CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (September 24, 2010) - If Ednei Caminhas is competing in the last three Built Ford Tough Series events of his career, he isn’t ready to say as much.
“I don’t know,” replied the 2002 World Champion, when asked. “That’s a tough question.”
Caminhas was recently cut from the BFTS after falling out of the Top 30 of the world standings. For the past two weeks, has been included in the draw because of his World Champion exemption.
However, he is currently ranked 105th in the qualifier standings, and failure to qualify for a spot at the World Finals will result in the revocation of his World Champion provisional status.
The qualifier standings are based on money earned, and to this point, Caminhas has earned just $11,643.67. He is nearly $38,000 shy of the Top 40.
“I think I have a chance at these last three events,” Caminhas said. “I know I can do it. I feel great right now, and then I’m just not riding good this year, but I don’t have any pressure to make the World Finals. … I think I have a chance to make the World Finals.”
Caminhas is currently mired in a streak of 22 consecutive buckoffs, and hasn’t earned a qualified ride at a BFTS event since April 30. He’s covered 17 of 70 bulls in 2010, for an average of 24.3 percent. Earlier this year, he had another buckoff streak of 11.
Caminhas, who turns 35 in less than two weeks, said that he’s riding well in the practice pen, and at local jackpot bull riding events. He recently rode five bulls in a row in Brazil.
“I ride rank bulls outside,” he said, “and then I don’t know what happened. I come here – the same bulls – and I don’t do good. I don’t know why.”
He nearly stopped his streak at 19 when he made the whistle on Snowman in the opening round last weekend in Springfield, Mo., but accepted a re-ride option after scoring only 67 points. He then bucked off Navajo Rug in 3.6 seconds.
Caminhas said that outside of PBR events, he feels more relaxed and “sees everything,” whereas this year he’s had a lack of focus on the BFTS, especially in the second half of the season.
This year, he’s made only six short round appearances and has just two Top 10 finishes.
In 11 seasons he has finished in the Top 20 of the world standings five times, with three of those five seasons coming in 2001, 2002 and 2003. In the past five years, his best finish was in 2008 when he finished 16th, but was 45th in money earned, and nearly missed out on the Finals.
In January of that year, he announced his pending retirement shortly after Adriano Moraes had done the same. But after qualifying for the Finals at the last event of the season, Caminhas announced that he would return in 2009.
“My retirement, this time, is going to be a surprise,” he said. “It’s going to be in the arena. If and when I feel I’m not coming anymore, I’ll say this is my last bull. I’m done.”
NEWS AND NOTES
Roll call: Though there are five active PBR World Champions – Kody Lostroh, Guilherme Marchi, Mike Lee, Chris Shivers and Ednei Caminhas – they have all competed against one another in only six of the 27 BFTS events in 2010. They haven’t all been together since Glendale, Ariz.
The five of them collectively account for 32 missed events, led by Lostroh’s 17 absences due to medical recuperation. Only Lee has been to all 27 events in 2010.
Marchi and Shivers will be out this weekend.
Injury bug: Riders currently out of BFTS competition with injuries include Marchi, Josh Koschel, Beau Hill, Brian Canter, Rocky McDonald, Jared Farley, Michael Manes and Ryan Dirteater.
In and out: The last rider into the original draw this weekend was Pistol Robinson, who is ranked 11th on the alternate list, but is 32nd in the world standings. The lowest ranked rider competing in Charlottesville is Cord McCoy, who is ranked 69th in the world.
But it’s Stormy Wing, a last-minute replacement for Shivers, who winds up as the last man added to the draw of 40 riders. Wing is currently 15th on the alternate list.
Below average: Heading into the 28th of 30 BFTS events this year, there have been 102 different riders on the BFTS. They have covered 1,166 bulls in 3,049 official outs, for an average of 38.24 percent.
Tragedy: The PBR extends its condolences to the family of Corbin Carpenter. The youngster from Jonesville, La., was killed in a car accident on Wednesday.
In 2008, Carpenter was seriously hurt in a bull riding wreck at the National High School Finals. His mother Theresa Freeman Carpenter chronicled his recovery in a book entitled Spurs, Chaps and Faith: The Corbin Carpenter Story.Shivers, whose ranch is two miles from the Carpenter family’s own Bar CC Ranch, has opted out of the Charlottesville Invitational to serve as a pallbearer at Carpenter’s Saturday morning funeral.
Live Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Charlottesville, Va., including the third of five bonus rounds for the Top 10 riders, by logging on to the Event Center at www.pbr.com/live. The multimedia center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related interviews.
