LAS VEGAS, Nev. (April 16, 2010) – with the first round of the 2010 PBR World Cup in the books, the clear advantage in the round went to the Americans … the four-legged Americans, that is.
Teams from Brazil, the U.S., Australia, Mexico and Canada managed to post only 14 qualified rides in 51 attempts in rounds one and two at the Thomas & Mack Center, on the campus of UNLV on Friday, April 16.
And one of those 14 scores – an 82.25 by Guilherme Marchi aboard “Oscar the Grouch” (Champion Bucking Bulls) – was thrown away by captain Adriano Moraes.
Give credit where credit is due – the pen of bulls included many names often found in the short-go rounds of BFTS events , including Big Tex, Voodoo Child, Chicken on a Chain and Major Payne.
In powerhouses of the human variety, it is Team Brazil that holds the points lead with 354.25 points after the first two rounds. There was no one dominating contributor either, as Marchi, Renato Nunes, Robson Palermo and Silvano Alvez each put up points that were kept. Only Paulo Ferreira, experiencing his first taste of U.S. bucking stock, is scoreless for Team Brazil so far.
Second in the World Cup race at the end of night one is Team Australia, one ride back at 265.0 points. Scores came in from Jared Farley, Brendon Clark and Ben Jones, while Pete Farley and David Kennedy will return Saturday night looking to give their first points to the team.
Clark scored 88.5 on “SkyHawk’s Lone Star” (Jeff Robinson) in the opening section of round two. Jones did his infamous arena dance in round one after scoring 87 points on “Brass Cat” (4L & Diamond S), although it looked like he’d slapped the bull mid-ride. Jared Farley put the exclamation point on Team Australia’s night with 89.5 points on “Mission Accomplished” (4l & Diamond S), and then capped it off with a not-too-pleasant gesture, likely in response to Pete Farley’s not getting a reride in Round 2.
It appeared clear to everyone except the review judge that Pete Farley’s bull, “Kool-N-Sexy” (D&H Cattle) stumbled and dropped to the dirt. When reride flags didn’t fly, Pete Farley smacked the challenge button, but the review judge ruled that, while the bull did stumble (to its knees), his opinion was that it didn’t cause the buckoff. No reride was given and the judge was resoundingly boo’d by the crowd.
One lone point behind Australia, at 264 points, is Team USA. McKennon Wimberly put up a blistering 90.25 in round two aboard “Hank” (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls/L & G Cattle Co.), after he helicoptered off “Hot Stuff” (D&H Cattle Co.) in round one at the 7.6 second mark, and then lost his challenge on the ride. Austin Meier scored 88.0 in round two n “Pistolero” (Boyd Floyd Bull Co.), after being blanked in round one on the first bull out, “Say When” (Martinez Bucking Bulls). Team USA got its first points of the night in the last ride of round one, Mike Lee’s reride, on “Heffe” (Boyd Floyd) for 85.75 points. Lee’s reride came after “Black Pearl” had a rough night in the chute, and its bad behavior continued once the gate swung open.
With 176.75 points, Team Canada is sitting in fourth place so far, after BFTS regular Aaron Roy and newbie Tyler Thomson each put up scores. Roy’s came in round one, an 89.25 pointer on “Top Notch” (Martinez). Thomson kept Canada in the came in round two, on “Nasty Town” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Struve/Rosen) for 87.5. Still scoreless are Devon Mezei, Scott Schiffner and Vince Northrop.
Sitting fifth is Team Mexico, with 89.25 points. Those points came early in round one, when Rocky McDonald got the crowd fired up with his ride on “Foolish Pride” (4L & Diamond S Rodeo Co.). It was Mexico’s only high point of the night, as the other four riders – Lorenzo Rios, Francisco Morales, Nike LeBaron and Gustavo Pedrero – came close at times but never quite made the 8-second mark.
High score of the entire night went to Brazil’s Renato Nunes, with 90.5 points on “Paycheck” (D&H Cattle) in round one. That brought the crowd to its feet and Nunes did his traditional backflip off the chute gate in response.
In the press conference after the event, team captain Adriano Moraes said he had no regrets about throwing out Marchi’s 82.25 point score, which came in the second section of round one. Moraes said that, with three riders still to go at that point, and having already kept Silvano Alves’ 87.75 pointer on “Husker’s Terror” (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Jim Quintaine), Moraes was confident in the odds of his team getting two stronger scores than Marchi’s.
In the World Cup, each team has five riders in each round. Only three scores for each round can be kept by any team. The team captain must decide, immediately upon hearing a rider’s score, if the ride will be kept or discarded. In Moraes’ case, he felt confident that the odds of at least two – either Palermo, Nunes and Ferreira – scoring higher than Marchi’s 82.25 were high.
There are no bonus points for any of the rounds, with the team score based solely on the combined scores of all of that team’s riders. Rounds three and four will take place Saturday, April 17, with the fourth annual PBR World Cup concluding on Sunday, April 18. With a single ride lead, Brazil is not sitting back, after Team USA snuck in and took the title away on Brazil’s home turf last year. In fact, based on much of the pre-event media hype, this year’s PBR World Cup is a showdown between those two teams.
Team Canada hopes with all the focus on the Brazil-USA rivalry, it can break its streak as perennial bridesmaid, and snatch a win out from under both teams. Only one ride behind Brazil so far, and sitting in second, Team Canada may have a shot at doing exactly that.
Rounds 3-4 and 5-6 will be televised by Versus, although scheduled to run in the middle of the night in most places, so set those DVR’s!
(Article and photos ©2010 Mary Rudloff)
