Round 2 of the PBR World Finals on the campus of UNLV at the Thomas and Mack had an eerie feel to it. I suppose the fact that it was Halloween night and the night we set our clocks back had something to do with it. The talk outside the T & M was how Cody Lambert set this pen of bulls up to be the monsters of the midway. They were just that and his blog on the pbrnow website was scarily perfect.
Looking at the matchups and how the cowboys picked their rides, Lambert predicted there would be about 10 qualified rides and that the fortunate ones to ride would be near the 90 point mark. He was dead on, as the evening got underway and fans didn't witness a qualified bull ride until the lucky number 13. That happened to be one of RodeoAttitude's favorites, Nebraska cowboy Dustin Elliott of North Platte. Dustin rode to 86.25 on Lucky Strike (David Bailey), a bull that won the bucking bull of the world finals a few years ago. I don't believe Lucky Strike had its regular trip but it helped Dustin get on the board. He would watch 9 other guys ride their bulls and Elliott finish in the 10th position tonight, and out of the pay window.
Shane Proctor continued his winning ways with a 88.75 on King of Hearts of Corey & Horst. The northwestern cowboy rode the bull from the northwest, and teamed up to finish in the 5th position, good enough for a $5,000 dollar pay day.
It wasn't until we were all the down to the 27th cowboy to nod his head that we would witness a bull ride we all paid to see. That's right, we were 2 for 26 and then Pete Farley pulled his rope onto the back of Bones, the 2008 PBR World Champion bucking bull of Teague Bucking Bulls. The Austrailian would match every move that the world champ would kick at him and they turned in a confetti flying 93.25 to earn the kid some cash, $25,000 to be exact. Farley would take that score with him to the locker room and then watch the next 15 take their shots - and those 15 happened to be the top 15 cowboys in the world.
The smallest cowboy Brian Canter would last 2.0 seconds on Chicken on a Chain. LJ Jenkins put together an 88 point ride, which would end up tonight in the 9th hole. The Edgewood New Mexico cowboy, Travis Briscoe, would pick himself up off the arena floor to find a 7.7 on the scoreboard and would hit the buzzer to send it to the replay official. After concluding it was indeed a 7.7, Briscoe would have a $500 fee to pay the PBR, as the rule states.
Chris Shivers lasted 1.6 on Major Payne, Sean Willingham was 1.8 on Big Tex, and Wiley Petersen was close with his 6.8. The Brazilian Renato Nunes would last 1.9 on Yellow Jacket Jr.
It was the Oklahoma talent Austin Meier who broke the streak of one jump rides when he said when to the bull Say When of Martinez Bucking Bulls for 88.25 and would split 7th and 8th place and wind up outside the money spots.
Bulls 32 - Bullriders 5
The eveing had really come down to the final seven cowboys. Who was going to take control of this night?
Due to the round one win last night, JB Mauney wasn't in his normal position of 3rd to the last guy to ride because of the "Enterprise Ride with the Best" position. There's something about JB's confidence right now. He is certainly showing no signs of the pressure as he picked Troubadour of Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls. Mauney has already ridden him twice previously - once last year here at the Finals and again in Reno NV this year to win that event. His 91.25 would earn him another $15,000 for the go-round and $5,000 for the Enterprise bonus and Mauney would be the 3rd cowboy to ride both bulls so far. Dustin Elliott and Shane Procter (Mauney's brother in law) happen to be the other 2 individuals to have covered both their bulls. JB has won $45,000 in 16 seconds of work and we still have 6 rounds left. With his ride tonight he moved closer to the much talked about points race to the million dollar bonus and the coveted World Championship buckle. He is now within 126 points of being the leader of the race and crossed the $400,000 dollar mark for this year.
Robson Palermo would ride Super Duty of D & H Cattle to 88.50 and Ryan McConnel hasn't let his accident in his truck overshadow any part of his 2009 World Finals. Ryan's 91.25 would be enough points to split 2nd/3rd with JB Mauney tonght and McConnel became the 5th man to ride both bulls.
Valdiron De Oliveira would continue his hot streak on Spit Fire and matched jump for jump with him for a 90.50 and set the confetti in the stands to become the 6th man to ride both his bulls.
Then it was Zack Brown's turn and it didn't appear we would see any of the final 7 guys hit the arena floor early. However, Zack Brown (the bullrider, not the country singer) was short handed on Sure Fire and lasted 1.1 seconds.
Guillherme Marchi hasn't looked like the 2008 World Champion, as he was sent flying in 3.7 seconds on a bull named Charmed I'm Sure.
Kody Lostroh has some work to do but he was all business tonight as he put together an 8 second ride on Lone Star of Jeff Robinson/Bar None. His efforts tonight would get him 88.25 points and Kody would finish splitting the round with Austin Meiers 88.25.
As I sit in the press room this evening, to crunch the numbers and finalize my story, I found something interesting enough that I wanted to bring to your attention that might put this bull riding round in perspective. All the talk about the rank pen of bulls and the best cowboys in the world, but I must tell you that after watching 44 cowboys - which equals 352 seconds, 8 seconds at a time - you've read the 1.1, 1.8, 3.7, and so on and all the quick buck offs tonight. Here's the fact: of the 352 seconds, with the 10 qualified rides, that's 80 seconds....the other 34 cowboys only rode a combined 61.7 seconds...That's a staggering statistic and my hat's off the the pen of bulls tonight. They came to work!!!
This is why it's the greatest sport on dirt and we'll see a different story tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. Seven cowboys have ridden both their bulls so far, and 14 riders have gotten at least one ridden in Vegas. Tonight it was an Austrailian Pete Farley to get his first ever go round win and the race has gotten tighter between the contenders. Round 3 is set for 3pm tomorrow and the rodeoattitude crew is headed to Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino for the after party and draft.
JW Kinder
Professional Rodeo Announcer
Casper, Wyoming
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