When the dust settled at the PBR's first event of the season,it was former World Champion Mike Lee who claimed the event title. Mike made a great 90.25 ride aboard Hot Stuff who took two long leaps out before spinning fast to the left into Mike's hand while Mike spurred aggressively. The crowd roared their approval when the score was announced.Mike had 261 points on three head and was all smiles as Leah Garcia interviewed him.He told her he was starting the year the right way and talked about the things he did to stay busy and active.Mike Lee now is in first place in the standings with Paolo Crimber and Adriano Moraes right behind him with Brian Canter knocking on their back door.Lee is 93 points ahead of Crimber who is just ten points ahead of three time PBR World Champion Adriano Moraes.Then Lee's lead widens to 108.5 over Canter.Its anyone's ball game after the first event and it will be interesting to see who's in first after the second event.Is this the year Mike Lee repeats as PBR World Champ?Will it be Adriano Moraes' fourth win?Or after 8 years on tour will Paolo Crimber take home the gold?Paolo says he is aiming for it. Don't count out the rest of the pack in the top ten. Canter might make it his first World Title. Travis Briscoe is only 124.25 behind Lee.
With riders who are right up on their game like Robson Palermo,two time World Champion Chris Shivers,Kody Lostroh ,Wiley Petersen. and Luke Snyder this is going to be quite a race for the gold unless the inane new formats ruin the race.I am talking about the draft which will be used at three day events and the winner take all events.The latter is by far the most unfair because it gives one rider a major advantage over the other riders when it comes to the qualifier standings.I have always spoken out against the way the PBR has qualified riders for years because I do not think its fair that riders who have been on the BFTS all season can be cut from the Finals by riders who might have never been on the tour but made all their money in the touring pro divisions.Touring pro money should qualify you for the CT Finals only and then invite the top 5 from that who are not already on the BFTS to the Finals.This new "winner take all" means that one rider will win $100,000 at the specified events and the rest of the riders will get zilch!No long go winner,no short go winner.No payouts to anyone but the event winner.You can have 15 riders who ride all their bulls but they receive zero.I am really surprised riders agents have not threatened a walk out as would happen in major league sports.Could you see it if say only the quarterback on the winning team got paid all season.Ok , so the players in major sports are under contract but look at the PGA,look at NASCAR,look at all other competitive sports.There would be cries of unfair practice coming from all the other participants.Then the draft.No one likes that idea.Again,unfair advantage.Anyone can buck off in round one but the draft might keep those riders from getting a bull they could score on in the subsequent rounds.The guys at the top of the leaderboard will pick the best bulls to score on.If I were in charge I'd be firing whomever came up with these ideas.The fans hate the ideas and without fans you have nothing.
And who is the clown who came up with the idea to run the bulls from 15th street to 17th street at Union Square as part of the promotion for the MSG event?Especially not knowing if the streets will be slick or not. I hate it when the people from PETA and SHARK demonstrate but whomever the dummy is who came up with this idea is just inviting them to demonstrate. This is NYC,not Pamplona or Chihuahua.This is pavement not dirt roads !Pavement which regardless of weather conditions if a bull urinates or defecates it can cause a slippery problem for the rest of the herd. And you never know what people in NY may do.Some may feel this is like Spain and try and jump over barricades;and if they are the usual barricades the bulls can take them down.Then having 10 top riders on horseback "trying to stay in the saddle against a bevy of bulls" as the PBR has put it is out and out STUPID! If city noises panic the bulls-STAMPEDE! And the way some of these bulls go after the outriders in the arena.Get real everyone.I am praying there are no injuries to riders or bulls or bystanders.My own bulls are not wild and crazy and I know when I move them from one side of the road to pasture on the other what they are like. They will run up road banks etc so be prepared .
Getting back to the Atlanta event; it was a weekend of Champions doing it right. Adriano Moraes was flawless as he topped all three of his bulls. He was happy and having fun and was the first man to ride both his second round bull and the short go bull who had been unridden till Adriano mounted them in Atlanta. Adriano tied for 2/3 with fellow Brazilian Paolo Crimber who feels that, after 8 years on the tour this might be his year to win the World Title.
Chris Shivers looked great this weekend although our ABA 2007 Bull of The Year, The Game(Brandon Gaspar) bucked him off in the short go.Super rider against a super bull.The Game is hard enough to ride if you are a bigger rider but this big bull has so much power that smaller riders like Shivers and Brian Canter would have little to no chance on him.He's no day off for anyone but he is a good, power packed honest bucker.
Kody Lostroh led the pack coming into the second round with 88.50.He rodeThrillville who spun to the left into his hand for 85.50 in round two and he was awarded the Enterprise $5000 bonus.I must have missed something because in round one Wiley was awarded the bonus as he won the event title at the Finals.I had not seen anything about a change in those rules but Lostroh,who won round one here was allowed to be the Enterprise Bonus rider in round two.Maybe this is yet another change and next week Mike Lee only gets to ride for that in round one.I sure don't know but then I still am really confused with the way the rerides have been handled too.When a bull does not hip himself and a rider scores 80 or over and he gets a reride when another rider with a 76.5 does not..... That did happen this weekend. At anyrate Lostroh had 174 on two and was second in the standings so he went on to face Hot Pistol in the short go who bucked him off as he leaped forward .
Chris Shivers went into the short go in the lead with 174.50 on two head and because the "first to fail" has been dropped the fans were on the edge of their seats right down to the last ride of the Short Go. Chris rode Diamond S' Big Iron for 88 points and second place in round two and looked great aboard the bull.The bull spun to the right away from Chris' hand and he was picture perfect.When Leah interviewed him he said "It feels good. I'm just having fun on these bulls and I'm riding them jump for jump."Chris ,like Adriano and Wiley has gone back to basics and it sure is paying off.Its no shame to buck off of The Game.He's going to be a bull to reckon with now that he's in the PBR.He spun to the left with speed and power into Chris' hand but had him off at 4.3.The Game might have been our 2007 ABA Bull of The Year but you may be looking at the PBR's next World Champion bull! The Game had the high bull score of the event with 45.5..
VS. didn't show Greg Potter's round two winning ride on Woodruff/XS Ranch Red Chester for 88.5 but the score was enough to get Greg into the short go on one head. Unfortunately Train Wreck had Greg right off and he finished in 14th place.Brian Canter was third in round two with 87 aboard Hebert's Start Me Up who faked right then spun left into Brian's hand with good spur action. Brian went into the short go with 170 on two head.He made a good ride on Boyd/Floyd's Lost In Paradise who spun to the left into Brian's hand then jumped out of the spin and reversed right. Brian scored 87.50 points and was 4th in the event and the round..Two time World Champion Mike Lee tied with Valderon de Olivero in round two with 86 points. Mike rode Martinez's Far West who spun to the left into Mike's hand but Mike lost a few points as his free jerked around thanks to the bull's power. Mike went into the short go with170.75 on two head and we all know what happened there.Mike won both the round and the event.
Valdiron de Olivero rode Robinson/Larry The Cable Guy's Atta Boy in round two who took two leaps out before spinning to the right into Valderon's hand..Valderon didn't make the short go because he DQ's in round one.Kasey Hayes scored 86.75 in round one and got into the short go on the basis of that ride.He drew Encore who spun to the right away from his hand and bucked off.To add insult to injury he's going to be sore as Encore kicked him on the way down..McKennon Wimberley scored 75.75 on Jack Russell in round two who faked right then bucked in place three times before reversing left with belly kicks.Not a good trip and unlike his CBR partner Clayton Williams ,McKennon was awarded a reride option but turned it down In round one with a similiar score Clay was not given the option.
McKennon entered the short go with 157.25 but drew Red Carpet who beat McKennon around the corner as he spun to the right away from McKennon's hand. Sean Willingham had the fans unhappy when he was only awarded 82 points for his ride on Slimdini,a small bull who spun to the right into Sean's hand in a flat spin with no kick just like the bull Kasey Hayes rode and scored 77.25 on. I don't know if the fans wanted a higher score for Sean or felt it was too high compared to Showstopper's previous performance with Kasey.Oh well,I'm not a judge. Sean faced Blizzard in the short go who took a fast leap out then spun to the right ,tossing Sean down. He finished with 164.50 in the event.Travis Briscoe scored 80.25 aboard Tony Sharp's Hammer Down who circled left into Travis' hand with not much action.Travis entered the short go with 166.75 on two head and faced off against Robinson/Tedesco/Larry The Cable Guy's Booger Butt who leaped out wildly with three high in place jumps then spun to the left into Travis' hand then jumped out of the spin.Travis scored 85 and had 251.75 on three head.He was 5th in the round and 5th in the event.
Robson Palermo rode Doris in the second round for 80.50 and turned down the option of a reride.Doris circled left away from Palermo's hand then jumped forward and bucked straight.In the short go he drew Chicken On A Chain who had a bad trip and sure didn't look like the World Champion he is. He took one leap out then faked left then turned back to the left into Robson's hand with not much action.Robson scored 84.25 and had 251 on three head..He was 6th in the event.Nick Landreneau's ride in round two was not shown.He bucked off of What I Say,a small bull in the short go who spun to the right away from his hand.Nick over rode the bull and as he spurred aggressively he lost hold and came down at 7.2.
Luke Snyder has been riding well and entered the short go with 168.25 on two after riding Moon Dog who spun to the right into his hand for 81.75 in round two.In the short go he bucked off of Party Time as the bull spun to the right immediately out of the gate. Paolo Crimber is a man on a mission.He rode Shake & Bake in round two for 84.50 as the bull took one leap out of the chute then faked right with a belly roll then spun to the left away from his hand with good action.He entered the short go with170.50 where he rode Hebert's Shane for 87. 75 as the bull spun to the left away from his hand.Paolo kept moving forward on the bull's back ,correcting himself.He finished in a tie for 2/3 in the round and event with fellow Brazilian Adriano Moraes with 258 on three head.
Three time PBR World Champion Adriano Moraes rode the highest rated bull in round one and then in round two he took on Physical Education who was unridden till then . Adriano looked great on him and it sure looked like he deserved a higher score as the bull took two leaps out then spun to the left into Adriano's hand for 84.50.Adriano made a textbook ride and told Leah"Just having fun,enjoying my friends,enjoying the fans." In the short go Adriano drew Martinez's Buckwheat and he did everything right again,riding this bull who had never given up a ride before Adriano.The bull made the mistake of spinning to the left into Adriano's hand and Adriano owned him.He scored 87.75 and tied for 2/3 in the round with Paolo and for 2/3 in the event again with Paolo at 258 points.
Wiley Petersen has been on top of his game this weekend as he rode Devil Dog in round two for 84.25.The bull had lots of direction change and Wiley kept moving with him jump for jump He scored 84.25 and was third on the leaderboard until Gnash bucked him off in the short go.
It was a good event and the excitement was there. I wish the PBR would reconsider and drop the draft idea before next weekend.The fans and riders (lower tier) I have spoken to do not like the idea at all. Would like to hear your opinions on the draft,the winner takes all and the running of the bulls..
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