The morning line: Ontario, Round 2Getting to the championship round won’t be easy |
ONTARIO, Calif. (August 29, 2010) - After seeing 22 qualified in scores in Round 1, it’s hard to imagine anyone making it back to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round with just one score. This morning we’ll take a quick look at the guys who have the best chance of going in to the short go on top.
Round 2 matchups
McKennon Wimberly on 474 Stump Whiskey:
This will be a tougher test than last night for Wimberly. Stump Whiskey throws off 86 percent of the riders who get on him, and he does not earn a lot of high bull scores doing it.
Robson Palermo on F408 Mo:
Mo hasn’t been ridden since October of last season. He hasn’t faced the best guys that often, but with 22 outs and only two qualified rides, this will not be easy for Palermo.
Brendon Clark on C67 Black Mambo:
This is a relatively young bull who has only been around a little more than a year. He’s proven to be pretty good for riders – having been ridden three out of the five times he’s appeared on tour.
Pete Farley on 508 25 To Life:
This is not a very favorable matchup for Farley. 25 to Life has an 83-percent career buckoff percentage, he’s better than that against right-handed riders, and Farley has come down from this bull before. They met in Thibodaux, La., at a Touring Pro event last October.
Luke Snyder on 466 French Kiss:
Luke rode this bull in Hollister, Calif., in October of 2008. French Kiss is a pretty good bull to ride overall. Most likely, he will go away from Luke’s hand, but even at that he’s ridden a lot by right-handed guys.
Harve Stewart on 603 Ready Freddie:
This bull has not appeared on the Built Ford Tough Series before, but at the Touring Pro level he was ridden by the last two guys to draw him.
J.B. Mauney on 601 Buttercup:
As a bull rider, you never know what to expect when you draw a bull named Buttercup, or Snowball, or Creampuff, or Sweet Pea, etc… unless you know the bull’s owner pretty well. At least 50 percent of the time, this type of bull name turns out to be a little sarcastic stab at the riders. Imagine you are a stock contractor. You have a pen of intimidating-looking bulls who frankly have a hard time throwing the best riders off. These guys are hard to get on the ground after all. Then, you raise a cute little bull with no horns, and curly eyelashes, and none of these smug hotshots seem to be able to stay on him. This is immensely satisfying, and giving the bull a cute and harmless sounding name is just icing on the cake. We don’t know a lot about Buttercup really, but he did toss Valdiron de Oliveira last night.
Austin Meier on K88 Bando’s Wild & Reckless:
This bull has spent his summer vacation helping Touring Pro riders make ends meet. He has been a money bull consistently. The only bad news here is that he is more than likely going to go away from Meier’s hand. Right-handed guys have had a lot more success on him. But to be fair, he hasn’t really faced the best left-handed riders in the world lately, and Meier is riding at the top of his game right now.
Cody Campbell on 414 Water Canal:
Yes, Campbell will probably ride him, but this bull’s record is so spotty it’s hard to say whether it will be 90 points or a re-ride.
Casey Stirling on 497 Tuxedo:
I think it’s safe to say this will end up a no score. Stirling did very well last night, but he had a very favorable bull. This particular bull is not the least bit easy, and would be favored to buck off almost any rider here.
Ben Jones on Jeffrey Scott’s Buckle Man:
Buckle Man has been ridden quite a bit, but if Jones rides him tonight he will be the first right-handed guy to do it. He is unridden by right-handed riders, and is ridden most of the time by lefties.
Beau Hill on W13 Captain’s Curse:
No prediction. This bull has only one PBR out from about a month ago. Hard to say what will happen here.
Chris Shivers on 100 Soulja Boy:
Here’s the go-round win, unless Oliveira can steal it on Rewind, but that is a longshot. This bull and Chris Shivers were made for each other, and this should be exciting to watch.
Caleb Sanderson on 308 Kick Butt:
Sanderson rode this bull in Sacramento, Calif., back in January for 85.25 points. Most right-handed guys have been successful on him as well. Sanderson should move on to the short round with ease here.
Jason McClain on D487 Tighty Whitey:
This may be the best matchup of the night. Tighty Whitey is a veteran bull and brings it every time. He is ridden around 30 percent of the time, and always produces high scores when ridden. He is really the prototypical PBR long-round bull. At most Touring Pro Events, he is a short-round bull. McClain has the ability to ride him, but this is as evenly matched as it gets, and this is what people come to the PBR to see – good riders matched with equally good bulls.
Silvano Alves on 043 Babe’s Fireball:
This bull has really been hit or miss his whole career. He’s been marked 47 points, and he’s been less than 20 points, too. The one thing he has done consistently is throw guys off. He’s only been ridden once in 29 career outs. He hasn’t faced as good a rider as Alves, though, mostly because there aren’t any riders better than Alves. At this point in his young career, Alves is far better than anyone who has climbed on a bull in North America in the past 10 years.
Dustin Elliott on 646 Gun Shy:
Elliott rode this bull in New Orleans for 87.5 points. He will almost certainly get his second score here. Michael Gaffney gave Elliott a little of a hard time last night about his riding percentage being around 40 percent, but that is pretty good in today’s world. Dustin has ridden 48 percent for his career, and 42 percent in the PBR. In the past seven to eight years, there really aren’t more than 30 or so guys in the PBR who have been that efficient or better.
Sean Willingham on -0 Bootlegger:
Advantage: bull. Bootlegger has been on a run lately. High bull scores, and mostly buckoffs. He threw Willingham off in Wichita, Kan., back in May.
Paulo Lima on K47 Nasty Town:
One of the best long-round bulls in the PBR for left-handed riders. Lima should be able to get a second score here, and it should be a good one.
Tyler Thomson on 265 Myspace:
This bull is a short-round bull at most Touring Pro events, and he is ridden almost 90 percent of the time by left-handed riders. Thomson has an excellent chance to do well here. Myspace has produced 90-point or better rides in six of his last nine outs.
Shane Proctor on -1 Molalla Jack:
This bull came from Ross Coleman, and he is unridden in the PBR thus far, but he has only been out twice. Hard to say how this will turn out.
Jared Farley on 627 Ghost Rider:
Ghost Rider is unridden in 10 PBR outs, although technically he was ridden by Wiley Petersen in Tulsa, Okla., and Petersen was awarded a re-ride.
-by Slade Long
(Slade Long, PBR Web Developer and Statistician, has been crunching the numbers on bucking bulls for 11 years.)
© PBR Canada, Inc. 2011