PUEBLO, Colo. (July 22, 2010) - With just four Built Ford Tough Series events left until the Final Five Chase begins, there is an added sense of uncertainty among bull riders.
The Chase will provide each rider ranked in the Top 10 an opportunity to attempt a bonus bull at the conclusion of the first round of each of the final five events.
While the points will not count toward that particular event, they will count toward the world standings. Along with the scores they receive, riders can earn double bonus points for placing in the bonus round – up to 300 points for the winner.
Riders currently in the Top 10 are beginning to wonder if the Final Five Chase will be the opportunity they need to close in on the world title. Athletes just outside of the Top 10 are thinking that if they can manage to get into the Top 10, the bonus round could be a way to make up some lost ground.
And it’s one of the few times that former riders can’t point to past experiences to illustrate potential outcomes.
As J.W. Hart said last weekend, “I have mixed emotions on it.”
“There’s a way I see it really shuffling the board up drastically over the five events,” he continued. “And then [I see] outcomes that it might not put but just a couple of points between guys, or make up a couple of points. But it all boils down to what these guys do, and what they ride and what they don’t ride.”
Mike Lee is currently ranked ninth in the world standings, but the 2004 World Champion said “No” when asked if he had thought about the Final Five Chase.
In 2004, Lee hadn’t won a single event until he won the Finals average en route to winning the world title. The 27-year-old from Decatur, Texas, said, “I just do one bull at a time.”
Last year, J.B. Mauney was involved in one of the tightest races in PBR history, and despite becoming the first man to ride all eight bulls at the World Finals, he still finished second behind Kody Lostroh.
Mauney is currently eighth in the world standings. He’s coming off eight weeks of rehabilitation after suffering a partially collapsed lung at a BFTS event in Wichita, Kan.
The 23-year-old, who is 2,967.75 points behind Renato Nunes, said, “I haven’t thought about it really a lot, but it would be a good opportunity for me to be able to make up some ground, and it’s going to really help out whoever wins.”
With four of the current Top 10 riders out of competition with injuries (Travis Briscoe, Guilherme Marchi, Robson Palermo, and Ryan McConnel), it becomes more important for those on the outside to use the next four events to get into the Top 10.
And two of those riders – Skeeter Kingsolver and Josh Koschel – are also out with injuries.
Shane Proctor, who is 12th in the standings and has four weeks to make up the 421.25 points that separate him from No. 10 McKennon Wimberly, said the Final Five Chase will “definitely show who’s the toughest of the tough.
“If you can make up (those) points – double points – you’re definitely going to put the pressure on the leaders, and it’s going to make it interesting in the long run.”
Since qualifying for the BFTS in Tampa, Fla., Jody Newberry has pressured the leaders on a weekly basis. He made the Built Ford Tough Championship Round in eight of the 15 events he’s competed in, and in seven of those the events he’s finished in the Top 10, including a win in St. Louis.
He’s still more than 4,000 points off the lead, but only 671 points behind Wimberly.
Admitted Newberry: “That’s one thing I don’t fully understand and a lot of people probably don’t, and that’s going to be the story that’s going to be told, because we’ve never done it before and it’s going to be real interesting to see how that plays out, getting those extra points at the last five events.”
Newberry won the Finals average in 2003, and J.W. Hart won it the year before. Neither man knows how this new format will affect the final outcome.
This year the Finals will be six rounds as opposed to eight – a difference of 1,000 points – and the Final Five Chase is worth a maximum of 1,500 points.
“But it’s scattered out over five weeks and not just a one-weekend deal,” Hart said, “so if a guy is going to get hot during this, he’s going to have to be hot over five weeks. It’s different for a guy to go to Las Vegas and get hot for six go-rounds.”
