Round 2 of the PBR's NILE Invitational in Billings

By Mary Rudloff
Posted Sunday, April 20, 2008

BILLINGS, Mont. - The 2008 season of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) has been a season of 90-plus point rides, nearly half the riders making qualified rides each round, and the top 10 riders nearly unstoppable.

That was before they got to Billings.

Round two of the NILE Invitational wrapped up at the Metrapark in Billings Saturday night. In two rounds, the confetti cannons are loaded but haven’t gone off, as there have been no 90-pointers yet, and with 12 riders covering both of their bulls so far, only one of them is in the top 10 in the season’s points chase. Even the unstoppable Guilherme Marchi saw his still spectacular riding percentage fall below the 80 percent mark this weekend.

That isn’t to say there hasn’t been plenty of great rides, and very few wrecks this weekend, because there has. Twelve riders have put up qualified rides in both rounds so far, with Texan Zack Brown and Brazilian Valdiron de Oliveria tied at 176.75 in the average.

But the weekend has been more about what isn’t happening than what is. Of the Built Ford Tough Series’ top riders, Marchi, number two Kody Lostroh, LJ Jenkins, JB Mauney, Ross Coleman and Mike Lee each have one score on the board. Travis Briscoe and two time world champ Chris Shivers remain scoreless so far.

Those having the better weekend are a mix of young guns and veteran riders. Behind Oliveira and Brown in the average are Canadian Aaron Roy (175.0), Texan veteran Brian Herman and young gun McKennon Wimberly tied for 4th and 5th with 174.75; Reese Cates and Dustin Hall at 174.5; Josh Koschel in 8th (173.0); Brazilian Ednei Caminhas, who will retire at the end of this season, tied for 9th (172.75) with Clayton Williams.

While there is a mix of old and new in the lead in the average, Saturday night’s round belonged to Georgia’s Sean Willingham. Willingham set the pace early in the night with an 89.5 on Blizzard (Diamond S), and no one caught him the rest of the night. In the bull draft earlier in the day, Willingham chose the bull, looking for revenge for a previous buck off, and his choice paid off.

Splitting 2nd and 3rd in Saturday’s round were Caminhas and Austin Meier, each with an 89 point ride. Caminhas scored on Big Coyote (Berger) while Meier got his points on a re-ride aboard Palace Station Deuces Wild, after his first bull, Part Time (Hyland Cattle) failed to perform.

J B Mauney, in the last ride of the night, secured 4th place with 88.75 points on Bond, James Bond, after he couldn’t get out of the chute aboard his draft pick, McNasty (Big Bend/Flying 5 Rodeo Co.). Fifth place in the round went to Oliveira on Little Coyote (Berger), and Dustin Hall nailed down 6th on Rock Star (Diamond S). Brian Herman continued to show the style that earned his way back onto the BFTS tour with Why Not Minot for 87.5 points and a 7th place round score.

Zack Brown, who tied for the lead in Friday’s round one, made his position of picking second in Saturday morning’s draft pay off, covering Tighty Whitey (Hofer & Dennis) for 87.25 points and 8th place in the round. Although the ride ended with an ugly hangup, that took all three bull fighters to pull him loose, Brown walked away unscathed, and leading in the average. Brendon Clark, who split the round win with Brown on Friday, and chose first in the draft, didn’t meet the same success with Bad Medicine (Berger), bucking off in 2.5 seconds. Clark was the Enterprise Ride of the night, so the $5,000 check went to Berger Bucking Bulls.

Rounding out the top 10 in Saturday night’s round were: Helton Barbosa with 87 points on Mr. Deeds (Priest Creek Ranch) for 9th place, and a 10th through 12th place split at 86.5 points for McKennon Wimberly, Reese Cates and Guilherme Marchi, on Almost Famous (Chad Berger/Clay Struve), Hellfire (Corey & Horst) and Marcus (C & G Rodeo Livestock LLC) respectively.

The event will wrap up on Sunday afternoon at Metrapark at 2 p.m., with round 3 and the championship round. The threat of snowfall is unlikely to put a chill on the enthusiasm of the crowd, which proved much rowdier on Saturday night than their Friday night counterparts. A total of 18 riders will head into Sunday’s round with one score under their belts, and 15 riders will start round three scoreless. With 12 riders with two scores on the books already, it is unlikely that a rider will make it to the short-go on one bull, but stranger things have happened.