LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Viva Brasilia!
The country of Brazil, or at least several hundred of its natives, invaded the Thomas and Mack Center arena floor Saturday night during round six of the PBR World Finals.
Thankfully, they came in peace for the most part.
In a scene unlike anything in the 15 year history of the PBR, a few hundred Brazilians - and Brazil fans - came over the arena walls, and onto the arena dirt itself, on the split arena floor, at the start of section six in round six of the PBR World Finals.
They were there to cheer on and celebrate countryman Guilherme Marchi, who only had to make a qualified ride to clinch the 2008 PBR World Champion title.
For the rowdy crowd of fans in the arena, Marchi delivered. While his 87.5 point ride on Rewind (Mann Creek Cattle Co/Curtis Mend) only managed to tie Marchi for 12th through 14th place, it was the perfect ride for those fans that swarmed onto the center Enterprise stage and through the gates into the arena before Marchi was barely off his bull.
Marchi joined the fray of it all, climbing into the crowd of flag-waving friends and fans on the Enterprise stage, clutching a Brazil flag and celebrating seeing three years of being the runner-up coming to an end.
“Finally,” Marchi said in the post-round press conference. “This has been a great year for me. I tried so hard for the last three years. This has been my dream.”
The reality that, even though the event continues, the buckle is his hadn’t sunk in yet for Marchi.
“I do not feel like a world champion yet,” he said. “I need to ride two more bulls. I want to ride all my bulls here this week. I want to ride eight bulls and win the finals. I am close.”
With two rounds still to go on Sunday, the pressure is off Marchi now, as his long-awaited gold buckle is a guarantee. That doesn’t mean, however, he is going to slack off, as he also currently leads in the Finals average. With JB Mauney having his first buck off of the finals on Saturday night, Marchi is the only rider to have covered all six bulls so far.
“J.B. (Mauney) bucked off today a very good bull, and I have a chance,” Marchi said. “Two good friends retire this year, but I win this year. Justin told me last year ‘next year, that is your year.’”
If he clinches the World Finals average win, he would be only the second bull rider to double up and win both the world champion and the finals average. The other is Mike Lee, who accomplished the feat in 2004.
McBride and the Ride
While the spotlight was on Marchi at the end of the round, the entire night was about world champions, as four world champions – five including the soon to be crowned Marchi – put up qualified rides in round six.
Almost lost in the madness in the arena was the poignant note of soon-to-retire Justin McBride winning one more round.
McBride put up his fourth score of the finals, winning round six with 91.75 points on Scene of the Crash (Frontier/Teague/Ron White). The bull and rider had met up twice previously, with each taking away a victory, but on Saturday night McBride schooled the bull on how their ending should be written.
Although the draft has been in place for each round in this year’s World Finals, the pairing on Saturday night wasn’t McBride’s doing, as he has been having stock director Cody Lambert pick his bulls each time.
“Cody has been picking my bulls for me,” McBride said. “This was my third time. The first time I bucked off, and the second time I rode him. You can’t ask for a better bull than Scene of the Crash.
“I was happy to stay on him,” McBride added “Since I’ll be done riding tomorrow (Sunday), now I’ll always be better than Scene of the Crash.”
McBride said that, with retirement only two rounds away, Saturday night’s ride was as important as any he has taken.
“Tonight’s ride was just as important as any other time I ride,” he said. “I have tried to approach it that way all through my career. Every bull ride is the most important bull ride.”
McBride said he has done his best to not think about his retirement during the finals.
“I put retirement out of my mind this week. After I ride tomorrow, after that, I will think about it,” McBride explained.
The $25,000 in round money should serve as a nice kick off to the retirement.
More world champs, more scores
Right on McBride’s heels in round six was two time world champion Chris Shivers.
After being out of commission for much of the season, due to injuries, Shivers has been having a hot time in Las Vegas this week. Round six was no different, as Shivers posted 91 big points, claiming second in the round, on Devil’s Night (4C’s Bucking Bulls/Marvin Nixon).
The ride is Shivers’ fifth qualified ride of the six rounds of the finals so far. Saturday’s 2nd place brought Shivers $18,000, boosting his World Finals paycheck to $40,500 so far. At 451.25, Shivers is third in the average.
Two other world champs putting up scores in round six were the retiring Adriano Moraes, with 88 points on Husker’s Terror (Chad Berger/Jim Quintaine) to take 11th place in the round; and Ednei Caminhas who rode Party Time (Hebert Bucking Bulls) for 88.25 points, splitting 9th and 10th places with Cord McCoy, who rode Splatter (Don Kish Bucking Bulls).
The only other actively riding world champion, Mike Lee, couldn’t keep pace with his counterparts, getting bucked off Deja Blu (Teague Bucking Bulls) at the 6.6 second mark.
Outside of the world champion circles, there were plenty of scores put up, as a total of 16 riders made the eight-second mark in round six.
The Brazilians had a strong showing, as in addition to Marchi, Moraes and Caminhas, Robson Palermo took third in the round, with 90.5 points on Hot Stuff (Diamond S Bucking Bulls) and Valdiron de Oliveira split 5th and 6th, riding Sports Machine (Page/Buck/Watts) for 89.75 points. He split the spots with Brian Canter, who rode Zorro (Lufkin Ranch & Rodeo).
The rest of the rides were split between veterans and young guns. Daisy Rookie of the Year leader Reese Cates, who has been on fire with five qualified rides, took fourth in the round on Team Equine’s Evil Forces (Chad Berger/Clay Struve) for 90 big points.
Others posting scores were:
Zack Brown, who scored 89 points on reride bull High Lonesome, to finish the round in 7th. It was the fourth qualified ride for Brown, who got the reride after Southern Gangster (BRH Ranch/Pete Baker/Homestead Genetics) took a few flying leaps across the front of the chute gates, but never really committed to anything.
Wiley Petersen, riding Raisin McCain (Chad Berger) for 88.5 points, an 8th place finish;
Matt Bohon and Shane Proctor, who split 12th through 14th place with Marchi, each with 87.5 points. Bohon rode Splat Kat (Danny Lemmons), a re-ride, after Antonio (K&K Cattle Company) failed to perform. Proctor rode Mataska (Frontier/Teague), his 4th qualified ride of the finals;
Sean Willingham finished 15th, riding Blue Boy (Chad Berger/Roger Ward) for 87 points, and Kody Lostroh finished out the qualified rides, finishing 16th with 86.75 points on Claim Jumper (Beutler & Son Rodeo Co.). It was Lostroh’s third score of the finals, and Willingham’s second.
JB Mauney’s wild ride through the finals, including three round wins, hit a bump in the road in round six, as Mauney had his first buck-off of the finals. He came off Red Light (Frontier/Teague) in 2.2 seconds. He stands in 2nd place in the average, and is one of four riders that have five qualified rides, and still have a shot at catching Marchi in that race.
With the world champion title already signed, sealed and delivered to Marchi, the finals average race, rookie of the year contest and bull of the year are the only real surprises for Sunday’s final rounds.
On the injury front, Brendon Clark’s match up with More Bucks (Jaynes/Peterson/Mansour/Langhans/Nelson/Teague) ended at the 2.2 second mark, but that was plenty of time for the bull to go horns to head with Clark. After being down in the arena for several minutes, the helmet-wearing Clark was reported to have a concussion, and was bloody-faced leaving the arena with assistance.
LJ Jenkins, who has been riding with a painful groin injury throughout the finals, bucked off Bust-a-Move in 3.4 seconds, and then needed assistance to get out of the arena.
The 2008 PBR World Finals concludes at the Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday morning, with rounds seven and then eight starting time at 11:30 a.m. (Pacific time). The bull riders will then have a much needed break, until Jan. 2, when the race for the 2009 PBR title begins in Baltimore, Md.
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