Unfinished business

By Keith Ryan Cartwright, PBR
Posted Friday, December 4, 2009

Mauney reaches for the one goal that’s eluded him

DULUTH, Ga. - In the immediate moments after Guilherme Marchi rode Cool Spot to win the Challenger Tour Finals event, J.B. Mauney became something of an afterthought.

Marchi was presented with a check for $210,000, while Mauney waited off to the side, near the out gate. Mauney gave Marchi all the time he needed to complete his well-earned celebratory interviews.

Then, just as the crowd made its way down to fenceline in search of autographs, Mauney was called out into the arena for the presentation of the buckle as the Challenger Tour Champion.

It’s the second time Mauney has won the title

But for Mauney, the upcoming 2010 season is about some unfinished business.

At 22, he has won more than $2 million, but it’s not about the money. It’s about that other gold buckle.

For Mauney, it’s about winning, and it’s about being considered the best.

The past two seasons he’s finished second in the world standings. Last year, he came within 594 points of edging World Champion Kody Lostroh.

But in the end, no matter how close the race, coming in second was disappointing … especially after becoming the first and only rider to ever cover all eight bulls during the World Finals.

“I messed some things up in the year,” said Mauney, who recognized that his season-long battle with Lostroh and Marchi was the best in PBR history, “and if I’d a done better throughout the year I wouldn’t have had to put so much pressure on myself.”

In Atlanta, Mauney was the favorite to win the Challenger Tour Finals, which also served as the first BFTS event of the 2010 season.

But after bucking off his opening round bull and coming back to make the whistle on his next three, he finished second in the event to Marchi.

And so begins an off-season of reconciliation.

“I ain’t looking (back) at nothing,” Mauney said. “I’m looking at next year.”

Separated by less than a percentage point in their riding average in 2009, both Mauney and Lostroh registered 17 Top 10 finishes, with Lostroh winning five events to four by Mauney. But in the final stretch, as both men qualified for 22 short go appearances combined, Mauney covered one less than Lostroh in those rounds, including a stretch of just one qualified ride in 8 attempts.

That stretch of events from Tampa, Fl., through Billings, Mont., is when Lostroh regained his lead, and created enough of a gap in the points that by the time Mauney altered his approach to the draft he couldn’t quite make up the ground—even when Lostroh covered only one of his last five short-round bulls.

If the World Finals – where Mauney battled Lostroh – and the Challenger Finals, which came down to Mauney and Marchi – are any indication, 2010 could be all the more intriguing.

“It’s fun,” he said of the weekly pressure of competing against the best. “Bull riders are getting better and bulls are getting better.”

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