Peaches & Snot

The Peach State of Georgia hosted the third PBR event of 2014, and the bulls who rolled in to Duluth were not thinking about peaches, cream, pie, jelly or anything fruity, just putting cowboys on the ground!  But with 18 qualified rides in Round 1 and 13 qualified rides in Round 2, plus the 8 rides in the Championship round, I'm thinking the bulls were distracted by all of the peach goodies!  There were some great bulls, bulls who may be toward the end of their PBR career's, a bull that growls and plenty of excitement from whatever kind of bull you like.

BAD TO THE BONE with his 44.5 point (out of 50 points) bull score was the top bull in Round 1.  He was rank with a huge belly roll, followed by a steep buck and kick.  PRATOR'S PRIDE was only scored 39.25 points but his huge horns made him quite the intimidating opponent.  DIRT PEDDLER was a rank quick spinning bull.  HAPPY TRAX had a lot of whip and kick.  He easily turfed Marchi and trotted out of the arena with 43 points.

One bull I was really impressed with in Round 1 was SUE from Julio Moreno/B&E Bucking Bulls/JD Nix Rodeo Company.  SUE jumped and kicked really hard and bucked off Jordan Hupp.  SUE was awarded 43 points.

RFD-HD did not have a good out Saturday, and both JW Hart and Shorty Gorham mentioned that the bull struggled and may not be on tour any more.  Makes me sad...RFD-HD has been such a great bull for years.  Also, DELCO did not have a good night, only scored 39.5 points.  JW Hart commented that DELCO looked "a little bit underweight".  Hope that Delco is ok, and that we see him back.
TAZ from Davis Rodeo Ranch growls...you could hear him growling in the chute.  He is named after the Tasmanian Devil.

HONKY TONK warmed up the crowd on Sunday with his play time in the arena.  Bull fighter Shorty Gorham said that Honky Tonk bucked with his head up, which usually means the bull is looking to hook someone, and is a bit meaner.  The bull was only given 38.5 points for bucking, but got a perfect 50 for misbehaving!  At least the TV producers showed Honky Tonk's time in the arena and I say a big Thank You, to them, for that!  Best part of the show! ;)
Thankfully, this week the arena dirt was much better and the bulls seemed to do well on it.  Shorty mentioned on the TV broadcast that the dirt in Georgia is some of the best dirt the PBR sees all year.
EVEL KNIEVEL was one such bull who used the good dirt to his advantage.  He had a great direction change, fake and jump to get Billy Robinson off his back.
RMEF TEAM ELK is a 4 year old from Jeff Robinson.  It was mentioned on TV that Jeff is going to be entering him in the ABBI Classic competitions this year, and wanted to see how he'd do under the big lights.  This is a nice young bull, who bucked off Claudio Crisostomo and was scored 43.25 points.  I was happy to hear the remark that Jeff was not happy Team Elk drew Claudio, because he knows how tough Claudio is on young bulls.  So, why exactly, is that allowed?
CONNER'S PRIDE was in the chute for a long time because Valdiron de Oliviera was fussing and taking his time.  At one point, you could see the flank man throw his arms up in the air, in disgust.  The bull was standing nicely and Valdiron didn't call for the gate.  I sure am looking forward to the 60 second clock rule going in to effect!  In two weeks, that kind of behavior should result in a DQ!

BLACK BART was the money bull of the weekend!  He was ridden by Robson Palermo to the Round 1 win with 88 points (bull score 43).  Then on Sunday, JB Mauney rode him for 87.5 points (43.25 bull score) for the Round 2 win!  I can't remember that happening before - the same bull wins both long rounds!

KISS ANIMALIZE from Jeff Robinson/B&M Bucking Bulls Inc. had a great day.  As a reride bull for the Championship Round, he was ridden by Joao Ricardo Vieira for 89.5 points.  The bull score was 44 points and it was the best out from ANIMALIZE.

BIG TEX "ROCKS" easily got Renato Nunes off his back and scored 42 points in the process.  The bull is now 16-0 on the BFTS and overall, has not been ridden in 34 outs!

RANGO was terrific, and his 45 point bull score is proof!  He teamed up with JB Mauney for the Championship Round's winning ride of 91.75 points.

The High Bull Score of the Event goes to I'M A GANGSTER TOO from Jeff Robinson/TNT Bucking Bulls.  Gangster's score of 45.25 points was the weekend's best.  This bull is getting better as he goes, and JW Hart suggested he would be in the running for Bucking Bull of the Year come October.

Nine of the fifteen Championship Round bulls were from Jeff Robinson's pen.  That's impressive!  It was a great event, and from the looks of it on TV, a great crowd.  Congratulations to Georgia cowboy Sean Willingham for winning the event in his home state.





Photographs by Susan Hanrahan