Cord McCoy Invitational - Event Review, Part 1

This last weekend we took the 4 hour drive up to attend a PBR Touring Pro event, the Cord McCoy Invitational in Ada, Oklahoma. When we saw Cord in Cleburne, at another Touring Pro event last month, he told Tammie that he expected to see us at his event, no excuses. So ..... how can you turn down "Mr. Congeniality". Besides, this was a chance to get to see and meet the other half of "the cowboys" from The Amazing Race, Jet McCoy.

We left early, and headed to Tupelo, OK, where Cord and Jet were going to be signing autographs. Tupelo is Cord's hometown and is about 30 minutes south of Ada. We got to the Kountry Store, where the signing was (we passed the store at first, because it did not say Kountry Store, later I did notice a KS on the window, which was made with tape), and got to see and talk to Cord and some of the bull fighters. Jet had left earlier, so we missed him. Just so you know, Cord said that he lives about a mile and a half from the store, and when I asked if he gets bothered by fans at his home, he said no, he has some BIG dogs.

We made our way to Ada and checked in at the Holiday Inn and got something to eat. Ada seems like a nice town, there are rolling hills in the area and the town is growing. There is a WallMart, Home Depot, Chilis, a movie theater and other stores and restaurants that many would recognize.

When it was time, we headed to the arena and got there about 1 1/2 hours before the event started. The arena is a pretty old building, at least that is what it felt like. There were bleacher seats facing the chutes and bleacher seats on both left and right sides, no a/c. The bleachers on the sides were the "Cord Zone" seats. They were a few dollars more, and the main difference was that the bleachers that faced the chutes had poles that could obstruct your view, and the side bleachers did not. We saw a few riders, but with the set up, it was difficult to talk to them before and after the event.

The most notable riders that were at this event, the first night, were Ryan McConnel, Josh Koschel, Billy Robinson, Douglas Duncan, Stormy Wing, Travis Sellers, Reese Cates, Kolt Donaldson, Kasey Hayes, Jason O'Hearn, and of course Cord McCoy. It was time for the event to start and what a great opening it was. If you watched The Amazing Race, you know that they get clues to start off each leg of the race. They had both Cord and Jet on the screen and they were opening a clue and it said "make your way to Ada Oklahoma to the Cord McCoy Invitational" They looked at each other and said, "we know where that is", they had backpacks on and "raced" to the arena, when they got there on the screen, they put the spotlight to the side of the arena and out came Cord and Jet, with backpacks, "racing" to the center of the arena, where a waiting Brandon Bates (of course playing the part of Phil, the host of the show) was standing on a mat to greet them. Brandon said "Cord and Jet, welcome home". It was funny and they got a standing ovation. Then the national anthem was sung by Frank Newsome's wife, Dea. If you have never heard her sing, you have missed out. I have heard her sing several times at the Riding High Ministries Church during the BFTS events and she has a great voice and not only that, she is one of the sweetest ladies you will ever meet.

Now it was time for the bull riding!!! There was a total of 34 riders the first night. There was a long go and a short go, which was the top ten scores for the night. The long go was broke up into four sections. In the first section, there were nine riders, but only two got scores; Nathan Schaper 88.00 and Douglas Duncan 85.00. When Douglas made the whistle, he came off the front of the bull, but he was ok. Stormy Wing looked like he had the ride, but came down early and hit his shoulder hard. Travis Sellers, came down early, then got hit in the rear by the bull. Billy Robinson's bull, Last Resort, came out of the chutes like a mad bull, went crazy and was out of line and Billy just couldn't stay on.

In the second section, there were nine riders, and four scores; Brant Atwood 87.50, Trevor Kastner 86.50, Sevi Torturo 85.00 and Buddy Lusk 74.50. Sevi's bull, Keystone Kid, looked and bucked like a horse. Ryan McConnel looked like he was going to make the ride, but just slid off the back after about 7 seconds. Trevor's bull, Coyote Kat, was a good bull. He didn't buck hard, but spun fast enough to make anyone sick and Trevor stayed up with him.

In the third section, there were seven riders, and three scores; Reese Cates 85.50, Tanner Jones 80.00 and Danny McDowell 78.00. Josh Koschel had a tough, wild, out of line bull named Southern Style and was bucked off. Danny's bull, Pink Tie, was a fast spinner and Reese's bull, Sampson's Pride, was a good bucker.

In the fourth section, there were nine riders and three scores (also two low scores and reride options); Kasey Hayes 88.50 and round win, Buck Moon 81.50 and Jason O'Hearn 80.50. Kasey was on Two Creeks and the bull just didn't do anything. Kasey received a score of 69.00 and a reride option. Kasey got a good bull draw on his reride, Splat Kat. The ride looked good, but Kasey came down. There was a reride option given, because Splat Kat came out of the chute and during the ride, turned back towards the chutes and hooked a horn, during the ride, which caused Kasey to come down early. He was given another reride on Splat Kat and this time he made good and got the 88.50. Derek McCormick was on Bug Juice and this bull also just didn't do anything and Derek received a score of 67.00 and a reride option. However, his reride was not successful and he did not get a score. Two good bucking bulls in this section were Red Ears and Electric Slide, which threw off their riders. Cord McCoy was one of the last riders and looked good for most of the ride, but just could not make the 8.

On to the short go. There was some good bull power at this event, including the short go, with names like; Monty the Bull, The Bug and Stretch Armstrong. There were 10 riders in the short go, with four of them getting scores; Tanner Jones 84.50 on Double Dollar, Nathan Schaper 84.00 on Sharp Dressed Kid, Reese Cates 87.50 on Monty the Bull and Trevor Kastner 87.50 on Stretch Armstrong. Both Nathan and Tanner got their scores with a great effort of hanging on the bull, as they were falling off the side. Sevi Torturo got stepped on by his bull, Holly Roller, but he was ok.

The final results; 1) Trevor Kastner 174.00 2) Reese Cates 173.00 3) Nathan Schaper 172.00 4) Tanner Jones 164.50 5) Kasey Hayes 88.50 6) Brant Atwood 87.50 7) Sevi Torturo 85.00 8) Douglas Duncan 85.00 9) Buck Moon 81.50 10) Jason O'Hearn 80.50

I want to give a special mention to the bull fighters. During some of the Touring Pro events, the bull fighters have a competition with teams of two bull fighters. At this event, there were four teams of two. They take turns and each set of two are the bull fighters on a ride. Part of what they do, besides protecting the rider after the buck off, is to touch the bull after the ride. This can be done on the head of the bull or the back of the bull and they get points each time. This competition is done throughout the year and comes to a head during their finals, which is held in October, in Oklahoma. This makes for a fun and very interesting competition during the event.

Also, a shout out to Jet McCoy. He was the "horseman" or the pick up guy. He defiantly can rope and do it well. The first night, he had to rope about 1/3 of the bulls, to get them out of the arena. I think he only missed once or twice, on his first attempts. With that said, he still got some jokes thrown his way from Brandon Bates. If you watched The Amazing Race, in one of the first few shows, he had to "rope" a bale of hay with a bulls head on it, that was not moving. He missed the first time and he even said on the show that he was going to get some kidding because of missing the first time, and he has.

After the event they had some of the riders and the bull fighters come out and sign autographs. Got a chance to say hi to Jet and took a picture of Tammie with both Cord and Jet. Time to get something to eat, head back to the hotel and get some sleep. We did eat at a restaurant that I would recommend to anyone. The restaurant name was Sante Fe and they had a good selection of food, good prices and the food was delicious. I will have the blog up on the second day of the event on Thursday.