PUEBLO, Colo. (September 21, 2010) - World Champions don’t hope to ride just a majority of their bulls. They expect to ride all of them.
According to Paulo Crimber, that’s why 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi has elected to sit out the last four Built Ford Tough Series events of the 2010 season.
“He’s hoping to get one rode,” explained Crimber, “and it’s frustrating for him, for sure.” Marchi continues to struggle with what has become a season-long injury to his right wrist.
Crimber, who competed for six months in 2004 with a fractured hand, said he was surprised to hear of Marchi’s decision.
The two were together last Thursday when they bucked calves at Marchi’s ranch. It was then that Marchi told his friend he was going to doctor out until the PBR World Finals.
“He told me he isn’t going to ride, and I thought just this weekend in Springfield,” Crimber said. “And he told he isn’t going to ride until Finals.”
There is no guarantee that sitting out will help Marchi’s ailing wrist, but Crimber added, “Maybe he’s going to take that time off, come to the Finals and it’s going to hurt again. We hope that doesn’t happen.”
Crimber told Marchi that his advice is to stay out for the next three BFTS events even if his wrist feels better.
“Either you get used to the pain,” he explained, “or you take the time off.”
Despite the wrist trouble, Marchi remains in the Top 10.
His riding average in 2010 is 58.1 percent. Only three other riders in Top 20 – Renato Nunes, Valdiron de Oliveira and Silvano Alves – have a higher average.
Still, it’s a stark contrast to the 74.75 percent he averaged when he won the title in 2008, and slightly off his 2009 average of 60.42 percent. It’s also the second-lowest percentage of the five full seasons he’s been competing on the BFTS.
If Marchi would allow the medical staff to tape his wrists, the problem could potentially be solved.
But Marchi suffers from a claustrophobic fear of having his wrists or ankles wrapped. In fact, he won’t even tie his shoelaces when he’s not wearing boots.
“Watch him,” Crimber said. “Before he ties his glove, he’s got to unwrap it and wrap it again 10 times before he gets on a bull. I don’t know, it’s just something freaky on his wrist, I guess.”
