ST. LOUIS (February 27, 2010) - It was a whole other kind of Smokey.
Five weeks ago, in Anaheim, Calif., Kody Lostroh rode a bull named Smokey for 85.75 points en route to his first Built Ford Tough Series win of the season. But it wasn’t the bull he thought it was.
He thought he had chosen Larry Cable Guy’s Smokey. Instead, it was a bull tagged DG46, who is hauled by Diamond G Rodeos, and he wasn’t laughing about the mixup.
But he was all smiles in St. Louis, Mo., at the Scottrade Center Friday night, when he won the first round of the Enterprise Rent-a-Car Invitational on the bull he’d wanted all along.
“I definitely got the trip I was looking for,” said Lostroh, who notched an 88.5-point score. “The other day in California I picked a (bull named) Smokey and I thought it was the Smokey I had tonight, but it was a different one, so it was good to get on the Smokey I wanted to.”
Lostroh, who is competing for just the second time since missing two events due to a second fracture in his left elbow, was one of only 14 qualified rides in the round, and will have the first pick in Saturday morning’s Round 2 bull draft.
A week after being eliminated by Travis Briscoe in the second round of the Iron Cowboy Invitational, Lostroh said his riding elbow felt fine a week ago, and it still feels fine now.
“There (are) fractures in there that are (giving me) a hard time,” he explained, “So I just hope that those fractures heal and, you know, it’ll all work out.
“There’s one I did a long time ago – I did it a couple years ago – and it never healed, and this new one is actually acting like a wedge and going down in that old fracture and kind of splitting it like wood, essentially.”
The last fracture occurred after getting strung out on his rope at Touring Pro event in San Antonio the night before a BFTS event in Tampa, Fla.
Just one week after reasserting himself as contender for the 2010 world title, the reigning World Champion had no strength even to lift on his bull rope. “There’s nothing there,” he said at the time.
Disappointed and dejected, he was 0-for-2 in Tampa and could only sit back and watch for the next three weeks as he took time off to let the arm rest before trying it out last week.
“I just sat and watched it [on television], and you just get to craving it and really wanting to go,” said Lostroh. “That’s how it always is when you have to sit out.
“I think most of all it’s just getting it back into perspective that all the hype and everything doesn’t mean anything. Being the World Champion doesn’t mean anything unless I can go out there and make a difference and do something with it.
“So I need to keep doing my job,” he continued, “and keep trying to do my best and not worry about what a World Champion looks like.”
The champ looked good in earning his eighth qualified ride in 16 outs this season.
Lostroh was part of a group of nine riders bunched up in the first 14 outs of the night who all made the whistle – a streak that was fittingly capped off by Missouri native Luke Snyder, who brought the crowd to its feet with an 85.75. Only four of the final 26 added their names to the leader board.
Finishing second was the newly married Aaron Roy, who rode The Juice for 87.75 points. Third-place finisher Jody Newberry was one point behind Roy on Hypnotized, and last week’s Iron Cowboy winner Valdiron de Oliveira finished fourth in the round with 86.5 points on Chin Music. L.J. Jenkins and Snyder are only three points off Lostroh’s lead after splitting the fifth and sixth spots with 85.75 points.
“It would mean a lot,” said Lostroh, when asked about potentially winning the event named for his largest sponsor. “I think this is the last year we’ll get to be part of the team, and I think winning here would be a great end to a great partnership with Enterprise.”
Round 2 of this three-day event is tonight and can be seen live on Versus beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
NEWS and NOTES
The leader of the pack: All five of the captains for this year’s World Cup event will be officially announced tonight during the Versus broadcast. While there aren’t expected to be any surprises for Brazil, Canada, Australia and the United States, it unclear who will helm Team Mexico. Rocky McDonald has confirmed that he’s not the captain of this year’s team.
Chest pains: J.B. Mauney, the current leader atop the world standings, won’t be thumping his torso in celebration anytime soon. Last week in Arlington, after bucking off Chicken on a Chain, he was left with a horn print in the center of his chest.
Last night in St. Louis, he got hung up, and after the bullfighters freed his hand, Smooth Criminal kicked him square in the chest with his back right leg. Afterward, Mauney, who needed a moment to catch his breath in the arena, was in the Sports Medicine Room, but said “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
Bad for good: Guilherme Marchi finally met with Dr. Tandy Freeman on Monday and had an X-ray taken of his right wrist. “The results were very good,” Marchi said. “Negative. It’s not broke.” The 2008 World Champion is still contending with soreness and some swelling in his wrist and hand, which were twisted out of shape during a chute mishap back in Anaheim.
“If it feels good I’ll come back next week (in Kansas City),” Marchi explained. “Maybe not feel as good, then I’ll wait for three weeks. I really want to keep going.”
All or nothing: “When you put your hand in a rope, it’s like jumping out of an airplane,” said Wiley Petersen, who is competing with a torn ACL. “You don’t halfway jump out of an airplane. When you go to ride a bull it’s all the way, so when they bust that gate open, if there’s any weakness in you whatsoever, you’re bucked off.”
Petersen admits that when he returned last week in Arlington – for a chance to win $260,000 – he was “a little apprehensive.” He knew his knee, which he injured in Winston-Salem, N.C., was strong, but he wasn’t sure how it would feel after getting on a bull.
“It was a little sore,” said Petersen, who to that point had only worked out in a gym and ridden a practice barrel. He taped up his injured left knee and wore a brace on Friday night. However, the Idaho native bucked off his bull Flip Side in just 1.8 seconds to start the fifth flight of the night, which will give him the 40th and final spot in the bull draft.
“I want to get through this season, I guess,” said Petersen, who added that the sport of bull riding is about rising to the challenge, “and it would be nice to get through the rest of my career, you know, being almost 31 now—just finish out my career without having to get the surgery and layoff for four months.
“We’ll see. I’m just going to go one at a time.”
Do or die: Until Thursday night when he arrived in St. Louis, Cody Ford thought the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Invitational was a two-day event. When he found out otherwise, he thought “it just [took] a little bit of pressure off” of having to make up nearly 700 points in an effort to keep from being cut from the BFTS.
“I thought it was a two-day event,” he said, “so I was figuring I had to win the average and win the deal.”
After bucking off Hank, who had been ridden twice in two outs for 86 points, he’s left with the second-to-last pick in the bull draft. He’s back to having two days as opposed to three, with a lot of ground to make up.
“My mindset hasn’t changed,” said Ford, who won two events in 2009 and hasn’t had a Top 10 finish since winning in Nashville. “I came to win every weekend, like I did before, and now it’s do or die.
“If I don’t perform this weekend, you guys won’t be seeing me.”
Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in St. Louis 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.
