KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 6, 2010) - Growing up is hard. But it can help when you’re a professional bull rider.
“I think it’s me maturing as a bull rider from experiences I’ve had,” said Ned Cross, after winning Round 1 of the Built Ford Tough Invitational in Kansas City on Friday night. “Now it’s just putting that to use and using it to my advantage.
“It’s just growing up as a rider.”
Cross rode Wine Hu for 89.25 points to win an opening round for the second time in the past five Built Ford Tough Series events.
The 24-year-old from Midland, Ore., came into the weekend ranked 25th in the world, and continues to have a career year in 2010. Competing for the seventh time in 11 BFTS events, he’s already recorded one Top 5 finish.
He made his debut in 2004, but didn’t return to the BFTS again until 2007. In four previous seasons, Cross has never been ranked higher than 35th.
“It’s rolling,” he said. “I’m working harder than I ever have at it and it’s working, so I’m not going to quit.
“This is where everyone wants to be, so hopefully I can stay on top the rest of the weekend.”
Cross will contend with a laundry list of riders who finished within two points of him.
Robson Palermo (89) finished second at the Sprint Center, followed by Austin Meier (88.75), Chris Shivers (87.75) and Kody Lostroh (87.25). Palermo and Meier continue to vie for the top spot not only for the event, but in the world standings. Shivers is hoping to avoid being cut from the BFTS for not being ranked in the Top 30. However, even if he is cut, the two-time World Champion will have a five-event exemption for each of his titles.
In all, 17 riders made the whistle Friday night.
The matchups for Round 2 will be determined by a bull draft. As the first-round winner, Cross earned the top pick.
“I hadn’t even thought of that,” said Cross, who wants a bull that will buck hard and give him a chance to win back-to-back rounds for the first time in his career. “I’ll do that between now and tomorrow and figure that out.”
All 40 bulls in Round 1 were part of the ongoing ABBI Classic competition.
Both Sleeper and Copp Hou were marked 45 points, while Bushwhacker was 44.75 points. Five other bulls were 44 points, including Wine Hu.
Cross admitted he didn’t know anything about Wine Hu.
“It doesn’t make a difference to me,” Cross said. “I’ve heard Ty Murray say time and time again you can bank on them doing one thing, but they’re unpredictable animals. They’re not always going to do the same thing.
“I don’t really get caught up in what they do too much, and you kind of have to because of the draft, but I really don’t.”
NEWS and NOTES
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