DES MOINES, Iowa (May 1, 2010) - “It’s on.”
That was Austin Meier’s reaction when six of the Top 10 riders in the world notched qualified rides at the Des Moines Invitational Friday night.
Mike Lee led the way with an 88.75-point effort on Bootlegger.
The 2004 World Champion originally earned just 79.5 points on Rude Awakening, but accepted a re-ride option. The round win moved him from 10th in the world standings to ninth, ahead of Josh Koschel.
“I didn’t know (anything) about him,” said Lee of Bottlegger. “He was standing a little bit funny, I got him to moving a little bit and nodded when he was moving. And then I just kept on moving with him and praised God that I stayed in step with him.”
Of the six Top 10 riders who made the whistle, only Lee and Guilherme Marchi moved closer to world leader Renato Nunes.
“I don’t really pay attention [to the race] much,” said Lee. “I just pay attention to what’s right in front of me and one thing at a time. I never look at that stuff, but it’s good for the crowd. For me, I focus on one thing, and that’s too much thinking is a bad thing in bull riding.”
The round win was Lee’s second of the season. He raised his riding average to 55.8 percent – nearly 20 percent better than his 2009 average.
Stormy Wing (88.25), Marchi (87.75), Sterling Yancy (87) and Nunes (86.75) rounded out the Top 5 finishers of Round 1. Wing was happy to make the whistle after coming up short in 15 of his past 16 outs. The promising rookie has fallen to 44th in the standings.
Lee made up 42 points on Nunes, who took the overall lead last week in Billings, Mont., while Marchi made a marginal gain of 21 points.
“All the bulls I ride right now are very important to me to get points and keep my confidence back,” Marchi said. “I feel better right now. My hand is still sore, a little bit, but I have two more events and then have a big break.”
Marchi injured the wrist back in Anaheim, Calif., but has labored through the pain and is in squarely in contention for the title, with a chance to take the lead before the summer break.
Valdiron de Oliveira, Meier, and Robson Palermo all remained within striking distance of the lead in what has become the deepest race in PBR history.
Oliveira finished 10th in the round Friday with an 85.5 on his re-ride bull Grandpa Joe, while Meier was 85.25 on Wired, and Palermo was 84.25 in a rematch with Bad Blood.
Shane Proctor, currently 11th in the world standings, made the whistle as well. His 80.75 points on Disco Baby gave him a chance to reposition himself Saturday night in the final two rounds.
Six riders came into the weekend with a chance to leave as the No. 1 man in the world, and two others are within two weekends of claiming the top spot. But as long as Nunes continues to cover his bulls better than any other previous leader, it could be a long, drawn-out process.
“It’s the same if I’m No. 1, No. 2 or No. 30,” said Nunes, who rode Blue Duck for 86.75 points. “I have to keep riding bulls and try to stay on.”
The final two rounds get underway Saturday night beginning at 7:30 p.m. CT.
For more from the top riders in the world, log onto the “Live Event Center” and listen to interviews with Lee, Nunes, Meier and Marchi as all four share their thoughts about the depth, competitiveness and pressure of the 2010 race.
NEWS and NOTES
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 feature a segment hosted by Rocket Ismail, who recently spent time with the Brazilians at Adriano Moraes’ 40th birthday celebration, and went bowling with Top 5 contender Ryan McConnel.
Be sure to catch a special re-airing of the action from last week’s event in Billings, Saturday night at 11 p.m. 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.
