ARLINGTON, Texas (February 19, 2010) - One of the most anticipated events in PBR history is now only one day away.
The Dickies Iron Cowboy Invitational presented by WinStar World Casino will take place tomorrow in Arlington, Texas, at Cowboys Stadium.
Some facts and figures:
Best of the best: The current Top 15 riders in the world standings all qualified for the Iron Cowboy Invitational. At 16th, Aaron Roy is the highest ranked rider not competing this weekend, because the date conflicted with his wedding. Only two other riders currently in the Top 25 – Jordan Hupp, 20, and Cody Campbell, 23 – will not be in Arlington, because they worked their way up the standings after the cutoff following the Tampa Invitational. Zack Brown, 44, is the only rider in Arlington not ranked in at least the Top 30.
What a difference a year makes: Only four riders competing in the Iron Cowboy didn’t finish last season ranked in the Top 24. They are Mike Lee, 28; Skeeter Kingsolver, 31; Elliot Jacoby, 44, and Ned Cross, 76.
We are the champions: Three past World Champions – Kody Lostroh (2009), Guilherme Marchi (2008) and Lee (2004) – will be competing in the Iron Cowboy. Two others – Ednei Caminhas (2002) and Chris Shivers (2000 and 2003) – failed to qualify.
I feel good: Campbell, 23, is the only rider in the Top 30 listed in the injury report. Of the other seven riders – Bryan Richardson, Shivers, Mike White, J.C. Navarro, Fabiano Vieira, Michael Manes and Ryan Dirteater – no one is ranked higher than 32nd in the world standings. However, just one week ago, a full quarter of Iron Cowboy qualifiers – Lostroh, Marchi, Wiley Petersen, Ross Coleman, L.J. Jenkins and Sean Willingham – were listed as injured.
It is what it is: The Iron Cowboy Invitational is an official Built Ford Tough Series event, with points counting toward the world standings and money counting toward World Finals qualifier standings. However, the event will not count toward the five events between cuts, because the lower-ranked riders are not competing this weekend.
Now would be as good a time as any: There are seven riders competing in the Iron Cowboy who have yet to win a Built Ford Tough Series event: Josh Koschel, Kingsolver, McKennon Wimberly, Caleb Sanderson, Cross, Dustin Elliott and Jacoby. On the flip side, there are three with at least 10 career event wins: Marchi, 14; Petersen, 13, and J.B. Mauney, 11.
Show me the money: Jacoby, Kingsolver, Sanderson or Cross would more than double their career earnings if they were to win the $260,000 for taking first place in the Iron Cowboy Invitational.
Show me the money, part two: A third of the riders competing Saturday have already won at least $1 million in their careers. Willingham, Brian Canter, Brown, Renato Nunes and Travis Briscoe could surpass that milestone if they were to win the $260,000 payout.
Cover me: Half of the qualifiers for the Iron Cowboy have a career riding average of between 40 and 49 percent. Seven of them cover 50 percent or more of their bulls, and only five have a career average below 40 percent.
And in this corner: How much of a size advantage do the bulls have over the riders? The combined weight of all 24 riders is 3,610 pounds, which is only equal to two out of the 43 bulls at Arlington.
Points of origin: Four riders in Arlington this Saturday will represent Brazil, while 20 come from the United States. Those 20 represent 11 different states, with four residing in Texas. North Carolina has a trio of riders competing, while New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Oregon each have two representatives in the Iron Cowboy.
Youth versus experience: Of the 24 riders, 13 are 24 years old or younger, and 11 are at least 25 years of age. Jacoby, 19, is the youngest, and Brown, 31, is the oldest.
Rematch, revenge: A third of the first-round matchups are rematches. Elliott split with Say When a year ago, while the rest of the riders – Koschel, Wimberly, Lee, Willingham, Shane Proctor, Kingsolver and Petersen – are a combined 4-for-8 in previous matchups.
Left, right, left: In each of the first two rounds of the Iron Cowboy, there are eight bulls bucking from a left-hand delivery, and another eight from the right side. In the third round, there are five from the right and three from left, and then all six outs in the final two rounds will be from the left.
High-marked ride: There have been 19 rides marked 90 points or better this season, and this weekend any one of the 46 attempts could be 90 points or better.
