Last night, the fans inside of the Ford Idaho Center were able to see many great efforts put out by the top 35 bull riders in the world as the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series made their way to Nampa for the Dewalt Guaranteed Tough Invitational here in Nampa, Idaho. Although there were many great rides less than 24-hours ago, the riders at the top of the world standings faltered while those contending for the Rookie of the Year title put their best foot forward. Just as the race for the championship, Cody Teel and Dener Barbosa are in an extremely tight race for the Rookie of the Year honors as well and each of them managed to put up a score in the last 15/15 Bucking Battle of the 2017 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series season.
As things begin to ramp up here on Championship Sunday, everyone was expecting to see some major changes at the top of the world standings but after a disappointing round one, many wondered if things would look much the same after the final rounds later this afternoon. As the events dwindle down and the 2017 season draws to an end, time is running out for those that need to make big moves to do so and every rider in the locker room knows that each round that passes could be the opportunity that they need to make the moves that they are wanting to make before the Built Ford Tough Series heads west to Las Vegas for the 2017 PBR World Finals, live from the T-Mobile Arena on the beautiful Las Vegas Strip that begins November 1st, following the two remaining events.
Stetson Lawrence Takes The Round Two Win In Nampa
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Once the doors opened and the sold-out crowd began to file into their seats, they were hoping to see another night of the same kind of bull riding that was witnessed one night prior. Last night, those fans in attendance were able to witness thirteen qualified rides which set the stage as a ride-or-die situation this afternoon for those wishing to make the championship round later on in the day. Many of the match-ups would, once again, be in the cowboy’s favor that should set up the round two performance as another exciting round of bull riding action. When the action began, it was made evident from early on that the fans watching inside of the Ford Idaho Center would get exactly what they were hoping for with a huge number of qualified rides once again on Sunday afternoon.
From the early get-go, the qualified rides came at a very rapid pace making the quest to make it to the championship round one of the toughest of the entire 2017 season for the top 35 bull riders in the world. The grit and try of these cowboys paired up graciously with the bull power of the bovine athletes underneath of them here in round two. Ride after ride gave us much to cheer about throughout the afternoon as a whopping 18 qualified rides were made here on Championship Sunday! After all was said and done it would be the North Dakota superstar Stetson Lawrence that would post up the highest marked ride of round two. He would pair up with Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve’s Springer Mountain to post a nice 88 point bull ride, earning 100 world title race points and an invitation to the Championship Round moments later.
Complete List Of Round Two Qualified Rides Listed Below:
Stetson Lawrence (88.00) J.W. Harris (87.25)
Brennon Eldred (87.00) Cooper Davis (86.75)
Alex Marcilio (86.25) Gage Gay (86.00)
Guilherme Marchi (85.75) Dakota Buttar (85.25)
Lachlan Richardson (85.25) Chase Outlaw (84.75)
Claudio Montanha Jr. (84.75) Luciano De Castro (84.75)
Cody Rodeo Tyler (84.00) Silvano Alves (84.00)
Ramon de Lima (83.50) Kaique Pacheco (82.50)
Joao Ricardo Vieira (81.75) Cody Teel (81.75)
Excitement And Heartache Happen In The Championship Round
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Before the 2017 Dewalt Guaranteed Tough Invitational Championship Round could start we had to wait and see who would move forward to compete and we all found out together who that would be as each of them walked across the shark cage, one by one, to choose their bovine dance partners during the championship round bull draft. Once the pairings were finalized it was time to get down to business to see who would walk out of Nampa with the event title. That being said, those match-ups would be some stellar ones that were sure to put up numerous qualified rides to round out this weekend’s festivities. Just as the top fifteen cowboys from the weekend’s event were set to go head-to-head, so were the bucking bulls that were contending for a world title of their own!
Once the championship round began, the sold-out crowd would have a ton to cheer about but also watched a very sad situation unfold down on the arena floor. After all was said and done, there would be four of those fifteen riders competing that would manage to make it to the eight-second buzzer, earning a qualified ride score. Two of those four would manage to post 90+ ride scores with the reigning and defending PBR World Champion Cooper Davis leading the way with a massive 91 point score, winning the championship round. That win, along with a solid 2-for-3 weekend catapulted him back up into the number two spot in the world standings just over 196 behind world number one Eduardo Aparecido.
Along with the excitement of these four rides was something that nobody that is a fan or participant of the sport of professional bull riding ever wants to see, a bull sustaining a life-threatening injury. That would be the case tonight as one of the pride and joys of the Jane Clark / Gene Owen’s bovine family, Hey Jack, gave everything he had to buck off Brennon Eldred, coming up a little short, giving him a qualified ride. What happened next left the arena silent as each and every fan watched this bovine athlete be helped out of the arena with what is now confirmed as a broken back. Unfortunately, after being attended to behind the bucking chutes, veterinary care could not help this world bucking bull contender in the long run. The agonizing decision to euthanize him was made and Hey Jack was laid to rest as well-wishes and prayers could be felt and heard worldwide.
Dakota Buttar Celebrates His Dewalt Guaranteed Tough Invitational Event Win
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Even though we all had to witness the horror we did down on the arena floor just moments ago, we still had some exciting things yet to happen to help close out the weekend here in Nampa, Idaho. Everyone knew, as with all other events throughout the year, we must crown an event champion before we could dim the lights on the weekend’s excitement. After a hard fought weekend where the event champion would be the ONLY one to go a perfect 3-for-3 chalking up 258.50 points the young gun Dakota Buttar would stand atop of the shark cage ready for his post-event interview to try and take the attention off of all that had just happened moments before. Even though the mood was still somber, the fans were delighted to see this young man with a huge smile on his face and an event champion buckle in his hands!
Now that Nampa is in the rearview mirror only two events remain before the field is set for the 2017 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series World Finals which will help crown a champion bull rider. These last two events will give these top 35 bull riders in the world standings their last chances to do what they need to do to earn a guaranteed spot to compete in just three short weeks. Next week, we head to Raleigh, North Carolina for the Frontier Communications Invitational presented by Cooper Tires before ending out the regular season out in San Jose, California. We are all excited to see how the world title race will look following these two remaining events as the closest race in the history of the PBR is set to take center stage once again!
After a fantastic weekend of bull riding action, I think it is safe to say that the final push to the world championship title will be one for the record books. Things look to be shaping up nicely for one of the biggest PBR World Finals events that we have ever seen with world title races as close as they ever have been on all three of the categories; the world championship title, the world bucking bull title and the Rookie of the Year title which got even closer after great performances by both Cody Teel and Dener Barbosa here this weekend. Now that just two events remaining it is important for these top 35 bull riders in the world to remain focused and healthy as we all gear up for our trek west to Sin City as the PBR World Finals is set to begin on November 1st! The Rodeo Round Up team are making our final preparations to bring you all the coverage you could want LIVE from the T-Mobile Arena!
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