RENO, Nev. (September 12, 2009) - Two weeks ago, J.B. Mauney was riding for his country.
Friday night, it was about winning a world title.
Mauney is one 40 bull riders in Reno, Nevada, trying to win the three-day Copenhagen Bull Riding Invitational. After Round 1, the 22-year-old is one of only eight with a qualified score.
His 89.25-point effort on Slider was good for the lead and the first pick in Saturday morning’s bull draft for Round 2, which gets underway at 6 p.m. PT at the Lawlor Events Center.
“Whenever you show up and you do good on the first day, it kind of helps lead through to a good weekend,” Mauney said. “It seems like if you come in the first day and you mess up, you kind of gotta work extra hard to make up ground.”
The North Carolina native couldn’t have helped but notice that Kody Lostroh and Guilherme Marchi, the only two riders ahead of him in the world standings, both bucked off their first bulls.
In fact, Lostroh will have the 18th pick in the draft, while Marchi will have the 38th overall pick.
In many ways, the trio has separated itself from the rest of the top riders in world. Lostroh is in the lead, with Marchi 1,193.75 points behind. Mauney was only 71.25 behind Marchi going into this weekend’s event.
Mauney’s first-round effort has closed Lostroh’s lead atop the world standings to just 1,075.75.
“I rode good at the World Cup,” said Mauney, who was five of six in Brazil to lead the United States to its second consecutive come-from-behind Cup win, “and hopefully I can keep it rolling the rest of the year.”
In the second-to-last outing of the night, Mauney looked as confident as he has at any point in the 2009 season. More importantly, he looked healthy doing it.
He did say that when he arrived, he didn’t know anything about Slider, but was told that he had bucked off this same bull at a lower-level event in Oklahoma. He said the bull went into his hand before coming back to the left and getting him off in 7 seconds.
He smiled and added, “When they told me that’s one I had tonight, boy, I was excited for a little revenge.”
Mauney said he held back using his spurs, played it smart and used his outside shoulder.
Right behind Mauney is L.J. Jenkins, who looked as comfortable and confident as Mauney in riding Red Hot for 89 points. Jenkins said afterward that with his second draft pick, he intends to go with Derringer, a bull he’s wanted to get on all season. That is, if Mauney goes with another selection.
Mauney’s brother-in-law Shane Proctor is third with 88.25 points, followed by Sean Willingham, Pete Farley, Skeeter Kingsolver, Cody Nance and Brendon Clark.
It’s been a bit of tough luck for Clark since returning to the Built Ford Tough Series after a horrific accident in Omaha, Neb., so the Aussie was noticeably elated to have made the whistle.
He’s just 6.25 points off the lead with three rounds left, but the success in Round 1 goes a long way in his late-season drive to qualify for the World Finals.
Coming into the weekend, he needs to make up the $7,869.06 between him and Ben Jones, who at the moment would the 40th and final qualifier for the Finals.
Another interesting storyline developing in Reno involves a trio of rookies – Nance, Kingsolver and Farley – who accounted for three of the eight rides.
Nance currently leads the Daisy Rookie of the Year race by a mere $352.30. With both Nance and Skeeter Kingsolver earning scores of 83.25 points, that race hasn’t changed yet this weekend. However, Pete Farley, who’s slightly more than $20,000 behind, scored 85.25 points in the opening round as well.
News and Notes
Matt Bohon, in his first event back after breaking his jaw in San Antonio, was the first rider to arrive at the Lawlor Events Center, but his gear bag has yet to arrive in Reno. The Missouri native is excited to be back on tour.. Unfortunately, Bohon bucked off Class 6 Kat.
In the first out of the night, Mike Lee took two brutal hits to the head in bucking off Say I Won’t Gunner. Although he had to be helped out of the arena by the Sports Medical Staff and seemed disoriented, he was seen behind the chutes after the intermission and is expected to compete in Round 2.
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