Another year has come and gone and the bull riders of the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series have made their way back to Arlington, Texas and the home of the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Cowboy Stadium. Tonight 40 of the top bull riders in the world will compete against each other in the PBR’s major event that we all call the Iron Cowboy. The format is quite simple, it is either ride or go home and at the end of the day someone will stand taller than the rest and carry home a huge payday to go along with the championship title!
Many of the rules are the same but there is one that the cowboys have absolutely no control over and will prove to everyone watching how much grit and determination that these 40 contestants have. In this format there is no option if you want to take a re-ride or not and if the judges grant a contestant one they have to take it no questions asked if they want to keep moving forward in the ride or die style format that we call the Iron Cowboy. This will make for some interesting times once the performance begins inside of the AT&T Cowboy Stadium arena!
Reese Cates Earns The Top Marks In Round One
Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography
When we began the action here earlier tonight there were 40 of the top bull riders in the world that were vying for the huge payday at the end of the Iron Cowboy event. That being said this event did not get its name lightly and proved to give these bull riders all that they could handle once again. After all was said and done there would be only 15 of those competing, less than half, that would be able to continue on to the second round of action. That upcoming round would not be easy as the eliminator pen of bovine athletes awaited their prey inside of the bucking chutes!
In round one the rides were scored but those points that the riders who covered their bulls put up did not matter since it is a ride of die type of format. The 15 that did post a qualified ride up in the board would be matched up with their round two bucking bulls through a random draw so no one knew who they would climb aboard until the first round was over and done with. Although the points do not matter it would still be Reese Cates that would put up the top score in the round aboard Martinez Bucking Bulls, LLC’s Acting Crazy to carry that confidence over to the second round of action!
Seven Dust Ties For The High Marked Bull Score Of The Event
Photo Credit: Rokin K Photo’s
Those contestants that were able to get past the first round where we saw bulls such as Magic Train, Cooper Tires Brown Sugar and Kookaburra would not get any rest as round two would only get more challenging. Heading into the second round and beyond the pool of bovine athletes would cause chaos among the remaining athletes moving forward. Beginning in round two these bull riders will be seeing bovine athletes like Pearl Harbor, Sweet Pro’s Bruiser & Long John as well as fan favorite, Air Time. Not many, if any at all, will be able to get past the level of athleticism that will be displayed in the bull power down on the arena floor.
When round two began it would be the 15 bull riders that advanced from round one who would continue on the trail to the event championship but that all would change following the conclusion of round two. Once the second round was done and over with there would be only 3 who would be able to advance to the third round where things would develop very rapidly towards the end result. Those continuing on in the event moving forward would be Eduardo Aparecido, Fabiano Vieira and Mason Lowe!
Eduardo Aparecido Celebrates His 2017 Iron Cowboy Win
Photo Credit: Denise Hetland Photography
The events taking place this weekend are giving these professional bull riding athletes a weekend that they will not too soon forget. For those competing in the RFD-TV’s The American on Sunday their work has only begun here in Arlington. Many of these bull riders have had to qualify for tomorrow’s event through the semi-final rounds where they have climbed aboard bulls the last three days as well. This amount of bucking bulls underneath of them can quickly wear down these cowboys but each and every one of them came into Texas determined to claim the event title here tonight.
Once the dust settled down on the arena floor and the last bull had been bucked it was time to introduce the 2017 Iron Cowboy event champion. After a grueling day inside of AT&T Cowboy Stadium there would be one man making the walk to the shark cage to claim his buckle, receive his check and be crowned champion. Earlier this evening that man would be non-other than Eduardo Aparecido who would take home $138,766.67, 955 world championship points the new number one spot in the world standings and a ton of confidence heading into tomorrow’s RFD-TV’s The American event right back here at 1 P.M.!
Jess Lockwood Rides At The Iron Cowboy
Photo Credit: Rokin K Photo’s
Young Jess Lockwood came into tonight’s event sitting atop the world standings leaderboard wanting to protect his position after the Iron Cowboy. In round one he was able to earn a qualified ride that would carry him onto the second round of action where things were turned up a notch and the bull power got the best of this young superstar. He has already had a busy week here in Texas and will continue it as a competitor in tomorrow afternoon’s RFD-TV’s The American event.
People say you are only as good as the people you associate yourself with and for Jess Lockwood this could not be more true. Lockwood spends most of his time in Texas staying at Cody Lambert’s place and when on the road he makes sure he is rock solid as well. While traveling to PBR events he rooms with Derek Kolbaba who just so happened to win the semi-finals one night ago, qualifying him for his shot at 1.1 million dollars in tomorrow’s huge event as well! I was able to catch up with Jess Lockwood last night in Ft. Worth to see what he had to say about this weekend’s festivities and get his thoughts on his buddy Derek Kolbaba. See what he had to say in the short interview I did with him below!
The excitement all around town over the last four days has been electric and has given rodeo and bull riding fans all that they could ask for with one more event to go tomorrow afternoon. Tonight’s Iron Cowboy was, once again, a thrilling event to be a part of but we are not done yet. Tomorrow afternoon this exact venue plays host to the richest one-day rodeo in western sports history, The RFD-TV’s The American, and our entire Rodeo Round Up team will be here live to cover it and bring you up to date with all the happenings surrounding the day’s events.
The Rodeo Round Up team have added a few amazing photographers to our list this year to cover even more of the action from Texas and the Iron Cowboy and RFD-TV’s The American events throughout the week. First off is my amazing wife, Denise Hetland, and you can see all of her coverage from her facebook page by clicking the link HERE. Secondly, Jenn Swalwell will be covering some of the action as well and you can see all of her photographs from Texas by clicking her facebook page link HERE. Lastly, Jeana Wilson Kilcrease who shot for us in Oklahoma City and will continue to shoot throughout the year including here in Texas. Follow all of her photographs by visiting her photography page by clicking the link HERE!
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. You can have easy access to all of the video interviews Jason does from all the events across the country as well by simply clicking the link HERE to be transferred to the Rodeo Round Up’s Youtube channel as well! 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!
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