The PBR's last event of the year is the 4th win for Brown

By Mary Rudloff
Posted Sunday, October 18, 2009

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (Oct. 18, 2009) – For Zack Brown, the final PBR BFTS stop at the Mohegan Sun casino is all about “fours.”

Brown rode all four of his bulls in the three day event, to win his fourth BFTS event of the year. The win, and the points earned with it, leap-frogged Brown ahead of Valdiron de Oliveira in the BFTS points standings, landing him in – yes that’s right – fourth place in the race, heading into Vegas.

With the win, Brown collected a paycheck of $34,163.

At the same event, several other riders saw their dreams of making it to Las Vegas for the World Finals end in the dirt. For most – including Aussie Brendon Clark, who missed much of the season with a severe injury – it’s a lack of qualifier dollars.

For Ryan Dirteater, in his sophomore season, his dreams of the World Finals also ended in the dirt of the Mohegan Sun arena, but in a much more painful way. In Sunday’s round three. Dirteater won the round with an 87-pointer on “Country Boy” (Shane Gunderson). It was what happened after the 8-second mark that had Dirteater carried out of the arena, visibly in agony.

Dirteater’s spur hung in the rope and Dirteater went with it as the bull took off. The jerking motion, and the drag that followed, resulted in Dirteater dislocating his left knee. The injury knocks him out of the Finals, and he will be out of competition for an undetermined amount of time.

Having a rider at the BFTS cover all four bulls in a weekend is usually a guarantee of a finish at or near the top. At Mohegan Sun, however, where riders were hitting their groove like nothing else in preparation for the World Finals, nine riders rode all four of their bulls. Three more rode three of four, and of the 40 riders there, 35 of them rode at least one.

The most talked about part of the weekend is the race for the number one spot in the standings. Kody Lostroh has held the lead in the BFTS standings for 18 weeks, but in the past few weeks, Guilherme Marchi and JB Mauney have been slowly eating away at his lead.

This weekend, both chipped away even more, as they each rode all four of their bulls at Mohegan Sun. Marchi rode “Mayday” (5G Farms) in round three for 83.25 points (18th/19th place), and picking 6th in the championship round draft, rode “Scaredy Cat” (Dakota Rodeo/Denny Hawks) for 87 points (3rd/4th in the round). He finished the event in 5th place.

Mauney rode “Geronimo” (Jeff Robinson) in round three, tying Marchi for 83.25 points, and then picking second, took “Bush Baby” (Jeff Robinson) and scored 85 points (8th place) in the championship round. He finished the event in 4th place.

Lostroh rode a pair – in rounds two and three – but managed to hold onto his BFTS points lead, less than 300 points ahead of Marchi, and 785 ahead of Mauney. In the third round, Lostroh rode “Outsider” (Currey Creek) for 85.75 points (4th to 6th place). The score, when combined with round two, was enough for Lostroh to make it to the short-go on two. Picking 13th, he took “Hootie” (Robinson/ BarNone/ Hagen/ Patterson/ SkyHawk), but bucked off at 3.1 seconds, finishing the event in 13th place.

Aiming for Vegas

For some riders, the event was more about qualifying for the World Finals, and maybe winning some round money.

Mike White, who missed much of the season due to injuries, fell $6,500 short in qualifier dollars after riding only one bull this weekend. He failed to cover “Wolf” (Berger Bucking Bulls) in round 3. Brendon Clark also missed the cut for the Top 40 that head to Las Vegas, bucking off “Bad Timing Bo” (Bar M Ranch) in round 3 in 3.2 seconds.

White is sitting in 45th place in qualifier dollars, but with several of the riders ahead of him may not be able to compete due to injuries, so he may still make the finals. Clark is 48th in qualifier dollars. Travis Sellers, in 47th place in qualifier dollars, also didn’t make the most of a chance at four bulls this weekend, covering only one.

Round Three

In Sunday’s round three at Mohegan Sun, Dirteater took the win, before dislocating his left knee.

Second in the round was Pete Farley, riding “Walk the Line” (Dakota Rodeo/Clay Struve) for 86.5 points. He finished the event in 22nd place, with 176.5 points.

The third place slot in the round went to Ednei Caminhas, with 86.25 points on “Lacey Balls” (Dakota Rodeo/Lacey Berger/Struve). It was enough to get Caminhas the 15th spot in the championship round, where he had “Gator Bend” (Jeff Robinson). Caminhas made it to the 8-second mark, but was called for a slap at the 4.8 second mark.

Fourth through sixth in the round, at 85.75 points, was shared by Lostroh, Valdiron de Oliveira and Elliott Jacoby. Jacoby rode “Slim Biscuits” (Dakota Rodeo/Struve), and Oliveira covered “Wild Nights” (Danny Reagan).

Zack Brown and Ross Coleman split 7th and 8th place, with 85.5 points. Brown, who went on to cover all four of his bulls, rode “Wrangler Big Rig” (Robinson/ SkyHawk/ BarNone/ McNeelys/ Patterson) and Coleman beat “Black Snake” (Dakota/Struve).

A four way split of 9th through 12th place included Rocky McDonald, Shane Proctor, Robson Palermo and Dustin Elliott, each with 85.25 points. They rode “Painted Puppy” (Painted Pony Rodeo), “Fully Loaded” (Dakota/Struve), “Bikini Slingshot” (Bad Habetz) and “Frank the Tank” (Dakota/John & Lacey Berger/ Struve) respectively. McDonald and Palermo each went on to ride all four bulls this weekend.

A total of 24 bulls were ridden for qualified scores in the third round.

Championship Round

The championship round was won by Travis Briscoe, riding “Aerial Assault” (Sonny Williams) for 88.5 points. Briscoe picked 10th in the draft, and finished the Mohegan Sun Invitational in 10th place, having covered three bulls. Briscoe had also split the win in round one.

Second in the short-go was Mike Lee, riding “Hasta Luego” (J Robinson) for 88 points. Picking 9th in the draft, Lee finished the event in 7th place, having ridden all four bulls this weekend.

Marchi and countryman Robson Palermo split 3rd and 4th place in the championship round, at 87 points. Palermo, picking third in the draft, rode “Black Monday” (Bad Habetz) and finished second in the event. Marchi, picking sixth, rode “Scaredy Cat” and finished the event in 5th place.

Zack Brown and Rocky McDonald shared 5th and 6th place in the round, with 86.75 points. Brown, who led coming into the round and chose first, rode “Red Bull” (J Robinson) and McDonald chose 4th and rode “Sod Buster” (McNeill/Weeks). Brown won, and McDonald finished the weekend in third, also having ridden all four bulls.

Wiley Petersen finished the round in 7th, and the event in 6th place. Petersen rode “Strong Heart II” (Dakota/Struve) for 86 points in the short-go, having picked 7th in the draft.

JB Mauney rode to an 8th place finish in the short go, and 4th in the event.

Dusty Ephrom showed off his skills, finishing the championship round in 9th and 9th place in the event as well. He rode “Creation” (5G Farms) in the short go, and covered all four bulls in the weekend. Ephrom was riding to qualify for the World Finals, but it wasn’t yet announced if his $1,600 is enough to get him into the top 40 in qualifying dollars.

Tenth place in the short-go was Ryan McConnel, riding “Black Chrome” (5G Farms) for 77.75 points. He was given a re-ride option, but turned it down as he was riding hurt. He finished 8th in the event, having ridden all four bulls. He split the win in round two with Marchi.

An announcement is expected early in the week on www.pbrnow.com, regarding what riders qualified for the World Finals, which riders are the alternates and the status of riders currently injured.