It was a Sunday to remember if you were in attendance at the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals presented by Wrangler. Sunday afternoon in Vegas came early for some but the boys were ready to deliver something special to the sold out crowd of 18,200.
The fans were primed and the bulls were loaded for a Sunday showdown for the toughest sport on dirt. We weren't ready for the careers of Justin and Adriano to end this afternoon but that was not going to change. The race for the world championship was decided on Saturday night so what was left to decide was the world finals champion, daisy rookie of the year and the bucking bull of the year. Wow, all that in a 3 hour window on NBC was sure to be something to watch unfold.
Clayton Williams didn't waste any time getting us revved up as the second bullrider out put up an 86 on Roy Carters Eddie Munster. Loveland Colorado's Josh Koschel was right there at the gate for eight and he put up 88.75 aboard Red Onion. However, the Cowtown cowboy of Fort Worth Texas Colby Yates was the first to send the confetti flying. 90.50 aboard San Dimas would send him to the lead but it was early, matter of fact it was almost still morning in Las Vegas. As the clock struck noon, Brian Canter of Randleman North Carolina was going to get his share of the prize money for this afternoon for his 91.50 on Chester of Mendell/ Jaeger. 90.50 by Pistol Robinson at the time looked like it was going to share some dough but would end up out of the money. Vince Northrup would ride for 82.50 and after seeing a few 90's, the crowd at the Thomas and Mack wanted a reride option. It was not awarded and he would finish last. Wiley Peterson wasn't about to hang up his rope for the weekend just yet and his 91.75 on Red Bull (Teague) would jet to the top of the Copenhagen scoreboard halfway through. Cody Ford was inserted into today’s round by L.J. Jenkins virtue of opting out of the go round this afternoon. This was a game time decision and Cody would do his part by putting up 89.50 on Bad Moon for his only appearance at the world finals. It came on a Sunday afternoon but look for this youngster in 2009 on the Built Ford Tough Series.
Dustin Elliott would finish his weekend in Las Vegas with a ride on Rowdy Houdlum for 89.50. Dustin has been in the bright lights before and left Las Vegas as a World Champion in the PRCA. But, this isn't a rodeo, this is the PBR and you have got 44 other guys that can take your bull rope and ride anything you run underneath them. Matt Bohon would make 2 trips on the Iceman for his 89.25 due to the bull not giving Matt an opportunity to ride the bull. The Iceman stumbled and hit the Preifert bucking chutes and the officials felt obligated to award the reride. Kasey Hayes of Kansas wasn't done yet either and his 91 on Bad Action of Berger/Strueve would split the 6th and 7th position and be a half point from getting the share of the final prize money for the go round. Shiver's me timber would ride to the tune of 91.50 and secure a berth into the short round and shoot him to the top of the average, I reported last night that Chris was finally looking like the old days. Zack Brown of Santa Fe Texas would ride Carillo Cartel for 89.5 and Reese Cates would put 89.5 on the leaderboard too. Reese's cup runneth over this weekend as he would try end the race on the Daisy Rookie of the Year. He and Maverick would chime in at 89.5 and would finalize any doubt who the Rookie of the Year was in 2008. Billy Robinson and Valdiron de Oliviera would also see the confetti fly on their rides as they tallied 90 and 91 respectively. However, that wasn't enough points this afternoon to get in the go round money column and Guilherme Marchi was ready to cast his spell on the doubters. His 86.25 would put him 16th out of 18 bullriders but this trip would send him to the top of the average race. Also, this would give him the chance to leave sin city with both world finals buckle and world champion. The finals would net him 250,000 and the championship would see the million dollar bonus. He didn't have to ride today for the million as that was sewn up last night but the Brazilian's are here to spur our economy.
It was time to send one third of our world championships to the ranch and retire them on their final afternoon. Many cannot comprehend that we will never see McBride or Moraes on a daysheet but this was it. Adriano was first and the 5.3 seconds that he lasted seem to take forever. The last bull that he ever will get on was Grey Dog of D & H Cattle and this bull may end up on a trivia question someday so that trip alone may send him into his own foray. But, as the last chapter of his storied career was inked, eight seconds really didn't matter to Adriano, but the tears in the arena will last a forever. Their will never be another Adriano, but the PBR will have him on their team next year outside the arena.
Justin McBride has been ready to hang the spurs up for 17 days now and this would be his final trip, of course unless he rode Pearl Snap and send him into the short round having ridden 5 of his last seven. Like every great champion, you give it all you got every time. Last night was no different and his 93.50 today would give the fans one more opportunity to send him out the right way, in the short round of a Sunday afternoon. This would win the round and give him the $5000 for the Enterprise ride of the Night plus the $25,000 that would go with the round win. Justin will leave Las Vegas for the final time as a bullrider with $93,000 and add to his career earnings lead. I could certainly go on from here but I believe Justin has let his riding do the talking and I couldn't tell you any more than what you already know of his remarkable career.
Intermission was upon us and it was time for these fans to enjoy a break from the action and get ready for the top 15 qualifiers of the PBR short round. We said goodbye to Adriano, crowned the rookie of the year in Reese Cates, Justin was rosining his rope for the final time and Guilherme could finally relax after 9 days in Vegas. The only thing left was to crown a short go round winner, finals winner and the bucking bull of the year.
The first gunner out was Shane Proctor went 4.1 on a bull name foo man choo, not really but What I Say. There was some Commotion going on with Matt Bohon as he only lasted 4.1 as well on the bull Commotion. Aaron Roy, the only Canadian in the mix was 4.3 on All In. All In was in the race for the world championship bucking bull but came up short on Sunday. Colby Yates lasted 1.6 on Spit Fire and Kasey Hayes spent 3.9 on Big Bucks. Big Bucks was the 2005 World Champion Bucking Bull and proved it today why he is still one to draft. Renato Nunes spent eight seconds on Pandora's Box and rang up 84 to get him some of the past dollars left on the table at the world finals. Idaho's Wiley Peterson went 3.2 on Utah's Diamond G Rodeo's White Magic. Zack Brown, Valdiron de Oliviera, a Justin McBride all came down on great bulls. Copperhead Slinger, Chicken on a Chain, and Voodoo Child all cranked it up and sent the three to the arena floor in less than 12 seconds of the 24 total. J.B. Mauney, this is one of those names that will replace Justin or Adriano and he wants to start right away. His 89 in the round on Fist Full of Dollars was going to get him just that He would leave town with half the go rounds to his credit and over $215,000. Reese Cates saw the Avalanche coming and got out of the storm at 3.3. Robson Palermo would ride his Camo, who Justin rode for his world championships and even thought Robson wasn't going for the world, he was within distance of the finals championship. Camo was set to retire on Sunday as well but he doesn't know it yet. Robson would ring up 87 points and find himself the new number 1 man after 8 rounds of bullriding. Chris Shivers was matched up against a bull that is unrideable, Troubadour of Julio Moreno. This bull was in contention as well for the world title but ended his 2008 campaign as the reserve bucking bull of the year. Guilherme Marchi was fixing to be the first man to ride 8 bulls at the finals in Las Vegas but he was matched up against Bones. Make no bones about it, this bull is rank and just shy of 4 seconds, this bull sent Marchi to the arena floor early. Marchi wasn't used to hitting the dirt early but found the safety of the bullfighters arriving to help him find the fence. So, there you have it, fifteen cowboys, three qualified rides and a World Champion.
The World champion was crowned last night with Guilherme celebrating with the Brazilian contingent. The afternoon decided that Reese Cates would be our next young gun to take the reigns as the Daisy Rookie of the Year, Bucking Bull also had a score to settle and it was Thomas Teague's bull Bones become the next great superstar in his pen. It would take Robson Palermo eight rounds to finally get his name mentioned with the likes of Guilherme, Justin, Adriano and all the other stars, but this afternoon they would hand him the keys to a brand new F150 Ford Truck for his weekend of riding bulls consistently. Robson would find the $250,000 check for the finals winner and get back to Tyler, Texas with $321,000 for the 10 days he's been here. Guilherme would find $1,164,000 and take his total for the year at over $1.5 million. J.B Mauney will take $215,000 back to North Carolina and Texan Reese Cates bank account will find $102,000 deposited on Monday.
As I close for now, I want to thank Rodeo Attitude for allowing me to cover the PBR World Finals for the 5th year and thank Cindy and her team for the support. You also noticed that Rodeo Attitude was well represented here in Las Vegas and thank Linda Peterson, Barb Pinella and Mary Rudloff for their insight to the PBR World Finals as well. I really believe that we brought you some of the most in-depth coverage that we could find. I sincerely hope you enjoyed our views and thank you for tuning in. I want to thank the PBR staff for their expertise and friendship throughout the week. I would encourage everyone to attend a PBR event if they get close. It's worth driving several hours to witness in person what bullriders are all about. Have a fantastic Sunday and take care
J.W. Kinder
PRCA Rodeo Announcer & Western Regional Director
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