Coming into this weekend’s event in Jacksonville, Florida many of the top bull riders in the world were scratching their heads trying to figure out where everything had gone wrong in 2017. The qualified rides had been few and far between with event riding percentages far below what we expect to see week and week out. That being said, if last night’s round one of the Jacksonville Invitational was any indication, things are beginning to look up for those competing on the elite Built Ford Tough Series tour!
Last night, in round one, 35 of the best bull riders in the world came into the Veterans Memorial Arena looking to take back their swagger with a good overall performance. The sold out crowd got just what they came to see as 20 out of the 35 bull riders were able to put up qualified rides on the board. Today’s second round will shape up who will be the ones lucky enough to be invited back to the championship round to determine who the 2017 Jacksonville Invitational will be!
Cody Nance Splits The Round Two Win In Jacksonville
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Coming into this afternoon’s second round of action the top 35 bull riders in the world were looking to continue on the successful path that they started last night. In a night where 20 qualified rides were made these cowboys came into this afternoon riding high on a wave of emotion and confidence. With another “rider friendly” pen of bovine athletes again today everyone was hoping to see another fantastic performance put out by their favorite cowboys in round two.
So far this weekend, the young guns of the “new class” of Professional Bull Riders athletes have shown that they belong on tour after Koal Livingston took home the round one victory. Coming into today’s round the cowboys knew they had to ride to advance with so many qualified rides in round one. Once all was said and done there would be another 14 qualified rides in round two setting up a fantastic championship round. That being said, no one could match the 87 point efforts that Cody Nance and Claudio Montanha Jr. put up to split the round two win at the Jacksonville Invitational.
Complete List Of Qualified Round Two Rides Posted Below:
Claudio Montanha Jr (87.00) Cody Nance (87.00)
Eduardo Aparecido (86.25) Kaique Pacheco (85.50)
Koal Livingston (84.50) Stormy Wing (84.25)
J.B. Mauney (83.50) Dener Barbosa (83.25)
Guilherme Marchi (82.50) Luis Blanco(82.00)
Mike Lee (81.75) Matt Triplett (80.75)
Reese Cates (80.50) Luciano De Castro (77.75)
Eduardo Aparecido Outlasts All Others In The Championship Round
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Once the two qualifying rounds were concluded it was time to set our sights on the Jacksonville Invitational Championship Round that would determine who would walk out with the title of the 2017 event champion. In this weekend’s championship round the bulls were coming to make a mark and prove themselves, take advantage of being selected and doing what they can to get the star-studded line-up of cowboys off their backs and hitting the arena dirt hard and with authority.
Earlier this afternoon, the top 15 cowboys in the event standings went head to head along with 15 of the best bucking bulls going down the road today in the championship round. The caliber of talent on both sides of the aisle made for an exciting round where not many rides were made but the ones that were made were high-point rides that left the fans on the edge of their seats. In this week’s championship round 4 were able to make it to the eight-second buzzer but no one could match the 87.25 point ride that would win the round. Eduardo Aparecido would take home the round win after riding BMC Bucking Bulls/Jeff Robinson’s Bezerk eight-second buzzer!
Eduardo Aparecido Celebrates His Event Win In Jacksonville
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
After all of the bull riding action concluded and the CBS Sports interviews were finished it was time to introduce the 2017 Jacksonville Invitational champion to the sold-out crowd inside of the Veterans Memorial Arena. In-arena announced Matt West awaited the celebratory walk across the arena to the shark cage that each and every event champion makes throughout the year. Today the man taking center stage would be non-other than Eduardo Aparecido after a fantastic weekend’s performances over the two days of competition.
This world number one bull rider proved that hard work and determination is half of the battle when competing on such an elite tour like the Built Ford Tough Series. Aparecido would wind up going 3-for-3 over the weekend to earn 254 total combined points for the win. Along with the title of the Jacksonville Invitational event champion title, he would take home 500 world title points and a cool $37,100 to line his pockets with heading into Little Rock, Arkansas next weekend!
This weekend could be the weekend that will turn the tide and allow the elite bull riders that are competing on the Built Ford Tough Series tour to regain their confidence moving through the rest of the 2017 season. As we dim the lights in Jacksonville for the first time since 2008, we must look forward to next week’s event in Little Rick, Arkansas as the Bad Boy Mowdown is set to begin inside of the Verizon Arena. We will, once again, have our friends at Rokin’ K Photos in house to bring you all the photos throughout the weekend’s events that will be taking place.
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