ONTARIO, Calif. (August 29, 2010) - Guilherme Marchi made the switch, but not the whistle.
The 2008 World Champion, still struggling with soreness in his right hand, used his left to ride Saturday night in Ontario, Calif.
Despite being bucked off Slim’s Ghost in 3.7 seconds, Marchi said he’ll continue to work on using his left hand in the practice pen.
Marchi said Slim’s Ghost was too fast for him to keep up with, and that his left arm is not as strong as his right. But he hasn’t given up hope that he eventually can use his left hand from time to time to relieve the continued stress on his badly injured right hand.
He attempted four practice bulls last week and was a perfect 4-for-4, but admitted afterward that none of them compared to the bulls at Built Ford Tough Series events.
“I think I have a good chance to learn fast,” Marchi said, “but it’s very hard to switch hands and then come to the PBR and get on these tough bulls. But I’m proud for me, you know, I’m not scared to get on my bulls with the left hand.”
Marchi is not the first highly ranked rider to contemplate making the switch, but he is the first in some time to attempt the transition at an actual event.
Travis Briscoe made overtures that he would switch hands two weeks ago in Nashville, Tenn., but elected to sit out two BFTS events instead. Kody Lostroh thought about making a temporary switch last year in the midst of his championship season, only to abandon the experiment after a week in the practice pen.
In past years, both Daryl Mills and Robert Bowers made the switch and experienced relative success.
Donnie Gay, a 1997 inductee into the Ring of Honor, used his right hand “a time or two” during his career because of injuries to his left hand, wrist and elbow. However, he pointed out, “I didn’t win anything” riding with the off hand.
Like Lostroh, who was quoted earlier this week saying the switch is possible but requires more time than most riders have, Gay added that a rider would have to be “totally committed, and just because your riding hand is hurt.”
Gay, who rode bulls with his left hand and bareback broncs with his right, said the fact is “you’re never going to be as good,” and unless a rider is facing a career-ending injury, the better solution is to “take six months off and get well.”
Despite the ongoing issues with his right hand, which required surgery in May, Marchi is still in contention for this year’s world title, and has battled his way through the injury since hurting his wrist in a chute mishap early in the season.
He’s currently in sixth place with a riding average of 61 percent, which is the third best among the top riders in the world, but in recent weeks he’s steadily lost ground to Renato Nunes. Going into this weekend’s event in Ontario, Calif., Marchi was 2,892 points off the lead.
Marchi, who is matched up with Goliath on Sunday afternoon, is expected to use his right hand.
The final two rounds of the event begin Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. PT.
NEWS and NOTES
Live Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Ontario by logging on to the Event Center at www.pbr.com/live. The multimedia center provides live scoring, live blogging, live photos and event-related interviews.
