PUEBLO, Colo. (March 31, 2009) - At the beginning of the 2009 Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) season, the PBR’s Rules & Regulations Committee made the decision that only the top forty bull riders in the world will now compete on the prestigious tour. The decision was made to create a stronger competitiveness among those qualified riders. On Tuesday, March 31, the PBR administration announced the third official cut of the 2009 season.
The riders who were dropped from the prestigious BFTS tour following the Ty Murray Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. are: Pete Farley (Kempsey, AUS); Jock Connolly (Queensland, AUS); Nick Landreneau (Sullhur, La.); Beau Hill (West Glacier, Mont.); and Michael Manes (Conway, Ark.).
However, due to their standings in the 2009 Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour, Farley, Connolly, and Landreneau will remain on the BFTS tour. In addition to those three riders, Dusty Ephrom (Arcola, SK, Canada) and Dusty Labeth (Louisburg, Kan.) will also advance to the elite BFTS tour by virtue of their achievements at the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour level.
The purpose of the cut is to determine which 40 bull riders will be competing on the elite Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS). Upon the conclusion of every fifth BFTS tour stop, the lowest ranked riders in the BFTS point standings are dropped from the tour and replaced by the top five riders in the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger tour standings. Money earned at all lower level PBR tours – Copenhagen Bull Riding Tour, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, Discovery Tour, and international tours – counts toward earning a spot among the 40 best bull riding athletes in the PBR. All 2008 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals qualifiers received five BFTS events before they were subject to the cut.
About the PBR:
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, ESPN, VERSUS, and on a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 500 hours of prime time programming annually, PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over 1.7 live event attendees each year with it multi-tiered event structure which includes the prestigious Built Ford Tough Series, the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, and the Discovery Tour, designed specifically for entry level contestants. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., with additional offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. The PBR prides itself in its 1,000 plus stock contractor relationships and over 1,200 PBR bull riders competing in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in five countries.
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