cup preview featuring Craig Hummer, Justin McBride and Justin McKee, along with special correspondent Rocket Ismail. Cody Snyder, captain for Team Canada, will be a special guest along with some participating riders.
NEWS and NOTES
See the World: Tickets for the 2010 World Cup may be purchased by calling 1-866-PBRSHOW, or visiting www.unlvtickets.com. Hotel rooms and packages can be reserved at Treasure Island, the official host hotel of the World Cup. Not only will Treasure Island be home to the riders during the World Cup, but the hotel and casino will also play host to various World Cup after parties, and be “home base” for all PBR activity during the World Cup. For more information about prices and to reserve a room now, go to www.treasureisland.com or call (800) 288-7206.
Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Fresno, Calif., 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 and interviews.
From one friend to another: For the latest news and updates, become friends with the PBR at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR.
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