My previous article mentioned that Justin was back in the title chase. Well, he really hadn't lost the lead but after 3 rounds from the Mandalay Bay Events Center the feeling of it's going to be someone else's buckle really was the talk of the Built Ford Tough PBR World Finals. The word on the street was Justin better bring his rope to the Thomas & Mack Center if he wanted to win this 2007 title. Well, between the rest and his illness last week, he has decided to bring the gear bag to the second week of competition because for two nights he has ridden both of his bulls and tonight he won the round with his stellar performance and the 91.25 aboard Walk the Line of Chad Berger / Larry Ryken string of buckers. It was the perfect match up of the evening.
Many predicted a round of just plain riding the hair off the bulls because it was the rideable pen tonight. Matter of fact, many fans and PBR personnel made light of the situation as they predicted to ride the most bulls of any round to date. Well, that happened and we ended up riding 20 bulls tonight at the Thomas & Mack and would have been more had 3 bullriders not slapped there bull at the seven second mark.
Once again there were 3 rides in the 90's with Justin leading the way on a Friday night. You could feel the electricity in the air as they set up the final flight of bullriders tonight and the top 8 guys coming into the World Finals. Of those 8, only Paulo Crimber wasn't able to make his eight second ride. All the other rode there bulls respectively with Justin winning the round. Justin’s closet competitors Guillherme & J. B. rode there bulls but were down on the leader board at 13th and 19th.
You may not know that at the PBR World Finals the top 10 in each round earn bonus points. First place earns 400 points plus your score that you obtain during that round. For instance, Justin tonight rode his bull for 91.25 and won the round, therefore, along with his 91.25 plus the first place points of 400 earned him 491.25. His lead coming into the Thomas & Mack this week was down to about 1200 and keep in mind the average adds points to your totals as well. With that, the lead was in Jeopardy and still is but he has pushed that total between his ride last night and tonight to a little over 2000 points. It's not a comfortable lead but Guillherme would have to win the Average to over take him in the standings. As you know, the Brazilian has been relentless and the average title is still in his sights. The arena announcers have introduced him as the 2 time reserve champion and he has taken note of that. He's tired of that line and would love to be introduced in 2008 and years to come as a PBR World Champion.
As I said earlier, of the 20 rides tonight, it was Tater Porter who set the stage with his 90.25 early in the round on Encore of Shrader / Anchor Bull Company. Matt Bohon put it on for 90 points too on a Texas bull from Sammy Andres Rompus. Two time World Champion Chris Shivers finally broke his finals jinx with an 89.5 on Shane of Hebert Bucking Bulls. He had been on that bull a number of times and said it felt good to get the first one covered. He didn't want to be the only guy not to ride a bull at the finals, well that won't happen in 2007. Our Rodeo Attitude member Clayton Williams which will win the Daisy Rookie of the Year finally got his first ride of the finals as he cashed a check tonight compliments of Roy Carter Fraggle Rock. It was a dandy for 88.50 and tied Tyler Smith's ride tonight.
As we get to the sixth round Saturday night, we will start to get more involved in the average race. As we close the doors on the Thomas & Mack and rock the Fan Zone outside on a Friday night, I can tell you that Wiley Petersen will take the lead in the race for the BFTS World Finals Championship and the $225,000 reasons why you want to win the finals. I will have you a report sometime in the afternoon as a prelude to the Saturday evening performance and until then, have a great Friday night.J.W. Kinder
