21-year old bull rider JB Mauney keeps adding to his buckle collection

By Mary Rudloff
Posted Friday, November 7, 2008

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The 2008 PBR World Finals may bring Brazilian bull rider Guilherme Marchi his long awaited World Champion buckle, but the finals themselves are all about J.B. Mauney.

The North Carolina kid has taken three of the four rounds at the World Finals so far, and finished 12th in the other round. Mauney’s 93.75 pointer on Crosswired (D&H Cattle Co.) on Thursday’s round four was the one ride of the night that brought the crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center to their feet, and with good reason.

The 21-year old from Mooresville, N.C. has been giving his fellow riders a schooling on how to win the PBR Finals. The 2006 rookie of the year has been on fire, and using the bull draft for each round to take some of the toughest bulls guaranteed to give Mauney a shot at the highest scores in the round if he made his ride.

And he just keeps making that 8-second mark.

Mauney is one of two bull riders – the other being Marchi – to have ridden all four bulls so far. The differences between the two riders, however, appears to be that Mauney is picking to win each round and Marchi, while picking some pretty good bulls, seems to be picking to ride and hold onto his long-pursued World Championship title. It’s an understandable strategy for Marchi, who has finished second for the past three years and has held on to a sizeable points lead through much of the season.

Marchi should be thankful, however, that the World Finals are more than half way through or he’d have to worry about Mauney sneaking in and pulling that gold buckle out from under him. Mauney has racked up the most points at the Finals so far – 1,567.25 – along with $85,000. His round four win sent him shooting past Kody Lostroh and Valdiron de Oliveira, the pair of riders that have been Marchi’s biggest threats heading into the finals. Marchi, however, still holds a $3,922.5 point lead over Mauney, with Lostroh and Oliveira not far behind.

While Mauney is stealing all the big prize money, he isn’t the only rider to put up big numbers in round four. Brazilian Robson Palermo was 2nd in the round, with 92.75 points on Hot Stuff (D&H Cattle Co.), which put an $18,000 check in his pocket. It was Palermo’s third qualified ride in four rounds.

Right behind him was Mighty Mike White, riding Maverick (Lufkin Ranch & Rodeo) for 92.25 points and a $12,000 payday. White also has three qualified rides, having bucked off only in round two last weekend.

Renato Nunes is having a solid finals, having earned $40,000 already. The back-flipping Brazilian went for a rematch of his record-setting ride on Chicken on a Chain (Robinson/Tedesco/Larry the Cable Guy), and again conquered the bull, scoring 91.25 points.

Fifth man on the board was Fort Worth cowboy Colby Yates, who also hit the 90-point mark in the round, riding Mission Accomplished (Diamond S Bucking Bulls) to hit the 90-point mark dead center.

Other qualified rides in round four were:

6th, Kasey Hayes riding El Presidente for 89.75 points;

7th/8th, split between Marchi on Outa Da Blue (Circle T Ranch & Rodeo) and Rookie of the Year candidate Reese Cates, who rode Red Bull (Teague Bucking Bulls, LLC) for 89.25 points, his third score of the finals;

9th, Mike Lee scoring 88.25 on Black Bend (Kevin Pool Bucking Bulls), his 3rd qualified ride;

10th, 38-year old veteran Brian Herman, who put up his first qualified ride of the finals with 88 points aboard Holy Smoke (D&H Cattle/Harrison);

11th, Wiley Petersen, riding Red Kat for 87.5 points, his second score of the finals;

12th Clayon Foltyn, riding Cactus (Davis/Wilson/Mayo/Hooker) for 85.75 points, his first score of the finals.

Twelve qualified rides in the round is the lowest number for the finals thus far. Still scoreless in the finals so far are: Dustin Elliott, who has dropped to 11th in the year’s points standings; 2002 world champ Ednei Caminhas, now sitting in 13th in the world championship race; Nick Landreneau, Clayton Williams and Bryan Richardson.

The draft for round five bulls was held Friday morning at the PBR Fan Zone and Marketplace, at Mandalay Bay, with Mauney choosing first and Bryan Richardson, retiring three time world champ Adriano Moraes and Georgia rider Sean Willingham at the bottom of the list.