PUEBLO, Colo. (September 21, 2010) - [Editor’s Note: The PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals will be a six-round event this year after encompassing eight rounds the past six years. Before we look ahead, let’s take a peak back at some of the great moments from the 2004-09 Finals. Writer Chris McManes – who’s been covering the PBR since 1999 – will feature eight achievements over the next few weeks until the start of the showdown in Las Vegas.]
Justin McBride had a good excuse for his poor first weekend at the 2007 Built Ford Tough World Finals. But the now-retired multimillionaire was not one to make excuses. He’d just cinch his rope and nod his head – regardless of his health.
McBride came to Las Vegas after contracting a viral illness that left his lips swollen and robbed him of his strength. The first three bulls he threw his legs around tossed him to the ground. The lead he had for the World Championship had been sliced by nearly 500 points and stood at 1,252 points over J.B. Mauney.
The three-day break between Rounds 3 and 4 came at a good time, allowing McBride to clear his head and regain his health.
McBride displayed his mettle in Round 4, when he scored 90 points and finished third. He was even better the next two nights when he combined with two Chad Berger and Larry Ryken bulls to win each round (91.25 on Walk the Line and 91.5 on Bad Action).
“The first week was horrible, but you’ve got to put it behind you,” McBride said at the time. “At the World Finals, you have a chance to win every time you leave the chute. With the pen of bulls that Cody Lambert put together for this event, every guy has a shot to win the round. And that’s what you’ve got to remember. For me, that’s really what I had to think about, because after falling off the first three in a row and the other guys behind me doing really well, I kind of had to forget about a world title and the average.
“I had to go and tell myself, ‘I want to go and try and win each and every go-round.’”
McBride took a 2,540-point lead over Mauney into the final day of competition. After bucking off his seventh-round bull, McBride covered Camo for 92.25 points – the same Boyd, Floyd and Paradise Farms’ bull he rode in the short-go of the 2005 World Finals – to finish second in the round. He placed fifth in the event and became only the third man to win multiple PBR World Championships.
“When Justin bucked off his first three and still came back to win the world, that was pretty cool, just because that’s what a champion does,” 2009 World Champion Kody Lostroh said recently. “That’s what it takes to be a champion, to not let those past failures dictate how you perform today. Everybody that’s ever been great at anything was able to take those failures and correct them, forget about them and never look at them again.
“It’s pretty cool to see that’s exactly what he did, because he had a terrible first three rounds and came back and rode like Justin McBride rides – and that’s awesome.”
McBride won a Western association record $1,835,321 in 2007.
“I thought I would be riding for World Championships in this building, but I didn’t think it would be for that amount of money” said McBride, who 10 years earlier attended UNLV, site of the Built Ford Tough World Finals. “From the bottom of my wallet, and my heart, I thank the PBR founders, staff, fans, sponsors – everyone – who set it up for me to do that.”
