NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 14, 2009) – The temperatures in Nashville are sizzling, and so are the bulls of the Professional Bull Riders on this hot August night.
The bull riders themselves? Not so much, at least the majority of them. Thankfully the riding percentage jumped up late in round one of the PBR’s Jack Daniels Invitational at the Sommet Center, so the fans got what they were looking for: some good rides.
The bulls certainly gave the fans their money’s worth all night long.
And some of the riders came through early.
Others, however, are still mired in the summer doldrums, with five of the top 40 riders at the event not even making the two-second mark. Sometimes it was the bull causing the quick end to the rides, as Cody Lambert put together an awesome pen for the first night for Stop 25 in Nashville. But too often tonight, the ride ended early because the rider fell off, popped off or, it appeared in a few cases, jumped off well before the eight-second mark.
Come on guys, rides like that aren’t going to get you to Vegas!
Round one started off promisingly enough, with Dustin Elliott putting a score on the board three rides into the event. Elliott took that 70.25 pointer right back down, accepting a re-ride option after “Nerve Struck” (Frontier Rodeo Co.) had done little more than take a few bounding leaps across the front of the chute gates.
It looked like the night was starting solid, as two rides later, Ryan Dirteater put 83.75 points up aboard “White Trash” (Teague Bucking Bulls LLC), a bull that gave Dirteater some major fan-loving airtime, but not much else. Dirteater, who hung onto 10th place with that score at the night’s end, was followed by Caleb Sanderson, on “Haymaker,” another Teague bull. The rookie got a lowly 77.5 points, and no re-ride option.
The momentum came to a screeching halt on the next ride, when Clayton Baethge got called for a foul (spurs in the rope, apparently) as soon as the chute gate swung open, making it a short night for Booker T (Teague). He was followed by a few buck-offs, including the first ride back in competition for Brendon Clark, since he sustained serious injuries in Iowa in May. The crowd cheered loudly for the Aussie when he was ready to ride, but when he popped off “LD” (Walton & Wagner) at the 5.3 second mark, landing on his feet, the crowd was fairly silent. Hopefully the ride shook some cobwebs off for Clark.
After a few more buck-offs, fan favorite Cord McCoy brought out some cheers, riding “Shane” (Hebert Bucking Bulls) for 86.25 points, enough to carry him through the round in 7th place overall. Then it was former world champion Ednei Caminhas who, after being cut, fought his way back onto the BFTS tour with six lower tour wins this year. He continued to show he can ride, scoring 85.75 points on “Raspberry” (Renegade Rodeo Co.), for 8th in the round.
Canadian Dusty Ephrom gave the crowd one more reason to cheer, with a 81.5’er on “Super Deuce” (Carter/Tedesco) before another round of buck-offs began.
Breaking the cycle of five straight scoreless rides was Cody Ford, who cleaned up with Booger Butt (Jeff Robinson/Mike Tedesco/Larry the Cable Guy/Bar None) for an 88.5 point round winner and a $2,730 paycheck.
Skeeter Kingsolver, who likely took the lead in the Rookie of the Year race tonight, followed Ford with an 86.5 pointer on “Little Bo” (4Cs/Barker) and 6th place in the round.
The momentum came to a crashing halt, when the crowd then watched ten straight buck-offs. It started when Dustin Elliott’s reride on “Wrangler Big Rig” made it 7.1 seconds, before the bull got Elliott stretched out and sent him flying out the back door. Following Elliott’s scoreless trip with their own were alternate Bryan Richardson, Luke Snyder, Pete Farley, Kasey Hayes, Aaron Roy (who missed out on a $5,000 Enterprise payday), Chris Shivers and Austin Meier. Even invoking the power of being home-state boys couldn’t help either Cody Nance of Paris, Tenn., or much loved Cory Rasch. Nance got trounced by his bull “Rebel Yell” (Boyd Floyd Bull Co.) after getting bucked off, and “Pistolero” (Boyd Floyd) made quick work of Rasch, jerking him down at 1.3 seconds.
Georgia rider Sean Willingham broke the rideless streak, earning 87.25 points on “Fire & Flame” (Frontier Rodeo Co.), and split 3rd/4th place in the round with Valdiron de Oliveira, who helped close out the night on another Frontier bull, “Alligator Chomp.”
After “Flashpoint” made quick work of Brian Canter, Wiley Petersen made the 8.0 second mark, but the clock stopped at 1.8 seconds, because Petersen was called for a slap when “Western Star” threw a few fancy moves at him.
The crowd, obviously feeling slightly ride-deprived, got loud and rowdy for Ryan McConnel’s 87-pointer on “Desperado” (Boyd Floyd), filling the fifth place spot in the round.
After Robson Palermo couldn’t get it done on “Git-R-Done” (Jeff Robinson/Larry the Cable Guy), it was time for a few more rides to close out the night.
Zack Brown looked in great form and brought life back to the crowd, riding “Buffalo Hump” (Hebert Bucking Bulls) for 87.75 points, a 2nd place finish in the round. Reigning world champion Guilherme Marchi used “Money Maker” (Frontier) to make his move past JB Mauney in the race to the World Finals, now claiming the number two spot in the overall points standings.
Mauney couldn’t hold his ground, getting grounded by “Stiffler” (Boyd Floyd) at the 6.8 second mark.
The night came down to Kody Lostroh. For every action there is a reaction, at least when it comes to Lostroh and bulls, and the leader in the race to Vegas and a world championship found a small glimmer of light on “Total Darkness” (4Cs/Sills/Burba) for a less than sterling but still solid 81.0 pointer, the 13th qualified ride of the night.
Here’s hoping Sunday afternoon finds more riders ready to show why they deserve to be in the hunt for a spot in the PBR World Finals in October. Blame it on the heat, the humidity, the strong pen of bulls or the time off between BFTS events, but round one of the Jack Daniels Invitational definitely went to the bulls.
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