BALTIMORE, MD. – The riders of the Professional Bull Riders may have had about six weeks off, but they showed up at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore ready to ride on Jan. 2.
In the 2nd event of the 2010 PBR season, 21 of the 39 riders put qualified rides on the boards in round one of the Baltimore Invitational on Friday, Jan. 2. No one made the jump to the first 90-pointer of the year, but several came close as the Built Ford Tough Series tour got a jump-start on a cold, cold night.
The 2009 Rookie of the Year Cody Nance got things started by putting up 86.75 points on Aerial Assault (Sonny Williams), a bull from just down the road here in Maryland, as the first rider out of the gate. The night continued in a hit-or-miss pattern, with enough scores to keep the crowd into the event, and a few wild rides and buck-offs to get the adrenaline going in a chilly arena.
The night got a blazing hot finish, with the top 12 riders at the event put up score after score in the last dozen rides of the night.
When the dust settled, it was Brazilian Robson Palermo, riding “Say I Won’t Gunner” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) who took the round with 89.25 points.
Fellow countryman Renato Nunes, who had a less than great PBR World Finals, showed his more usual form, taking second in the round with 89 points on “RFD-TV” (Teague Bucking Bulls) and giving the crowd his traditional back flip off the top rail of the arena.
Third in the round went to two time world champion Chris Shivers, who showed the form that won him those first two gold buckles, with 87.75 points on “Larry the Cable Guy’s Smokey” (Jeff Robinson/Jeffrey Scott/Pinnacle Bull Group).
Nance’s early score of 86.75 was enough to hang on and split fourth through sixth places with Canadian Aaron Roy and World Finals average winner J.B. Mauney. Roy put his points up on “Clam Digger” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/John & Lacey Berger) and Mauney showed he is ready to take a run at that 2010 world championship buckle on “The Juice” (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls). “The Juice” appeared unimpressed by Mauney’s performance at the World Finals, as after Mauney came off his bull, “The Juice” ran him over several times before leaving the arena. Mauney came up smiling and appeared unfazed by the trouncing.
One of the tour’s senior members, 2002 world champ Ednei Caminhas, showed he still has his riding form, finishing 7th in round one on “Flashpoint” (Teague), with Wiley Petersen and Pete Farley sharing 8th and 9th places, on “Big Coyote” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Walsh Farms) and “Buckshot” (Walton & Wagoner) respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 was Sean Willingham, riding “Mean Machine” (Mark Reed) for 86 points, and keeping control despite getting stretched out on the bull’s back in the last two seconds.
The 2009 PBR World Champion Kody Lostroh got on his first bull since bucking off in round 8 of the PBR World Finals in early November, and showed despite it being less than two months since his elbow surgery, he’s ready to take a run at another title. Lostroh showed not a single weakness and scored 85.75 points on “Drill Baby Drill” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Winston Lowe), looking like he could have handled a lot more bull without a problem. The score had him sharing 11th and 12th in the round, splitting it with Shane Proctor, who has been on fire shortly before and all the way through the 2009 World Finals. Proctor housebroke “Swamp Dog” (Jeff Robinson) as part of that 12-score streak that closed out the night.
The night also saw the return of Mike White, who earlier this week announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2010 PBR season. White, on “Great White” (Red Bird Bucking Bulls), looked solid until the 7-second mark, when White’s hand popped out of his bull rope. Whether it affected his riding or not is unknown, but White rode in round one wearing buddy Chris Shivers’ vest and chaps, and possibly using his gear as well, quickly handing it over in a commercial break, as Shivers was the next rider out of the chutes after White.
Also returning from a long stretch of injuries in the 2009 season were Brendon Clark and the PBR’s most “senior” rider, Brian Herman. Neither put a score up in round one; Herman made it to 6.9 seconds on “Cut Loose” (Teague), while Clark’s return trip Saturday night ended quickly, when he bucked off “Another Husker” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) at the 0.5 second mark. That tied him for shortest ride of the night, along with Luke Snyder, who was unceremoniously flung back into the chute by “Little Mr T” (Jeff Robinson/Roy Carter).
The round was one rider short, as Brazilian Thiago Paguioto, who made his U.S. debut at the PBR World Finals in October after winning all his qualifying dollars in Brazil, did not ride.
Other qualified rides in the round were:
85.5 points, Dustin Elliott on “Gringo” (Mark Reed);
85.5 points, Valdiron de Oliveira, “Wolf” (Dakota/Berger/Struve);
84.75 points, Guilherme Marchi on an unidentified reride bull out of Jeff Robinson’s pen, after he rode “Savage” (Walton & Wagoner) three bulls earlier in the round;
84.5 points, Ryan McConnel, on “Black Knight” (Teague);
83.0 points, McKennon Wimberly, riding “Rapid Reaction” (Jeff Robinson);
83.0 points, Austin Meier, aboard “Devil’s Trap” (Red Bird Bucking Bulls);
82.5 points, Brian Canter on “Jeffrey Scott’s Buckle Man” (Jeff Robinson/Jeffrey Scott/Pinnacle);
82.25 points, Mike Lee, rebounding from a dismal World Finals in which the bulls took their toll on the 2004 champ, riding “Joker” (Mark Reed);
81.75 points, Billy Robinson, of Virginia, who got an almost-hometown cheer from the crowd, on “Chrome” (Mark Reed).
The Baltimore Invitational will continue Sunday with round two and the championship round, before the BFTS tour moves just a few hours north next weekend, when the bulls take a bite out of the Big Apple in Madison Square Garden, in New York, N.Y.
All photographs are by ©2010 Mary Rudloff
