The morning line: Portland, Troubadour could play kingmaker again

By Slade Long, PBR
Posted Friday, October 2, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. (October 2, 2009) - Before every Built Ford Tough Series event when I look over the stats, one of the things I see is every rider's riding percentage on their past 15 bulls. It's very common for this to be around 30-40 percent. There are always a handful of guys who have been riding well, and those guys will be 60-80 percent on their past 15 head.

For Portland, the hot streak guys are led by L.J. Jenkins at 90 percent on his past 15 head - I don't think I have seen a guy at 90 percent before. That is quite an accomplishment. Right behind Jenkins are Caleb Sanderson, Guilherme Marchi, J.B. Mauney, and Wiley Petersen - all at 70 percent. Renato Nunes is at 60 percent.

Notice who is missing? World standings leader Kody Lostroh. Lostroh isn't the most streaky of riders, and every time I look over the streak stats, his riding percentage on his past 15 bulls is about the same as his career percentage - and hardly ever lower. That's not as exciting as Jenkins’ current streak, but obviously it is effective, since the World Championship race is a marathon and not a sprint.

At Portland, Lostroh has Bowcutt's High Roller in Round 1 - a bull who has only 10 PBR outs, and has only been ridden once, by Valdiron de Oliveira in Oakland last September.

Chasing Lostroh in the world standings are Marchi and Mauney. Marchi has a bull with less PBR experience in Corey & Horst's Boomtown, and Mauney has Corey & Horst's Snowball. I didn't really look too hard at Snowball’s numbers, because J.B. Mauney vs. any bull named Snowball should be a win for Mauney.

The big story in the bull pen at Portland is the return of Don Kish's bulls - which haven't appeared on the BFTS since spring. Two Kish bulls are involved in matchups to watch in Round 1: Ben Jones vs. Beer Goggles, and Shane Proctor on Juicy Vindication. Both these bulls can be good for round-winning scores.

Also in Round 1, look for Wiley Petersen to continue his hot streak on 4C's Monkeyshine - a bull who has been ridden 5 out of 8 times in the PBR, and for some good scores.

Round 2 at Portland will feature the kind of dream matchup that the PBR is famous for when Chris Shivers goes after Moreno's Charlie Bullware for the 4th time. So far it's Charlie Bullware, 3 – Shivers, 0, but this is still the one to tune in for.

Further excitement in Round 2 should come from Mauney vs. Kish's No Glory, Bryan Richardson vs. Kish's Mental Midget, Marchi on Big Bend/ Flying 5's Whack & Snap, and Sean Willingham on Red Knection's Nasty Town.

The short round at Portland includes 4 of the Top 25 PBR bulls in Moreno's Troubadour, Diamond G's White Magic, Big Bend / Flying 5's Firebird, and Dakota Rodeo's Copperhead Slinger - making his first appearance since April.