LAS VEGAS, Nevada (November 5, 2009) – Bull riding fans really couldn’t ask for much more than they are getting from the top two riders in the PBR.
JB Mauney and Kody Lostroh are both at the top of their game, each having ridden all his bulls so far at the PBR World Finals. And now, each has won a round.
Round four of the PBR World Finals, on Thursday night at the Thomas and Mack Center, went to Lostroh, who, on the last ride of the night, blew the roof off the T&M with a 90.25 pointer on “Mission Accomplished” (4L & Diamond S Rodeo).
A fitting name for the bull that helped Lostroh stay ahead of Mauney, who finished the round in second place. Mauney scored 89 points on “Fire Plug” (K&K Cattle Co.)
With that finish, Lostroh manages to stay ahead of Mauney so far, with three rounds and the short-go still to go. The lead isn’t big – 480.5 points separate the two riders – so if either stubs his toe, the other could take a big jump forward.
Right now, Mauney has accumulated more points – 1483 to Lostroh’s 1178.5, including bonus points in the rounds – and more money - $58,000 to Lostroh’s $43,000. Lostroh came into the PBR Finals with the lead however, and has hung on tight. Mauney also leads the entire event in the average right now, with 358 points (based on scores alone), followed by Lostroh and Valdiron de Oliveira, who are tied with 353.5 points each.
The pair of riders closed out the night with a bang, after the majority of the round produced only a whimper ride-wise. There were only 10 qualified rides from the 40 riders, and five of those scores came in the last six rides of the night. The night started out looking solid, with two scores on the board in the first five riders.
The first rider putting up points was Ednei Caminhas, riding “Splat Kat” (Danny Lemmons) for 84.75 points. After an ugly riding arm injury in Sunday’s round, it was good to see Caminhas riding at all, and he clutched his arm in pain after jumping off “Splat Kat.” The deep bruises visible during the break between weekends attested to his injury, but Caminhas now has two scores in the books.
He was followed immediately by Ben Jones, who scored an 80.75 pointer on “For Real” (Teague Bucking Bulls), but Jones got hit with a judge’s review, for a possible slap with his free arm. When it was ruled he hadn’t slapped the bull, Jones then got a re-ride option, which he accepted. Unfortunately his re-ride on “Chance” (Teague) didn’t pay off, as he bucked off at 7.3 seconds. Jones is scoreless so far in the World Finals.
Besides Lostroh and Mauney, only two other riders came into Thursday’s round four having ridden all of their bulls up to that point: Valdiron de Oliveira and Robson Palermo, last year’s PBR World Finals average winner. Oliveira kept that streak alive, finishing third in the round, riding “Copp Hou” (Lightning C Cattle Co.) for 88.25 points. That is the same bull Lostroh rode to a second place finish last Sunday, when his score was 91 points. Oliveira picked up a $12,000 paycheck.
It looked like Palermo (Sunday’s round winner) would also keep his four-for-four status, when he was still aboard “Keepsake” (Circle T Ranch & Rodeo) at the 8-second buzzer, but a judge called for a review for a possible free-arm slap, and the ruling went against Palermo. It cost him points and a $5,000 bonus, as the “Enterprise Ride with the Best” check went to the contractor.
Fourth in Thursday’s round went to Canadian Aaron Roy, riding “Migraine” (Silverado Rodeo Co.) for 87.5 points. It was Roy’s third score of the Finals, and his first trip to the pay window, picking up $10,000.
Fifth was Caleb Sanderson, who got his first qualified ride of the World Finals in a big way, riding “Neon Ghost” (Jeff Robinson/Bryan Smith/Bar None) for 87 points and a $5,000 check. His and Roy’s rides came after a scoreless streak in the round that ran 10 riders long.
Austin Meier finished 6th in the round on “Flashpoint” (Teague) for 86.75 points. “Flashpoint” was a re-ride bull for the Oklahoman, after “Perfect Poison” (Boyd Floyd Bull Co.) was difficult in the chutes, then leapt out high and flung itself down on its side – with Meier still tied on – as soon as the chute gate opened.
In fact, bulls behaving badly, particularly in the chutes, appeared to be a theme running through the entire night. Meier, when he nodded for “Flashpoint,” took the bull when it was laying down in the chute. Several bull riders were saved from potentially serious injuries by their helmets, as several bulls took lunging jumps forward in the chute, bringing the riders’ faces precariously close to or in contact with the cross bar of the chute.
Dustin Elliott didn’t let bad tempered bulls distract him, riding for 86 points and a 7th place in round four. Elliott rode “Derringer” (Lufkin Ranch/K&K Cattle), son of the bull Zorro, which was also bucked that night and is retiring after the finals. It was Elliott’s third qualified ride in four rounds, securing him a spot in 7th in the average standings so far.
Eighth in the round was Ryan McConnel, with 85.75 points on “Bad Action” (Dakota Rodeo/Clay Struve). It was McConnel’s third qualified ride of the finals, and he has been leap-frogging over riders since round one, now in fifth place in the World Champion standings, and fifth in the World Finals average.
With Caminhas finishing the round in ninth, the final qualified ride Thursday night went to 2004 World Champion and World Finals average winner, Mike Lee. Lee rode “Bahada” (K&K Cattle Co.) for 83.25 points, his second score of the finals.
While the battle between Lostroh and Mauney shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone who has been watching the PBR all season, what is a surprise to most everyone is reigning world champion Guilherme Marchi. Marchi, who came into the World Finals second in the standings, has dropped to third, about 1,000 points behind Mauney who had spent the latter half of the PBR season chasing the Brazilian. The biggest surprise is that Marchi has yet to cover his first bull. In fact, none of Marchi’s rides have even reached the four-second mark. On Thursday, he was stung by “Stinger” (Hebert Hucking Bulls/Colin McTagg) at the 3.1 second mark. That leaves Marchi again low in the bull draft for Friday’s round five, picking 31st.
Marchi isn’t the only rider having a less than stellar World Finals however. He is one of 11 riders – out of the top 40 – that has not yet made a qualified ride. Joining him in that less than desired distinction is two time world champion Chris Shivers; Zack Brown who closed out the regular season with a win at Mohegan Sun but is visibly in pain when riding; veteran 39-year old Brian Herman, who spent most of the summer recovering – including two surgeries - from significant facial injuries he sustained at a bull riding in Australia; former Rookie of the Year race leader Skeeter Kingsolver; Ben Jones, who took a score off the board Thursday night; Sean Willingham; Renato Nunes and Wiley Petersen. Cody Campbell and Bryan Richardson are also scoreless so far.
Another 16 riders have put a single qualified ride in the books, out of the four rounds already completed.
On Thursday, the shortest ride of the night honors – leaving him with the leftovers in the draft for round five – went to Luke Snyder, who bucked off “Red Bone” (Hebert) at the 1.6 second mark.
Competition continues at the Thomas and Mack Center, on the campus of UNLV, with round five on Friday, Nov. 6, starting at 6 p.m., with most of the “Bull of the Year” candidates expected to be in the pen.
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