SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (September 18, 2010) - Tonight we’ll see the second of the Final Five Showdon bonus rounds for the Top 10 riders in the world, and before we get there, we will get to watch Bushwacker, Moon and Copp Hou – three of the best 4-year-old bulls in the world – for a second night in a row.
Final Five Showdown - Bonus Round
Look for fireworks in the bonus round tonight. There are a lot more rider-friendly bulls in it than there were last week.
Austin Meier on 612B Insaniac:
Earlier this week, Meier’s riding percentage vs. 45-point bulls was discussed in another article here. As was noted there, this stat is a little misleading, because there are so few 45-point outs in the first place.
A more relevant way to assess a rider’s performance against top bulls is to look at how he does against the best 500 bulls in history, those being the 500 bulls with the highest average markings over their entire careers, and from every venue at which they’ve appeared – not just Built Ford Tough Series events. This allows for a better rider comparison over time, because over the course of a rider’s career, he may face as similar a percentage of these bulls as another rider who rode, say, 10 years before him. Meier has faced “Top 500” bulls 123 times and has ridden 44.7 percent of them, which is pretty impressive. In fact, it’s better than Kody Lostroh, Adriano Moraes, Renato Nunes, Mike Lee, and Chris Shivers, to name a few.
Meier is actually one of the best riders at riding the best bulls around, and another relevant stat that shows this is his riding percentage in short rounds, which is 40.2 percent – again, better than a number of guys who have world titles.
For the record, this particular bull, Insaniac, is not a “Top 500” bull. His historical ranking is 1,488th. While we are debunking myths, a bull with a higher average marking (bull score) is not necessarily more difficult to ride, he is just worth more points potentially. Degree of difficulty is a more complex matter. It’s hard to look at a bull and tell how hard he will be to ride, unless he is over-the-top spectacular. This bull is not. He is ridden about half the time by riders of Meier’s caliber.
Renato Nunes on 55 Cricket:
Cricket only has four PBR outs to his credit, but he was ridden in three of them – most recently for 90 points by McKennon Wimberly at Cheyenne, Wyo.
J.B. Mauney on 420 Chester:
This is a slam dunk for Mauney. Chester is ridden 65 percent of the time by left-handed riders, and Mauney rode him easily at the World Finals for 89.75 points. This is a critical ride for Mauney, as he really needs to make up ground in points before the Finals, and he is not likely to have a better chance than this.
Valdiron de Oliveira on 412 Big Iron:
This is another extremely rideable bull, and Oliveira has a good chance of winning the bonus round outright here. Big Iron has spent a lot more time on the rodeo trail than he has at PBR events this year, and I’ve heard his name discussed as a candidate for PRCA bull of the year. The last four times he’s been ridden, he produced 90-plus point rides, most recently 92 points for Dustin Elliott at the Pueblo, Co., PRCA rodeo. Bulls tend to score a little bit lower on the Built Ford Tough Series than they do elsewhere, but this matchup still has 90-point ride potential.
Robson Palermo on 300 Foolish Pride:
Another Diamond S bull who has been going hard at rodeos this season. Statistically, right-handers have more success on Foolish Pride, but Palermo rode him this season in Pueblo for 83.25 points. He also bucked off of him in Oklahoma City in 2009.
Travis Briscoe on 911 Ground Zero:
Ground Zero has been ridden only twice – once by Paulo Lima in San Antonio, and once by Kody Lostroh in Arlington, Texas. With Briscoe ailing, the odds are against him.
Ryan McConnel on 1415 Palm Springs:
Palm Springs has only appeared on tour once, and it was a weak effort in Tulsa, Okla., this year with Zack Brown. However, this bull produced the highest marked out (47 points) at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo in July. He was also the highest marked bull there with two outs (46.5 points) and produced the high-point ride out of 238 total attempts at Cheyenne (94 points for Wesley Silcox in the short round). So do not expect him to be weak here.
Mike Lee on 447 The Deacon:
These two met in Glendale, Ariz., and the Deacon put Lee on the ground. He was last ridden in Anaheim, Calif., back in February by Robson Palermo for 89.25 points.
McKennon Wimberly on 569 Mission Accomplished:
Mission Accomplished is a suitable name for this bull. Most guys who have tried him have accomplished the mission of making a good ride. This bull is noticeably better for left-handers. Travis Briscoe was 90.25 points on him at the World Cup back in April.
Shane Proctor on 532 Paycheck:
Proctor is in the bonus round for good, because Guilherme Marchi is out until the World Finals. Proctor really drew pretty tough tonight, because Paycheck is about the most difficult bull to ride in the bonus round. He has never been ridden by a right-handed rider. Up until the Iron Cowboy event in February, he was rarely ridden by anyone. In fact, Paycheck has only been ridden five times, and three of those were by Travis Briscoe. He is one of the toughest bulls in the PBR for guys not named Travis Briscoe.
