NASHVILLE – The tour newcomers for the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Built Ford Tough Series event in Nashville put on quite a show in the opening round of the Jack Daniels Invitational on Friday, Aug. 29.
When the dust settled at the end of the night, however, it was the veterans who stood at the top of the leader board. A trio of fan favorites – Idaho’s Wiley Petersen, Georgia’s Sean Willingham and reigning world champ Justin McBride – took the top three slots heading into Saturday’s round two.
Petersen took top honors with a 91.0 aboard Say I Won’t Gunner (C Berger/C Struve) to start flight five of the riders. Say I Won’t Gunner was a reride for Petersen, who had a qualified ride but was given a reride when Start Me Up (Hebert Bucking Bulls) couldn’t get itself started.
Petersen’s reride was one of four in round one, with two of those paying off for the rider – his and Montana’s Beau Hill, who finished the round in 13th, with an 86.0 score on Bad Medicine.
Second in the round was Sean Willingham, with an 88.25 on Encore (J Robinson/Anchor Bull Co.), while Elk City Oklahoma’s Justin McBride showed his strong return from a seven month layoff was not a fluke, with a strong 88.0 points on Handsome Jack (Hebert Bucking Bulls) to lock up third place.
Fourth in the round was number two man in the points race, Valdiron de Oliveira, with 87.75 points on Gun It (Brandon Gasper), a fast spinning bull that kicked a lot, but without much height to its kick in Friday’s round. The high finish, combined with points leader Guilherme Marchi’s buckoff of Fire & Flame (Frontier Rodeo Co) at 5.1 seconds, should help Oliveira gain at least a little ground with the PBR World Finals only two months away.
Also taking advantage of Marchi’s buck off was number three man in the points race, Kody Lostroh of Colorado. Lostroh was originally given a no score, when the clock in the arena showed 7.9 seconds as he came off of The Breeze (C Berger/C Struve). Lostroh headed straight for the challenge buzzer, and it paid off bigtime, as the review showed him at 8.03 seconds and his 87.25 pointer was enough to tie him for fifth and sixth place. He split those spots with Pistol Robinson, who rode Cowboy Splash (Hebert/Fournier).
Hitting the challenge button worked for Lostroh, but it didn’t pay off for Clayton Williams who came off of Bond, James Bond at the 7.9 second mark. The review showed the actual buck off time to be 7.79 seconds, so Williams got no score and will pay a $500 fee as well.
He had the chance to make up the money at the end of the night when, as winner of the last regular event (Glenside Ariz.), Williams rode in the Zantrex 3 Insta-Shot Grudge Match. He had challenged New Mexico’s LJ Jenkins, but neither was able to cover their bonus bull and claim the $10,000 prize. The winner of this weekend’s Nashville event will be the next to issue a head-to-head challenge and go after what will be a $15,000 bounty. The winner of each event can challenge another PBR rider for the head-on battle for the prize money, but the challenge must be made to (a) a World Champion present or past (b) an 2008 event winner or (c) one of the top 20 riders in the points race.
Round one in Nashville got off to a strong start with new faces and names, and a few up and coming young guns thrown in for fun. The first qualified score of the night was to Cody Byers of Marietta, Oklahoma, who rode Krispy Kreme (Bailey Rodeo Co) for 86.5 points. Byers was making his BFTS debut, having won an invitation to ride in the event through his finish in an earlier PBR Discovery Tour finish. He made the most of it, and Byers heads into Saturday night’s round tied for 9th/10th with Kasey Hayes.
Hayes was making his first appearance back on the BFTS tour since going out with a broken vertebrae in his neck in the event in Des Moines, Iowa in early May.
Also returning after a long injury layoff is bull fighter Joe Baumgartner, who was injured early in 2008.
Injuries took their toll in Nashville Friday night, when Scott Schiffner of Alberta, Canada had to be carried out of the arena on a backboard. Schiffner was riding Gold Bell Wine (C Berger/W Loe), when he appeared to get jerked down for a head-to-bull-head collision. Schiffner came off the bull after the collision, but his hand hung in the rope for a few seconds as the bull tossed him around. Adding insult to injury, as Schiffner lay motionless in the dirt, Gold Bell Wine turned back and ran right across him.
Schiffner was motionless in the arena for several minutes before being secured to the backboard and carried out. Preliminary reports, announced before the end of Friday night’s round, were that Schiffner had suffered only a concussion.
Other qualified scores during Friday night’s round one were:
7th place, Bryan Richardson, 87.0 points on Gappy Joe (Robinson/Larry the Cable Guy);
8th place, Renato Nunes, 86.75 points on Catie Done It (C Berger/R Ward);
Colby Yates, 86.25 points on Three Alarm (Frontier Rodeo Co). Yates also pocketed $5,000 for the Enterprise Ride With the Best for covering Three Alarm;
Reese Cates 86.25 points on Chug-a-Lug (John & Lacey Berger);
Mike Lee, 84.0 points on Crooked Tooth (Frontier);
Ryan Dirteater, 82.0 points on Lights Out (C Berger/C Struve);
Ned Cross, 81.25 points on Liquid Kitty (C Berger/C Struve);
Robson Palermo, 75 points on Medicine Man (C Berger/C Struve).
Friday night’s round one is set to air on Versus on Saturday night.
Saturday night’s action at the Sommet Center in Nashville will air on Versus on Sunday night. The short-go championship round will be a draft, where the top 15 riders get to pick their bulls, in order of their combined two round points, from a list of 15 of the PBR’s toughest bulls.
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