DES MOINES, Iowa (April 30, 2010) - Just how good is Silvano Alves?
Since arriving in the United States last November, the Brazilian newcomer has covered 27 of 30 bulls at the Built Ford Tough Series, Touring Pro Division, and World Cup.
At the world’s highest level, the BFTS, he’s covered eight bulls in a row since debuting at the Nampa, Idaho, event on April 9 – an event he won outright.
When he’s stacked up against this season’s 16 other rookies, a startling picture begins to emerge.
All 17 rookies account for 49 qualified rides. Alves has eight of those – 16 percent of the total – in just two events. The remaining 41 scores took the other 16 rookies a total of 42 events to compile.
Even more impressive is the fact that he’s won a full third of the prize money paid out to the rookies thus far. He’s earned $71,051, while the remaining 16 rookies have a combined 2010 income of $164,603. He’s more than doubled the $29,171 earned by Stormy Wing, who has competed in 11 BFTS events – more than five times as many as Alves.
Barring injury, Alves is clearly on pace to win the 2010 PBR Rookie of the Year title. But how does the 22-year-old compare to other great rookies?
With eight consecutive bulls under his belt, he’s over halfway to the mark set by Terry Don West in 1998, who rode his first 15 bulls after transitioning to the PBR. West’s streak happens to be the longest of any rider in the history of the BFTS, rookie or not (West had won three world titles with other bull riding organizations prior to his first PBR appearance).
Other great debut performers include Jerome Davis, who covered 13 of his first 15 bulls, as well as Adriano Moraes and Troy Dunn, who each covered 12 of their first 15.
If Alves is able to go 3-for-3 in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend, and repeat that feat again the following weekend in Wichita, Kan., he’ll equal Ty Murray’s streak of 14 in a row. He could then tie or surpass West the next week in Pueblo, Colo.
Not exactly lonely at the top
Last weekend, Renato Nunes became the sixth rider to officially take the No. 1 position in the world standings in 2010. But for how long?
None of the five previous leaders – Guilherme Marchi, J.B. Mauney, Travis Briscoe, Valdiron de Oliveira and Austin Meier – have held the top spot for more than three weeks in a row. Only Mauney has been there more than once.
In fact, Mauney has been the world leader on three separate occasions this season. The 23-year-old from North Carolina is also the only rider who has won a BFTS event while being ranked No. 1, and that was back in Sacramento, Calif., in January.
Nunes had unofficially led once before in Albuquerque, N.M. (during the event), but Meier came away the overall leader there, winning his third event of the season.
Deep impact
The 2010 title race has become the deepest in the 17-year history of the PBR.
This weekend’s event in Des Moines is worth a possible 900 points to the winner. Nunes, Briscoe, Meier, Mauney, Ryan McConnel and Robson Palermo are all within 852.25 points of one another. Two other riders – Marchi and Oliveira – are within two events of the lead, and anyone within the Top 15 – except for L.J. Jenkins, who is injured – could mathematically take the lead between now and the upcoming break beginning May 17.
The depth at the top of the standings is due largely to the fact that in only six of the 17 events so far has the No. 1 rider in the world even qualified for the Built Ford Tough Championship Round. In six of those events, the No.1 rider has gone 0-for-the-weekend.
Numerology
The average age of the past 16 World Champions is 26.5. Robson Palermo, at 26 years old, would have the best chance of winning the title without affecting that average.
The oldest rider to win a title was Moraes, who won his third gold buckle in 2006 when he was 36 years old. Cody Hart (1999), Chris Shivers (2000) and Mike Lee (2004) were all just 21 years old when they won their world titles.
Roll call
No previous World Champion has missed more than three BFTS events in the year that he won his title. Shivers missed three events in 2000 and Justin McBride missed three in 2005.
In 2010, six of the Top 10 riders – Nunes, Mauney, Meier, McConnel, Josh Koschel and Lee – have been at every event. Briscoe and Palermo have missed one event each.
Marchi and Oliveira have missed three and five BFTS events, respectively.
In 14 events, Marchi has gone without at least one qualified ride only once. Oliveira’s done it only once in 12 events. As a result, the two Brazilians have the highest riding percentages on the BFTS. Marchi is at 65.1 percent and Oliveira is right at 65 percent.
All of the Top 10 riders will all be competing at Des Moines this weekend.
TV Guide
The final two rounds of this weekend's Des Moines Invitational will be aired Sunday, May 2 at 4 p.m. ET on Versus. The three-hour broadcast will also feature a segment hosted by Rocket Ismail, who recently spent time with the Brazilians at Moraes’ 40th birthday celebration.
And be sure to catch a special re-airing of the action from last week’s event in Billings, Saturday night at 11 ET on Versus.
Event Center
Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Des Moines, Iowa, 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.
