This Ford needs no bail out! Young gun Cody Ford swept the Glendale Invitational in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday and rocketed himself into sixteenth place in the world. This young rider from Stanfield, Oregon, rode in twelve events in 2008, earning himself $52,727. On Sunday alone, he earned a whopping $60,960, bringing his 2009 total to $73,915.87.
Playing to another sold-out arena, Ford topped Chad Berger/Clay Struve’s Walk the Line with a great ride, scoring 89 points and winning round one. Rookie Skeeter Kingsolver covered The Iceman, owned by Chad Berger/Denny Hawks, for a score of 88.5 points and second place. Kody Lostroh, who had just won the Anaheim event the night before, took third place aboard K&K Cattle Company’s Ryan’s Express with a score of 88.25.
Veteran rider, Brian Herman rode K&K Cattle Company’s Roll the Dice for a score of 88 points, but on the dismount suffered a broken left ankle, making him unable to compete in the Championship Round. Ednei Caminhas was also unable to ride in this event due to a suspected broken collar bone suffered during the Anaheim event the day before.
The bulls were outstanding at this event. In fact, there were only twenty qualified rides during round one and only eight qualified rides in the short- go. Once again, Cody Ford dominated the group. Winning round one gave him first choice in the draft and he picked Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls' 2008 Reserve World Champion Bucking Bull, Troubadour. After watching current World Champion Guilherme Marchi ride Diamond G Bucking Bulls’ White Magic to an exciting 92.25 score and two time World Champion Chris Shivers top Chad Berger/Clay Struve’s bull Say I Won’t Gunner to a score of 92.25, Ford climbed aboard Troubadour and gave him a spectacular ride, earning a score of 92.75 to win the event.
From the winner’s circle, Ford admitted that “This is a dream come true. When I go to St. Louis, I can go knowing that I belong with the top riders in the world and I can compete with them.” And compete he can! As mentioned earlier, this win brought young Ford into sixteenth place in the world standings.
J.B. Mauney, currently number one in the world, bucked off his bull, Kufkin Ranch and Rodeo’s Over the Edge in round one, and ending the event for him. While he maintains his ranking of number one, Kody Lostroh took advantage of Mauney’s buck-off and after covering both of his bulls in this event is now only 32.5 points behind J.B. for the number one slot! In third place is Austin Meier, who has also been really hot this season. Meier is behind the leader by only 712.75 points. Young Ryan Dirteater occupies the number four position, 878.75 points behind Mauney and current World Champion Guilherme Marchi holds down number five, 1,192.75 points behind J.B.
Numbers six through ten are held by Chris Shivers, Renato Nunes, Robson Palermo, Zack Brown and Wiley Petersen. Of mention is Mike White, who shot himself from twenty-eighth place in the world to number eleven this weekend with great rides in both the Anaheim and the Glendale events.
So the race is on for the World Title with the top five being just a short distance apart in points. It’s been a great season so far, and promises to be one of the best ever. The event in St. Louis next weekend could change the leader board dramatically. We’ll see!
Photos by Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
Until next time….
Linda Peterson
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