It's all about hang time and crash landings in round two of the PBR World Finals

By Mary Rudloff
Posted Sunday, October 28, 2007

LAS VEGAS – How high can you fly, and how hard can you land?

Round two of the 2007 PBR World Finals on Saturday night was all about high flying bulls sending some hard-fighting bull riders airborne. Then, in many cases, the bulls were adding insult to injury by trying to run over the riders once they crashed back to Earth.

Saturday night at the PBR Finals at Mandalay Bay means the rank pen of bulls, and even the term "rank" downplayed some of the trips the top 45 bull riders in the world got to take tonight. Bulls including Copperhead Slinger, Chicken on a Chain, Walk This Way and the always wild Reindeer Dippin got the crowd wound up. Qualified rides were few and far between but the wild herd running through Mandalay made them even sweeter for the riders and the fans.

When the dust settled, round two went to a blazing Brazilian, Guilherme Marchi. The perennial PBR Finals bridesmaid showed he is making a full out run at the World Champion title that slipped through his fingers in 2005 and 2006. With a 90.75 pointer aboard Firewater (Big Bend/Flying 5 Rodeo Co.), Marchi became one of seven riders to put his second score in a row on the board. Firewater gave Marchi enough points to squeak by Colorado’s Kody Lostroh in the round and pocket the $20,000 check.

Lostroh showed Friday night’s 90.5 point ride was no accident, when he matched it Saturday night aboard Savage Shaker (Page and Buck). Lostroh – who won an impressive three rounds at last year’s World Finals – took second place both nights this weekend, but stands at number 1 in the average.

Brazilian Renato Nunes – Friday night’s winner – stayed out of Spiderman’s (Chad Berger/Larry Ryken) web on Saturday, for 86.75 Saturday, which was good enough for 8th place, and sits second in the average just three points behind Lostroh.

In a surprising turn, points leader Justin McBride went 0-for-2 on the weekend so far, bucking off Gnash (Rafter 7R) in just 2.8 seconds Saturday. Gnash is the bull that, in Chihuahua in August, bucked McBride off in the ride that resulted in his shoulder dislocation.

McBride has to feel both JB Mauney and Marchi breathing down his neck as the number 2 and 3 points holders both have ridden both bulls and are closing the points gap on the seemingly untouchable McBride. Mauney put up 89 points on Shanghai (Diamond S) on Saturday, and is sitting fourth in the overall Finals standings, right behind Marchi. Mauney has earned 476 points so far, while Marchi – with his win Saturday night – has gained 597.25.

Rounding out the top ten in the Finals standings, after the first two rounds are Matt Bohon in 5th; Brian Canter in 6th; soon to retire Tater Porter in 7th; Austin Meier in 8th; Travis Briscoe in 9th and Hugo Pedrero in 10th. Pedrero, Briscoe and Montana’s Beau Hill (14th place) have also put up scores in both rounds.

Also with qualified rides in round two were Cole Taylor (88.25) on Cow Pix (Frontier); and Dustin Hall (83) on Big Mack (Chad Berger/Clay Struve).

Despite more than a few high flying buck offs, hard crash landings, a few seconds-long ropeless rides, and bulls looking for revenge after buck offs, all of the riders left the arena under their own power. With less than 24 hours before the next round starts on Sunday afternoon, and with the rankest of the rank bucking on Saturday night, that proved to be a good sign, even as a few riders exited with limps they didn’t come in with and are sure to be more than a little sore in a few hours.

Always a group that loves a big show, the PBR kicked off Round Two to a packed house in Mandalay Bay with pyrotechnics, an Army a capella group, a slightly overzealous smoke machine and even glow in the dark bulls.

As part of the opening, several of the rank pen bulls were turned loose in the smoke-filled arena. It proved an eerie sight to see their horns and brand marks painted on their hind quarters glowing in the dark. In what has to be one of the less enviable jobs of the PBR, the bulls were "painted" to glow before the event’s start.

Round three wraps up the first weekend of bucking on Sunday afternoon. The action will resume Thursday with rounds four through eight taking place at the Thomas and Mack Arena, on the campus of UNLV. It was announced Friday night that, while the two-weekend format will continue, next year all of the action will be moving to the Thomas and Mack.