The monster mash was on at the Thomas and Mack on n opening night of the PBR World Finals. If it wasn't the monster mash it could have been mistaken for the bull mash because it was a record for bulls being ridden at a PBR World Finals and at a Built Ford Tough event. The venue has changed and for the first time in 15 years the Thomas and Mack Center, home to the UNLV Runnin Rebels, decided to take the basketball floor up and host both weekends at the UNLV Campus. This is my 7th year covering the action from the arena floor for the Rodeo Attitude team and have I got a night to brag about.
It all started with Thursday night’s bull draft held at the Fremont Street “Kick Off Party”. Of course many of you may know this year the PBR decided to make the World Finals more interesting by using the draft system they had previewed this season at select Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) events. There were 32 BFTS events from coast to coast, along with numerous PBR minor league events, and the top qualifiers, the top bull riders in the world not only will compete here but will get the chance to hand pick the bulls that they will ride in each round based on their position in the previous round.
Well, the record for bulls to be ridden at any PBR BFTS event was 29 which was busted tonight by riding 33 bulls. It got started right away with the first cowboy, Ben Seeds from Australia, who had never been to the bright lights of Vegas, rode his bull, Deviled Egg, for 84 points.
I must stop at this point and let you all in on the fact that we only had one reride in tonight’s round and that came after Chris Shivers bull stumbled out of the chute. Chris chose to get right back on that bull after a reride was given. I'll tell you about the end result with him as it came in the 4th section of bullriding.
Let's get back to the first half of the night as 15 bullriders covered the first 27 bulls that came out of the Preifert chutes. Now I'm sure you're all thinking that's not all that impressive but the other 22 bullriders were ready with their bullropes to out do the first half. They did just that! If you do the math in the prior section that means that 17 of the last 22 cowboys got it done as Larry the Cable Guy would put it.
As I take you into the evening keep in mind that the leader board was set after the first 27 at Jared Farley's 89.25 on Lacey's Balls, owned by Lacey Berger/Clay Struve, and it looked like that would be the bull ride to win it all. But, waiting behind the Preiferts were 22 guys that would take their shot.
The fourth round proved to be deadly for all those that rode already. There were 9 bullriders that all rode their bulls, including Chris Shivers 89.75 on Carrillo Cartel. Remember I told you earlier that bull stumbled out of the gate and Chris was awarded a reride opportunity. He took it and it proved to be another crowd pleaser from Shivers.
However, Mike White in this round had already set the T & M a buzz with his stellar bull ride that netted an identical 89.75 on Splat Kat owned by Danny Lemmons. This round also saw the "Enterprise Ride of the Night" with the Mooresville, NC sensation, J.B. Mauney, and his draw of Ricky Bobby, owned by HD Page/Bill & Betty Morrison. This match up turned into a 92.25 point bull ride and consequently went to the lead in the round. The $5,000 from Enterprise and the $25,000 for the go round win would catapult him into the millionaires club of PBR Bullriders. He's only 21, let me remind you.
We would have to wait for another 12 bullriders to see if this was good enough to win the round.
As we had a moment to catch our breath and pause for the cause with the intermission break, it was down to the final 13 rides of the night and this bunch included the big guns of the PBR.
Let's break this down for you, included in this list was Justin McBride, Adriano Moraes, Ednei Caminhas, Mike Lee...all World Champions and oh, by the way, this group has won 7 world titles, which is half the gold buckles that the PBR has made.
The remaining list included a group who will carry the PBR torch for years to come. The likes of Sean Willingham, Dustin Elliott, Renato Nunes, Kody Lostroh, Valdiron de Oliveira, Guilherme Marchi and who can forget about PBR World Finals champions L.J Jenkins and Wiley Petersen. So we go from there.
After announcing his retirement 10 days ago, Justin McBride put an impressive 88 on the board with Hot Stuff of Diamond S but didn't finish in the money for the round. Adriano, who will also have a party for his retirement speech next week to finalize his PBR career, toughed out an 87.5-pointer on Black Smoke.
Dustin Elliott had a tough night when his bull Soulja Boy tried slamming him into the front of the Preifert Chutes and then sent him flying off the back of him around the 4 second mark. Wiley Peterson was 85.25, LJ was 88.75, and Ross Coleman put an 89 on the board with his bull ride on Walk the Line.
The stage was set for the final 5 that these men had been waiting for since the opening ceremonies of the night. It was Mike Lee, 2004 World Champions and Finals Champion that same year, put a score on the board that any other night might win a round. He was 87.75 on the veteran Palace Station Deuces Wild. Nasty Mike and Renato went jump for jump and set the confetti flying for the second time by riding to a 92 point bull ride. It was Kody Lostroh time and he did his part by sending the PBR team scrambling to get more confetti into the guns. His 90.25 on Cat Man Do of #10 Bucking Bulls sent the confetti once again to the rafters of the T & M.
Valdiron didn't have the night he wanted to put pressure on the #1 man Guilherme but Guilherme tried to slam the chute tonight by posting a 90.25 himself on Scaredy Cat of Chad Berger/Denny Hawks. The confetti went a flying at the end of the evening one more time and then because of the record evening of bull rides, they decided they needed to order more confetti for the rest of the week so they sent the PBR fans home with one more much need confetti shower.
The 13,000 plus in attendance at the Thomas and Mack didn’t want to leave. However, the PBR fan zone outside and the after parties were set to entertain them the rest of the night. I will post more tomorrow on the bull draft set for round 2 at 10:30 AM and I will catch you all tomorrow. Have a safe trick or treat and see you later
JW Kinder
PRCA Rodeo Announcer & Western Regional Director
COMPLETE RESULTS
