The final event of the regular season, the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, certainly left PBR fans chomping at the bit for the Finals to start. Wow, what a way to end things! We had the race for the Championships tighten up even more, some favorites not make it to Vegas, and others playing through pain to get their shot.
BFTS leader Kody Lostroh bucked off his bull in the first round, while the two that are hot on his heels, Guilherme Marchi and J.B. Mauney both rode their bulls. The plot thickened in round two, as Marchi, after riding the Danny Reagan Bucking Bull Chocolate Chip, tied for the win with Ryan McConnel with two scores of 87. Mauney tied for third with Travis Briscoe after he covered Big Coyote, owned by Berger Bucking Bulls. J.B. and Travis both had scores of 86.75. Lostroh rode this time, sticking it on Total Package for a score of 86, to be fifth in the round. Danny Reagan Bucking Bulls owns Total Package.
Round three saw Lostroh, Marchi, and Mauney all riding their bulls, albeit not making I to the top of the leader board. That distinction went to Ryan Dirteater, who rode Shane Gunderson’s Country Boy to a score of 87. But unfortunately for Dirteater, his joy would be short-lived, as his spur hung in the bull rope after his ride, and he was tromped on and had his knee badly twisted.
Ryan, who has not been back on tour very long after breaking his right femur back in the end of March, was in obvious pain once again. Dr. Tandy Freeman later said that Ryan had a severe dislocation of his left knee, which would require surgery. He also indicated that if Dirteater was in a sport that required a lot of twisting and turning such as football, this could easily be a career-ending injury. At this early date he is expected to be able to return, but will be out from six months to a year. What a blow for this nice young man from Oklahoma. My thoughts and prayers go out to Ryan.
Time for the Championship Round, and Travis Briscoe scored an 88.5 on the Sonny Williams bull Arial Assault to take the short-go win. Second went to Mike Lee, who was awarded an 88 after he covered Hasta Luego, a Jeff Robinson Bucking Bull. Two Brazilians split third and fourth with scores of 87. Robson Palermo rode a bull owned by Bad Habetz Bucking Bulls, Black Monday, and Marchi rode Scardey Cat, owned by Dakota Rodeo/Denny Hawks.
But the man of the hour was Zack Brown. He won the event by covering all four of his bulls, which is a good feat in and of itself. But couple that with the fact that he is riding with separated ribs suffered last week, and it becomes more impressive. There is no way to land without a jar to those ribs, and it was obvious that it was hard for him to breath. If anyone has had this type of injury, you know what he is going through. If you haven’t, just consider yourself lucky, because it is really painful.
The rest of the order for the event standings saw Palermo right behind Brown, followed by Rocky McDonald, Mauney, and Marchi.
Besides those already mentioned, there are more men on the injury list. Luke Snyder kept his event streak alive, but was unable to ride past the first round due to a shoulder injury suffered last week. He will be at the Finals.
Brian Canter tore the ACL in his left knee in a dirt bike accident. He claims he will be in Vegas, but it is unlikely that he will be able to compete. Yeah, I hear you. Many are asking just what was he doing on a dirt bike so close to the Finals? Well, he’s 22 – a kid, who was having fun!!!!
L.J. Jenkins did not ride Sunday due to rib injuries, but will ride at the Finals. Bryan Richardson did not ride in the third round either, because he has torn cartilage in his left shoulder (free arm). He also plans to ride in Vegas.
While some of the men are out with injuries, others did not make the cut. One of those is Brendon Clark. He was out for a month with a shoulder injury and knew he needed to make a good showing at this event to go to Vegas. He rode his first bull and was really pumped. That only lasted 24 hours though, as he bucked off his second round bull. Anyone who has followed Brendon’s career knows that he has a bit of a temper, and he displayed that after his buck-off. But he could hear the clock ticking, and I for one can understand his frustration, even though his way of showing it is perhaps not the best. We saw an entirely different emotion after he came down from his bull in round three, however. There was no anger, just the obvious and painful realization that he was not going the compete in the Finals.
And what are the Finals going to be without Mike White? He has competed in them since his arrival on the PBR scene, but he just couldn’t garner enough points to make it there this year. Always a class act, White did not allow announcer Leah Garcia to make excuses for him, even though she was right. He had missed a lot of the year with injuries and surgery on a torn rotator cuff, but he didn’t care about that. Instead, he told us that he missed opportunities on bulls he should have ridden, and can only blame himself. But he had some exciting words for his many fans; “I will be ready for the New Year, I can tell you that!” This is certainly good news, as he had hinted at retirement in 2010.
Another cowboy who will be missing from the Finals is Matt Bohon. He has been in the slump from Hell, and just can’t get anything ridden. I will certainly miss watching Matt ride at the Finals, but do hope he is there to get to chat with him a bit.
Can the race for the World Championship get much tighter? Not really. After the final event of the season, Lostroh is still in the lead, but the margin is narrowing. He is only ahead of Marchi by 294.75 points. Mauney is next, 785 points behind. Moving into fourth, and with a good shot to continue up the ladder is Brown. He trails Kody by 3557.75, which isn’t as huge a lead as it might seem. Fifth is Valdiron de Oliveira, 3920.5 out of that lead. Sixth is McConnel, seventh Palermo, eighth is Renato Nunes, ninth is Wiley Petersen, and rounding out the top ten is Sean Willingham.
In two weeks the real action begins; the culmination of all the hard work. How strong will those that are injured be in that short period of time? Will those who are on a riding streak continue? I can’t wait for the start of the 2009 PBR Finals!
Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media photo - Zack Brown
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
