Exciting Times Tonight At The Iron Cowboy VI!!

This year’s Professional Bull Rider’s Choctaw Casino and Resort Iron Cowboy Powered By Kawasaki Strong presented itself as the first of four new major events when things kicked off tonight inside AT&T Stadium.  The weather in Arlington, Texas may have been cold and icy but the action and excitement that was inside was nothing other than hot and steamy.  The PBR changed the format for the contestants which, in turn, made the entire event much more entertaining for the loyal fans that braved the ice covered roads and the near record low temperatures to see their favorite bull riders give their all towards the $180,000 payday given to the winner of the event!

This year the Iron Cowboy was deemed the first of four major events that the PBR would put on making them a huge factor in the new point system race that was put into effect this year as well.  The major events give the contestants a huge chance to make up some ground as the points that are given are 1 1/2 times the normal points given out for the weekly events held throughout the year.  This means that the winner of EACH ROUND will earn 150 points.  That means if one rider could win all five rounds, if the event went that far, he could win 750 round points and an extra 600 points for the round win totaling 1350 for this special one day event.

Along with the additional points that were on the line, the money was well inflated from previous years as well.  The breakdown of how much these cowboys would get paid tonight was astounding.  Each rider that rode tonight, regardless of money won at the event, received a $500.00 appearance fee but much more money was on the line tonight.  For each ROUND the payouts were absolutely mind blowing.  Each round would total a payout of $10,000 ($4,000 for 1st, $3,000 for 2nd, $2,000 for 3rd and $1,000 for fourth).  With a minimum of 2 rounds and a maximum for 5 rounds there was money to be made at this year’s Iron Cowboy!  The winning bull rider tonight collected a payday of $180,000, $80,000 for the event win and a $100,000 Bad Boy Mowers Bonus award.  Who was the lucky cowboy this year?….. you will have to find out how the breakdown happened for tonight’s Iron Cowboy event by reading the round by round recaps below!

As I said earlier the new format gives the bull riders a minimum of two rounds and a maximum for five rounds to see who would be crowned champion.  After round one the top 40 bull riders were narrowed down to less than half of them as only 16 riders covered their bull for the entire 8 seconds although there would have been more if it were not for the must take re-ride rule as 4 cowboys covered their first bull but were required to take the re-ride that was awarded to them.  The payout for the first round was pretty simple as the top five are awarded points and money and 4 cowboys tied for the win with a 87.50 point ride with two more rounding out the round payouts with 86.75.

The second round of competition made the bull riders change gears and step it up a notch as the top contender bulls showed what the term bull power was all about!  Some of the most well known bucking bulls were on display in this round with Mick E Mouse, Stone Sober and Air Time were bucked out just to name a few.  Once the second round was in the books only 3 riders remained to go for the win in round three of the Iron Cowboy VI event in Arlington, Texas inside AT&T Stadium!  Brazilian Joao Ricardo Vieira wins the round with a 90.50 point ride aboard Bruiser while Tanner Bryne (86.75) and Stetson Lawrence (85.00) both advanced as well setting up the third round to be a very memorable one!

Iron Cowboy VI Champion Joao Ricardo Vieira

Round three started with the three remaining contenders taking center stage to choose their bulls in a draft style format.  Round two winner Joao Ricardo Vieira chose Crack The Whip and scored 88.50 points to win the 2015 Iron Cowboy VI event.  Tanner Bryne took home second place in the second round and chose Boot Jack who bucked him off at 1.82 seconds and the final qualifier for the third round was Stetson Lawrence who decided on Lane’s Magic Train who bucked him off at 2.57 seconds.

Asteroid

Each and every one of us in attendance tonight witnessed some amazing bull power that was on display as the top bucking bulls in the world came together to make the top bull riders in the world earn each and every dime that they received tonight.  All that excitement watching the bulls perform all came to a head once Joao Ricardo Vieira was crowned the Choctaw Casino and Resort Iron Cowboy champion.  World Champion bucking bull Asteroid was the center of attention as this was his last out of his legendary career with his retirement after the night was over.  As expected he went out on top by being no match for World Champion bull rider Mike Lee bucking him off in 1.61 seconds and earning his last bull score of his career with an astounding 46.00 points!

Tonight the Professional Bull Riders put on, once again, an amazing event that would generate buzz across the Lonestar State of Texas.  With tonight’s event in the books it was time to reconfigure the arenas and get ready for another history making event tomorrow.  The RFD-TV’s The American is set to take center stage at 1 P.M. Sunday afternoon and will pay out a historic $2 million dollars making it the richest one-day rodeo in western sports history and the Rodeo Round Up team will be there to bring you all the action along with exclusive interviews with your favorite cowboys and cowgirls that will be competing!

It is quite easy to follow all the excitement with the Rodeo Round Up simply by copying this website into your favorites in your web browser for easy one click access to updated event statistics.  You can also like and follow us on facebook here, or by liking and following us on Instagram and/or Twitter at @therodeoroundup.  Jason has also made it easy for you to be a part of his interviews by opening up a listener comment line.  If you have a question for a certain rodeo star simply call in and leave your name, where you are from, who the question is for and what your question is and he will do his best to get it answered for you during his interviews!