Two Stops This Weekend

The PBR's Built Ford Tough Series will blast through not one, but two cities in California this weekend. The top forty-five riders in the world will spend one day in Fresno (January 19), for The Table Mountain Casino Invitational with two rounds of competition (one long and the short go round). Then they will hop over to Sacramento, for stop number four on the 2007 season, to compete in the Sacramento Classic. Sacramento will involve three go rounds: two long and then the championship for the top fifteen riders of the two night event. The draws, and available short go bulls are up for the Fresno event.

J.B. Mauney, current world number one after two events, last year's Rookie of the Year, and the only man in the top forty five to cover all eight of his previous bulls, has drawn Outkast, from Flying U/ Moreno Bucking Bulls. Outkast is brand new to the BFTS, but with the way the young North Carolina cowboy has been riding, he shouldn't pose to much of a challenge.

Three time, and reigning World Champion Adriano Moraes, will try to get it done aboard Hellfire, out of Corey and Horst Rodeo Co. Inc.'s pens. This is yet another new bull, but as Adriano is one of the most talented, and is definitely the most seasoned rider on tour, he should be able to handle whatever the bull should choose to throw his way.

Oklahoma cowboy Cord McCoy, whose family is putting on a production sale this weekend, will take on one of the older bulls in the pens, Kaycee Simpson's Red Alert. Red Alert will certainly not be a night off for Cord. He's been ridden just fourteen times in over 30 career outs, with an average score of 88 points. Cord did manage to stay up on, I believe it was, Okeechobee Spots for 93.0 at a challenger event in Denver. It is hard to determine if this is the right bull, as only BFTS outs are recorded on the bull's bucking page. Hopefully this will give him some much needed momentum to get a ride this weekend.

Dusty LaBeth, who recently returned from injury, will tie himself in aboard Josey Wales from Sis & Stan Bucking Bulls. It's been two years since we have seen this bull on the BFTS, so it will be interesting to see what made the PBR bring him back to the top tour. His last out involved the recently retired Gilbert Carrillo, who bucked off back in Jacksonville during the 2005 season. Josey Wales had a modest bull rating of 20.2, not great, but not the worst. It is apparent why he is in the long go round, but maybe the two years we haven't seen him will have put a little more power into his bucking.

One bull who I am shocked to see in the long go round as opposed to the short go, where you would normally expect to find him, is Page and Teague Bucking Bulls super star, Lefty. Lefty has bucked off all but 16 of the riders to attempt him. He has put past world champions like Mike Lee, Chris Shivers, and Justin McBride in the dirt long before the 8 second whistle blew. And he is the bull, who, during the Mossy Oak Shoot Out Ride in Grand Rapids, Michigan, broke Justin McBride's leg, and effectively killed his World Champion dreams for that season. Though McBride did do remarkable well considering his injuries during the World Finals Event. This weekend, Canadian representative Rob Bell will take on Lefty, hoping not just to stay on for eight, but to avoid the injuries that this bull has a strange ability to deal out when it is the worst thing for your season.

Last year's number two man, Guilherme Marchi, will take on the Page /Buck/ Watts bull, Big Deal. Though Big Deal has only been ridden three out of thirteen outs, his last showing, versus Marchi's fellow Brazilian Paulo Crimber, only scored 76.8, with a bull rating of 18.8. It will be interesting to see if the bull who provided Matt Bohon with a 91.3 point score shows up and he just had a rough day on that last out, or find out that Big Deal has lost a major step in his bucking career.

Speaking of Crimber, he has drawn Rice Ranch's Akin for 8. He is yet ANOTHER new bull for this weekend. Man, there sure are a lot of rookie bulls floating through the pens.

One piece of irony, though it is a painful one, is that, with his brother, Cory Rasch, out for the next few months, Evan Rasch, has secured at least a temporary position on the BFTS roster. He will take on another bull provided by Kaycee Simpson, White Lightning. Ridden four out of 12 trips, he will likely be a handful for the lesser known Rasch brother. However, Evan is well enough liked to have, through fan voting, previously secured a spot on the Hawiian invitational's cowboy listing.

The short go round is filled with big, bad, mean tempered bulls, just waiting to show their dominance over the PBR's top fifteen riders for the event. The bull lineup includes such heavy hitters as Flying U/ Moreno Bucking Bulls stars Werewolf Snuff, who has been ridden 12 out of over 40 trips, and Reindeer Dippin', a legendary bad boy, who was unridden throughout the 2006 season. Reindeer has only been ridden twice. The last time way back in Laughlin 2005, by LJ Jenkins, who is unfortunatly still out on injury. The two powerhouses combined for a tremendous score of 93.0. Joining these two will be several big names from Page and Teague Bucking bulls. Certainly one of the best known will be Crossfire Hurricane. This legendary copper colored cross breed bull has been covered just seven times in a career that is entering its fifth year. He's thrown off a large number of the worlds greatest cowboys, but the ones who stayed on have very widely varying scores. It will be interesting to see who draws this impressive bull, and to see how they fair against his powerful, and nasty lunges.

Sadly for us fans, and the cowboys involved, the PBR's Injury Page is rapidly filling up with big names. Young Travis Brisoe has joined Ross Coleman, Cory Rasch, Chris Shivers, and LJ Jenkins on the list of cowboys sitting out as a result of their run-ins with the best, or depending on how you look at it worst, bulls the world has to offer. Also out is Chad Denton, who suffered a possible broken knee cap in a challenger event Pueblo, CO. We're also going to be missing Michael Riggs, Australian Jared Farley, and Brazilian Allan Moraes. And to these men, you can add guys like Australian Brendon Clark, the mighty one Mike White, Sevi Torturo, Shane Proctor, and more, all of which are competing with other various injuries. These injuries range from sprained necks, wrists, thumbs and knees, to banged up and bruised legs. Not a whole lot of fun.

If I missed anyone's favorite cowboys, you can check out http://www.pbrnow.com/competition/bfts/eventDrawLoad.cfm?ID=07-103 to learn more about this weekend's first event's draws.