New York (January 9, 2011) - If there’s one city Valdiron de Oliveira loves more than Las Vegas, it’s New York.
For the second time in four years, Oliveira won the Madison Square Garden Invitational, and this time he did it in spectacular fashion.
Oliveira was not only a perfect 5-for-5 to start off the 2011 Built Ford Tough Series, but he won four of five rounds. For the second day in a row, he lit up the leader board with a Rock Star Energy Drink 90-point ride.
With the first pick in the bull draft for the Championship Round, Oliveira took Mellow Yellow Jacket. After Ben Jones scored 91 on Voodoo Child to take the lead with 436.75 points, Oliveira needed one last score for the win. Eight seconds later, he brought the Garden to its feet with a 91.5-point effort, giving him a five-round total of 436.75 points.
“I have a lot of friends in New York,” said Oliveira, who won the first event of 2010 in Baltimore a year ago. “It’s good for me, and it’s good for my confidence.”
Listen to the full post-event interview with Oliveira here.
Jones had an emotional start to his season, as well, with a perfect weekend.
Paulo Lima, Dustin Elliott and Jordan Hupp rounded out the Top 5 finishers in the overall average, and are thus the top-ranked riders in the world.
The BFTS will be in Sacramento, Calif., next week for the second event of the season. The two-day event gets underway Friday, Jan. 14, at Arco Arena.
Many of the Top 40 riders in the world will first travel to Colorado for Touring Pro events in Denver and Pueblo this week, as part of nine straight days of bull riding to start off the new season.
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