PBR's debut in Albany NY brings a tie for the lead after round one

By Mary Rudloff
Posted Sunday, January 27, 2008

ALBANY – This historic city’s introduction to the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) came in wild style on Saturday, Jan. 26.

There were rides, wrecks, plenty of air time – by bulls, riders and at least one bullfighter - and the trend of a high number of qualified rides continued. The weather in the far northeastern corner of the state might be cold, but the PBR riders were hot. A total of 27 scores went into the books in the first round of the two-day event.

When the round closed out it was Australian Brendon Clark and points leader Travis Briscoe splitting first place honors in the round. Both riders put up 89.75 points, Clark aboard Blue Nose (C Berger/Struve) and Briscoe on Frank the Tank (J&L Berger/Struve).

Briscoe has been an unstoppable force, winning Worcester two weeks ago and then the one-day $100,000 winner-take-all in California last weekend. Although showing some signs of pain after getting off Frank the Tank, Briscoe’s riding style was centered and hard-spurring.

Third place in the standings at the end of the round is Missouri’s Luke Snyder. After a few up and down seasons, Snyder is hot this year, and scored 89.25 on High Test (Sonny Williams) as he not only keeps his consecutive event record growing, but is putting up some impressive numbers every week as well.

Rounding out the top five in the first round of Albany are the always smiling Cord McCoy, who is also riding on a hot streak, and crowd favorite and three time World Champion Adriano Moraes. McCoy scored 89 points on Bad Action (C Berger/Ryken), and Moraes drew cheers from the crowd with his 87.75 point ride on Blaze (Rafter R7).

Most bull riders at this weekend’s event would be thrilled to put up two scores on three bulls in the weekend. BFTS newcomer Reese Cates did it in one night. Reese was bucked off and received a reride on Red River Bob (Davis/Wilson/Mayo) as the bull practically stood on his head and nearly did a somersault, with Cates still aboard.

Cates got his second trip around the arena on the bull Texas, usually a rock-solid performer. Maybe Texas didn’t like New England’s cold temperatures, but the bull had an uncommonly lackluster out, and Cates received an 79.75 score and another reride option.

Cates, who finished strong in California last weekend, may still be new to the BFTS tour, but knew how to make the best of an opportunity presenting itself, and took the second reride on Rip & Dip. His determination paid off, as Cates was one of five riders to put up 85 point scores. Because of the large number of high-scoring rides, that 85 was enough for 20th place in the round, a spot Cates shared with Guilherme Marchi, Ned Cross, McKennon Wimberly and tour newcomer Jimmy Lathero, of Florida.

Up higher on the points standing, Kasey Hayes, Kody Lostroh and Austin Meier split sixth place, each with 87.5 points. Tour newbie Vince Northrup took an 80.25 pointer and turned it into a reride for 87.25 on Smiley for ninth. Tyler Smith and Mike White split 10th, each with 87 points.

Cates was not the only one to take advantage of a re-ride option. Oregon’s Ross Coleman, definitely a crowd favorite in Albany, went from a 79.25 on Bond, James Bond (C Berger/Ryken/Hawks) to 85.5 points on Cooter. That was enough to split15th place four ways with Sean Willingham, Colby Yates, LJ Jenkins and Robson Palermo. Yates’ score also came via a re-ride bull, Wildcat Blaine, after Indian Sports Blanket (McNeil/Weeks) tried to have Yates do a face-plant into the chute just as Yates nodded for the gate.

Not all rerides turned out so well. Dustin Hall was unable to capitalize on his reride on Cowboy Cut, bucking off at 6.6 seconds, after he scored 75.25 on Carlito’s Way (Davis/Wilson/ElCharro).

Nick Landreneau, last weekend’s winner in Sacramento, took the $5,000 Enterprise “Ride With the Best” prize, with an 84.5 pointer on Whammo (C Berger/Struve). Landreneau also to a re-ride option, but turned it down, choosing to stick with the guaranteed money. His 84.5 pointer sends him into round 2 in 25th place.

Bullfighter Darrell Diefenbach made his first regular season appearance in Albany. Diefenbach was called in for the event after veteran bull fighter Joe Baumgartner was thrown like a rag doll and landed head first last weekend in Sacramento. It was quite a welcome for Diefenbach as the bull Dismal Swamp Jack first took on bullfighter Frank Newsom, and then sent Diefenbach airborne and into the chute gates. Diefenbach walked away from the trouncing unscathed.

The large crowd in the Times Union Arena was enthusiastic and very vocal about their favorite riders and their feelings about some scores. Entertainer Flint Rasmussen fed off the crowd’s energy and treated them to some lively antics including take-offs on “Rocky” the upcoming American Kennel Club dog show, American Idol and pretty much anything else that popped into his head. Rasmussen sang, danced, even got pick-up man James DeBord’s horse to moonwalk with him, and also took some good-natured ribbing from arena announcer Brendon Bates about Flint’s 40th birthday yesterday (Thursday).

One lucky fan also walked away with tickets to the PBR World Finals – in Las Vegas starting Oct. 31 – when the festival of free stuff thrown (or shot) into the crowd included Enterprise t-shirts, one of which included a certificate for free Finals tickets.

The action will continue at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Times Union Arena for round two and the championship short-go, as Travis Briscoe looks for his third win early in the 2008 season, while co-leader Brendon Clark and 43 other riders look to slow the New Mexico redhead’s momentum down a little. Sunday’s round will wrap up what has been a month of PBR events in the cold and often snowy northeast corner of the country, that has seen three of the young season’s five events.