After an interesting first round of competition where we saw the ABBI Classic Bulls make another dominating effort tonight’s round was not going to get any easier for the top 40 bull riders in the world here at the 2016 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series World Finals. To say that the action we witnessed just 24-hours ago was tough on the competitors would be a complete understatement after we saw many of them go down with injuries or show obvious signs of pain as they exited the arena.
In round one there were only 12 qualified rides as the history of that pen of bulls proved to continue to create problems for the top bull riders in the world. Tonight’s round two would not be any easier on these athletes as we would see the “rank pen” for the first time this world finals that includes those vying for the world champion bucking bull title. The pen is sure to leave their mark on these cowboys as they get through round two and see these same bovine athletes on Championship Sunday again.
Cooper Davis Rides David’s Dream In Round Two
Photo Credit: Debbie Anthony
Tonight the T-Mobile Arena was filled to capacity as every person in attendance was full of nervous energy as they awaited the action to begin. This round would be one of the toughest rounds that these bull riders would face here this week as the top bucking bulls in the business came to show their superiority and challenge each other for the gold buckle at the end of Sunday’s championship round. Everyone from the fans to the bull riders to the stock contractors themselves had sweaty palms as they waited to find out who would come out in the number one position after round two concluded.
Along with the world champion bucking bull race is another race that is as close as it has ever been on the other side of the equation. This year’s world champion bull rider race is the closest that it has been since the conception of this organization. Last night all three of the top bull riders covered their bulls to stay in the average but Cooper Davis would post the highest score and come out with 180 world title points putting him just 66 points out of the world lead. Tonight Davis drew David’s Dream that bucked him off in 3.12 seconds and managed to post up an 44.75 bull score.
Guilherme Marchi Splits The Round Two Win Here In Las Vegas
Photo Credit: Debbie Anthony
Everyone knew that tonight’s round was going to cause frustration as well as huge rides for those that could weather the storm that was brewing but total ride count would almost guarantee to be less than the 12 qualified rides that were posted last night in round one. After everything was said and done there would be 11 would would manage to do just that which puts them in a fantastic position going forward as they head through the World Finals event in a quest to qualify for the Championship Round here on Sunday afternoon.
Tonight’s qualified rides made the crowd rise from their seats and cheer with intense excitement as the scores posted were worthy of a frenzy. The rank pen always brings huge ride scores and a level of athleticism that you do not see very often throughout the year and is always picked up a notch at a PBR World Finals event. In round two no one could match the efforts put out by Ty Pozzobon and Guilherme Marchi who managed to ride their bulls to the eight second buzzer to the tune of 89.50 points to split the round win and the championship points that went along with it!
Complete List Of Round Two Qualified Rides Listed Below:
Ty Pozzobon (89.50) Guilherme Marchi (89.50)
Rubens Barbosa (89.00) Dener Barbosa (87.50)
J.B. Mauney (87.00) Paulo Ferreira Lima (86.00)
Fabiano Vieira (86.00) Ryan Dirteater (86.00)
Valdiron de Oliveira (85.50) Luis Blanco (85.50)
Joao Ricardo Vieira (84.25)
I was able to catch up with round winners Ty Pozzobon and Guilherme Marchi immediately after the performance concluded to get their thoughts regarding their stellar performances here in the second round of the 2016 PBR World Finals. Take a listen to see what they had to say about their week so far, what is expected of PBR bull riders away from the arena and how he focuses prior to each and every round to get mentally ready for each night’s events here inside of the T-Mobile Arena!
Sweet Pro’s Long John Earns The Top Score In The World Champion Bucking Bull Race
Photo Credit: Debbie Anthony
As I spoke about earlier the world champion bull rider race was not the only race that was being determined in round two as the rank pen made its debut. Tonight there were nine bovine athletes that were chosen to contend for the 2016 World Champion Bucking Bull here at the World Finals. Tonight was the first of two outs to determine who that champion would be and that title is still very much up for grabs as we go into Sunday afternoon’s championship round. Tonight it would be Sweet Pro’s Long John who would come out victorious with a demanding 45.75 point bull score making him the one to beat Sunday afternoon!
Round two is in the books and the top 40 bull riders in the world are completely thankful that nothing serious happened and most came away unscathed for the most part. As we look forward to tomorrow night’s round three all the riders can breathe a little sigh of relief as the caliber of bovine athletes is scaled back just a little bit. That being said, we all need to remember that this is the World Finals and there are not “easy” bucking bulls that have been invited to Las Vegas so they all need to stay on the top of their games.
It is quite easy to follow all the breaking news and excitement with the Rodeo Round Up simply by copying this website into your favorites in your web browser for easy one-click access to event statistics. You can also like and follow us on Facebook here, or by liking and following us on Instagram at @rodeoroundup and on 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!
Leave a Reply