PBR WORLD FINALS 2009
It was a long and winding road for the 40 top bull riders in the world to make it to this year’s PBR World Finals in Las Vegas. During their ten month journey some of the cowboys were forced to take a detour on the road to recovery, while others were on the highway to victory. Along the way, five of the cowboys made a sweeping turn south to Brazil and brought the World Cup Title home with them. Three PBR competitors traveled to Bolivia on a ten day mission trip along with PBR chaplain Todd Pierce. When the dust settles at the Thomas and Mack arena, a new world champion will walk away with the title and the million dollar bonus. The other 39 contenders will walk away knowing that they gave it their best shot and hopefully will be back competing at the 2010 PBR World Finals.
The PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals got under way on Friday, October 30, 2009, with JB Mauney, the #2 Cowboy in the BFTS standings of Mooresville, NC, winning round #1 aboard Chester, a Mendell/Jaeger bull, with a score of 89.75. Josh Koschel of Greeley, Colorado, had a second place ride when he covered Bad Moon of Duncan and Evans Bucking Bulls with an 89.25 score. Little Juicy, one of Don Kish Bucking Bulls super stars, took Travis Briscoe of Edgewood, New Mexico, to the bank for a third place ride and a score of 88.75. Nineteen cowboys covered their bulls during the first round with Ryan McConnel, Aaron Roy and Mike Lee sharing a sixth place tie with three 88 point rides. Kody Lostroh, who came into the Finals in first place, scored an 84 point
ride on Red Kat from GL Bucking Bulls/ Page/ Buck and came in at a distant 17th place. Guilherme Marchi, the third place contender bucked off Monkey Blood from Frontier Rodeo Company in 3.4 seconds.
Pete Farley of Kempsey, NSW, Australia, who is currently the #3 rider in the 2009 PBR Australia standings, won round 2 with an outstanding score of 93.25. Pete covered Bones, the reigning 2008 World Champion bull, owned by Teague Bucking Bulls LLC. Farley held on to the highest round score until the short go. JB Mauney and Ryan McConnel split 2nd place with each rider scoring 91.25. Mauney made the whistle on Troubadour, a bull owned by Julio Moreno Bucking Bulls and is the #7 ranked bull going into the world finals. McConnel covered Unabomber from Eno/ Kubinchak Bucking Bulls that was ranked #12 in the standings.
Black Pearl, owned by Ravenscroft/Boyd-Floyd Bull Company and the winner of the ABBI Classic Bull Competition, exploded out of the chute with Robson Palermo on board to win round #3 with a 92.25 score. Second place went to Kody Lostroh, who covered Lightning C Cattle Company’s Copp Hou with a 91 point ride. As the lights dimmed in the Thomas and Mack Arena, the first weekend of the PBR World Finals came to a close.
Round # 4 brought the Kody Lostroh fans to their feet when he won the go round on Mission Accomplished, a bull from the 4L and Diamond S Rodeo Company, with the only 90 point ride of the evening. Round 4 took its toll on the 2004 PBR Rookie of the year, Zack Brown. Cody Ford, ranked #6 was also sidelined with injuries that he sustained during the round. Both riders had injuries that prevented them from competing any further during the finals.
Round #5 had Kody Lostroh at the top of the leader board with his winning score of 91.25 when he covered Troubadour. This was Kody’s 12th 90 point ride of the season. Oklahoma’s own native son, Austin Meier, came in third place when he made the eight on Far West, owned by Martinez Bucking Bull, LLC. Far West has an average buck off time of 4.06 seconds during his twelve outs in the PBR this season. Austin summed up his 90 point score best by saying, “when they go to spinnin’, I go to winnin’’. Ryan McConnel was injured when he suffered a deep chest contusion that put him out of the Finals.
For the first time in PBR history there was a five way tie for first place in round #6. The five winners cashed out for $14,000 dollars a piece. Aaron Roy took the win in round # 7 after covering Top Notch, another great bull from Martinez Bucking Bull, LLC. Austin Meier had his second 90 point ride during the finals on Nasty Town from the team of Dakota Rodeo/Strueve/Rosen/Katich.
“And the Crowd Went Wild” at the end of the short go when the PBR made the announcement that Kody Lostroh would be crowned the 2009 PBR World Champion. Lostroh finished second in the overall average after riding seven of the eight bulls. The 2009 World Finals Event Winner was JB Mauney who made it into the PBR record books for riding all eight of his bulls.
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