PBR Sulphur Springs - Event Review, Part I and II

Well, it was off to another PBR event, this time a Touring Pro (lower level) event in Sulphur Springs, which is only about an hour and half north of us. We took our daughter Tiffany, an admitted "hooked" new fan, to the first night of a two night event. The set up was going to be different than most events. Normally there are 30-40 riders, then the top ten scores make it to a short go. In this case there were not many riders, so each rider would get on two bulls and the top scores win. Also, this was an ABBI (American Bucking Bull, Inc.) Classic bucking bulls event. Classic bulls are bulls that are three and four year old bulls and they are scored at certain events and go to the finals in Las Vegas.

The most notable riders that were at the event on Friday night were: Ryan Dirteater, Dusty LaBeth, Paulo Lima, Robson Aragao and Luis Blanco. Cord McCoy and Travis Sellers were registered to be there, but they were called up to the BFTS event in Nashville. The arena is an inside arena, but the lighting is really bad. The lights are like the old school gym lights, that when turned off for the opening, then turned back on, they take a few minutes to get back to complete lighting. Even with the lights at full strength, they are still dim, like an old school gym.

There were a total of 16 riders, riding two times each. In the first round there were nine riders and three rides. Ryan Dirteater scored an 88.50 on Copp Hou. He made a great ride and looked comfortable and like he belonged back on the BFTS. In case people don't know, Ryan suffered an injury last year and has been out of the BFTS all of this year. He had the opportunity to come back on the BFTS, but chose not to. He wanted to wait and start the 2011 season on the main tour. If he would have come back now, he may have not made it to the finals and thus would not have been on tour at the beginning of the next season. Also, in this round, Jason Mara scored an 86.50 on Betta Wachit and Luis Blanco scored an 82.50 on Coffey's 6. Dusty Labeth attempted to ride Jed Clampett. He rode him for awhile, but Jed Clampett was just way too much for him to handle.

In the second round there were 7 riders with two rerides and one qualified ride of the reride opportunity rides. Paulo Lima scored a 74.50 and was given a reride option, he took it. However, on his reride he slide off the side of the bull as the gate opened and barely made it out of the chute. Robson Aragao was given a reride option, when his bull fell and just did not have a good out. He took the reride and scored a 77.50. In this section the bull Bushwacker was bucking and boy did he buck. The rider, Clay Lewis, did not last long. However, Bushwacker was the reason that he and many others don't stay on long. After Clay bucked off, Bushwacker put on a bucking show. All we heard around us from the fans was WOW!!

In between the second and third round they had the North American Mini Bull Tour. There were 10 young riders and three of them got scores. The night's Mini Bull competition was won by Boudreaux Campbell, with a score of 75.00.

Onto the third round. There were nine riders and no rides. Paulo Lima was close and came off just before the buzzer. In round four, the last round, there were seven riders and three ride scores. Clay Lewis scored an 85.50 on Pretty Boyd Floyd. Luis Blanco scored a 76.50 on Brain Freeze and Ryan Dirteater scored an 82.50 on Skyjacker. This gave Ryan the win for the night with a combined score of 171.00.

The final results for Friday night were: 1) Ryan Dirteater 171.00 2) Luis Blanco 159.00 3) Jason Mara 86.50 4) Clay Lewis 85.50 5) Robson Aragao 77.50

After the event, we spent time talking to Ryan Dirteater and his mother. I was very pleased to see Ryan win the event and as I told his mom, he has always been the most polite young man that I think I have come across. We made our way over to Chili's to eat with Carley and her daughter and friend. The place ended up being packed. It was packed with many of the riders, fans, bull contractors and PBR personnel. We had a great time and as usual Carley was, well ..... Carley, fun and entertaining.

Day two of Sulphur Springs. I am combining the day two into the day one blog, because quite frankly, there isn't much to talk about regarding day two. There were 17 riders, riding twice, just like the format from the previous day. However, on this night there was only ONE qualified ride score. That's right, bulls 33, riders 1. The only rider that would have a name that fans in the PBR would recognize was Colby Yates, and he was the one that got the only ride. He scored a 78.50 on Hawaiian Rock. The Saturday event reminded me of a pro baseball team playing a high school team. It just wasn't fair. The bulls dominated and the event was to say the least boring.

On a different note, since this was an ABBI bucking bull contest the top five bulls were:

1) Jed Clampett 2) Priceless 3) Back Bender 4/5) Copp Hou 4/5) Bushwacker

We are going to the BFTS event in Memphis, this coming weekend, and I will certainly have some blogs about the event and see what else I can come up with.