PBR's Iron Cowboy Reigns Supreme at Madison Square Garden

In three out of the last four years, Professional Bull Riders, Inc.’s (PBR) Madison Square Garden Invitational has featured a member of the Mauney-Proctor family in the winner’s circle.

J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, NC) took home the crown in 2007 and 2009 while Shane Proctor (Mooresville, NC), who is married to Mauney’s sister, staved off challenges from Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, NM) and his immensely popular brother-in-law to win the event last year.

Sandwiched between this successful four-year run for Mauney and Proctor was a triumph by PBR’s "Iron Cowboy", Valdiron de Oliveira (Aparecida de Goiania, GO), in the Big Apple three years ago.

And in a classic case of history repeating itself, the Brazilian riding sensation out shined the “North Carolina Connection”, as well as 37 other top bull riders, to win his second MSG Invitational.

With an awe-inspiring cover of Deja Blu (Jeff Robinson/Cappello) in the fourth round and a jaw-dropping 91.50-point ride atop Mellow Yellow Jacket (Duncan and Evans Bucking Bulls) in the BFTS Championship Round, de Oliveira completed a weekend in which he went a perfect five for five from the chutes; a performance that certainly wasn't lost on his competitors, including last year's champion.

“He was definitely the best bull rider here this weekend,” Shane Proctor said when asked for his assessment of de Oliveira’s impressive feat. “He rode each bull with as much force as he could. He pretty much just kicked everybody’s butt this weekend.”

Equally up to the task was Australian native Ben Jones (Boyd, TX), who punctuated all five of his eight-second rides with a signature crowd-pleasing dance.

“Ben cracks me up, his dance never gets old,” Proctor laughed. “And you like to see Ben do good just because he really is a neat person to be around.”

Jones, a 13-year riding veteran, pushed de Oliveira to the absolute limit in the Championship Round with an absolutely death-defying 91.00-point ride atop 2007 Bull of the Year, Voodoo Child (Robinson/Beutler/McNeely), to take the event lead.

However, de Oliveira stole Jones’ thunder in the last ride of the Invitational by earning a score of 91.50, his second best ride of the weekend amazingly enough, for his cover of Mellow Yellow Jacket.

As a result, de Oliveira won four out of the five rounds in the Invitational and pocketed a cool $41,860.00 for his efforts.

Paulo Lima (Bezerros PE, BZ), Dustin Elliott (North Platte, NE) and Jordan Hupp (Cheyenne, WY) joined de Oliveira and Jones in becoming the top five bull riders heading into the next BFTS event in Sacramento next weekend.

MSG Invitational Results

1. Valdiron de Oliveira – 445.00

2. Ben Jones – 436.75

3. Paulo Lima – 345.50

4. Dustin Elliott – 342.75

5. Jordan Hupp – 340.25

6. J.B. Mauney – 265.75

7. Cody Campbell (Summerville, OR) – 261.00

8. LJ Jenkins (Porum, OK) – 259.00

9. Douglas Duncan (Alvin, TX) – 180.50

10. Travis Briscoe – 174.00

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links, video footage of Valdiron de Oliveira's championship ride atop Mellow Yellow Jacket and post-event interviews with de Oliveira and 2010 MSG Invitational Champion, Shane Proctor.

About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)

PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 100 million viewers annually watch over 400 hours of primetime PBR programming on CBS, NBC, VERSUS and various networks around the world.

PBR has awarded over $100 million in prize money and 20 riders have earned over $one million including Justin McBride with $5.5 million, the most of any western-sports athlete in history.

PBR was nominated as the 2010 Sports League of the Year at the Sports BusinessJournal Sports Business Awards alongside Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League.

Nearly two million fans attend elite Built Ford Tough Series and Touring Pro Division events each year.

For more information on PBR, go to www.pbr.com, or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEAMPBR.

Professional bull riding returns to Madison Square Garden for fifth consecutive year

Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) returned to New York City Friday evening to celebrate a half-decade of bull bucking at “The World’s Most Famous Arena”.

And with the start of its fifth annual Madison Square Garden Invitational, PBR, a 2010 nominee for Sports League of the Year, also got the 2011 Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) into full swing.

The MSG Invitational is a three-day event featuring the top 40 bull riders in the world competing against the fiercest bucking bulls in the business.

Each day’s competition consists of at least one round in which the riders attempt to cover a bull (long round).

At the conclusion of the second round, a newly introduced ‘short round’ takes place, in which the ten riders with the highest combined scores in the event attempt to ride an additional bull in an effort to distance themselves from the rest of the field.

After Sunday’s long round, the top 10 riders in the competition advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, where each rider faces off against one more bull.

The rider with the highest combined score over the entire three-day event will be crowned the MSG Invitational Champion.

On the first night of action, PBR’s top, and more notable, riders stumbled out of the gate as Renato Nunes (Buritama, BZ), the 2010 World Champion, Austin Meier (Kinta, OK), the 2010 World Championship runner-up, and J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, NC), a two-time winner of the MSG Invitational, were all bucked off the bulls they attempted to ride.

Instead, it was 24-year-old Douglas Duncan (Alvin, TX), competing in his first MSG Invitational, who captured Round 1 with a scintillating ride on My Space (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve), earning him a total score of 89.50.

The judges awarded Duncan new life, in the form of a re-ride, when it was deemed his attempted cover of Silver Valley (American Bucking Bull) earlier in the evening did not give him a fair chance to earn a high score. And Duncan took full advantage of the opportunity to learn from previous errors in judgment.

“It was good,” Duncan said when asked about the importance of getting off to a fast start. “I made some mistakes in the past, worrying about what bull that I have after the one I have today instead of looking at what the opportunity was right before me.”

Duncan added, “Kind of changed some stuff around this year; just go out on every bull, try to win every round and don’t worry about the next day until the other day is gone. It always feels good to win, but it’s a long season and every bull counts, so ride ‘em all.”

And that’s exactly what Duncan, in only his second full year on the BFTS tour, expects to do in New York City.

“See ya’ll here tomorrow”, Duncan half-joked on his way out of the media room, which hosts the winner of each round in the MSG Invitational.

Joining Duncan atop the leaderboard was Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, NM), who received a score of 86.75 for his cover of Segs the Juice (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) to finish as the Round 1 runner-up.

Ned Cross (Midland, OR) and Pistol Robinson (Burleson, TX) tied for third, receiving scores of 86.25 for their respective rides. Cross, whose bull was switched at the last minute, rode Chick’N Fried (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) while Robinson managed to stay on Red Bull (Gene Owen Bucking Bulls) his eight seconds of glory.

Josh Koschel (Greeley, CO) rounded out the top five in his first event back on the BFTS tour after sitting out most of the 2010 season due to injury.

Koschel made the buzzer on Cheerio (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) to register a score of 86.00.

Click here to watch an Examiner.com interview with MSG Invitational Round 1 winner, Douglas Duncan.

For more information on PBR, go to www.pbr.com, or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEAMPBR.

Click on the following links for Examiner.com’s coverage of PBR’s historic bull bucking showcase in Times Square.

Professional Bull Riders invade the heart of Times Square

PBR makes history with bull bucking showcase in Times Square

Click on the following links for Examiner.com's coverage of PBR's highly successful invasion of New York City in 2009:

Professional Bull Riding comes to Madison Square Garden for the 4th consecutive year

PBR crowns 2009 World Champion, Madison Square Garden Invitational on horizon

PBR Bull Bucking Hero schmorgesborg, Mechanical Bull Media Showdown to precede MSG Invitational

Professional Bull Riders close trading on the NASDAQ; Garth Brooks and PBR to join forces

Professional Bull Riders and Garth Brooks partner to raise $1 million in 2010

Professional Bull Riders New York City Invitational: Results, interviews, pictures, slideshow

New York City Invitational: Exclusive interview with PBR icon Ty Murray; PBR 101 (Video)

PBR New York City Invitational: Top 10 observations

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which features an interview with MSG Invitational Round 1 winner, Douglas Duncan, and access to the aforementioned relevant links.

PBR Makes History With Bull Bucking Showcase In Times Square

As reported here, for the first time in their history, Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) hosted an event in New York City’s Times Square that served as the prologue to the crowning of their 17th World Champion in Las Vegas next week.

The special prelude event, dubbed the “Built Ford Tough Road to Vegas presented by Cooper Tires”, took place live in Times Square and featured the world’s top ten bull riders locking horns with the fiercest bucking bulls in PBR.

And in a performance that gave him tremendous confidence going into the 2010 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals, Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, NM) covered Skyhawk Cut A Rug (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) to emerge victorious and move up two spots in the 2010 Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) standings.

Briscoe was one of only four riders to cover their bulls, joining second-ranked J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, NC), fourth-ranked Valdiron de Oliveira (Aparecida de Goiania, GO) and sixth-ranked Mike Lee (Decatur, TX) in putting on successful Broadway showings.

But with a score of 87.00 for his eight-second moment in the sun, it was the 23-year-old Briscoe who was the star of the show. And for his effort, Briscoe earned an additional 200 bonus points to move him past Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, BZ) and McKennon Wimberly (Cool, TX), from tenth to eighth, in the BFTS standings.

“It means everything,” Briscoe said when asked what it meant to perform on a grand stage like New York City’s Times Square. “This is where a bull rider wants to be at, on this level. It don’t get any better or bigger than this.”

As for the amount of confidence winning the event gave him going into the World Finals, the five-year PBR veteran did not mince words. “A lot,” Briscoe beamed. “I’m looking forward to the Finals. I’m actually set higher than I’ve ever set going into the Finals and feel that I have a shot.”

Although covers of Flying J Saddles (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls), Bird Creek (Jeff Robinson/Leon Frakes) and Chicken Lickin (Jeff Robinson/Scruggs/Rockin RA3) did not alter their respective places in the standings, J.B. Mauney, Valdiron de Oliveira and Mike Lee all gained ground on top-ranked Austin Meier (Kinta, OK). Meier’s attempted ride of Mac-Nett’s El Presidente (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) ended in a questionable disqualification for illegal touching.

2010 Built Ford Tough Series Standings

1. Austin Meier – 10,891.75

2. J.B. Mauney – 10,650.50

3. Renato Nunes (Buritama, BZ) – 9,591.00

4. Valdiron de Oliveira – 9,391.75

5. Ryan McConnel (Colgate, OK) – 8,216.75

6. Mike Lee – 8,147.50

7. Robson Palmero (Rio Branco, BZ) – 7,544.00

8. Travis Briscoe – 6,858.75

9. McKennon Wimberly – 6,756.25

10. Guilherme Marchi – 6,575.00

Conspicuous by their absences due to injuries were third-ranked Renato Nunes and tenth-ranked Guilherme Marchi, who were replaced by Silvano Alves (Pilar, BZ), the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, and Shane Proctor (Grand Coulee, WA), the winner of the 2010 NYC Invitational in January. However, Nunes and Marchi will return to compete in the World Finals.

The “Built Ford Tough Road to Vegas presented by Cooper Tires” will be broadcast following the NFL on CBS at either 3PM ET or 5PM ET (Please note that some local listings are calling the broadcast the ‘Road to Vegas’ on CBS).

The telecast will also feature the announcement of the finalists for 2010 World Champion Bull and a preview of the World Finals where the winner will receive the coveted PBR Championship Buckle and a $1 million bonus in the single richest bull riding event in the world.

The 2010 PBR World Finals begin Wednesday, October 20 and continue through Sunday, October 24, with bull riding beginning at 6PM on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and at 11:30AM on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, online at www.unlvtickets.com and by telephone at 866-PBR-SHOW.

The 2010 PBR World Finals will be televised on VERSUS at 9PM ET on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and on NBC at 4PM ET on Sunday. For more information on the World Finals, please visit www.pbr.com/competition/bfts/worldfinals2010/eventload.cfm?id=3266.

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a special slideshow presentation of PBR's historic event in the heart of Times Square.

Professional Bull Riders Invade the Heart of NYC's Times Square

For the first time in their 18-year history, Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) will host an event in the heart of New York City’s Times Square in an overture to the crowning of their 17th World Champion in Las Vegas later this month.

The special prelude event, dubbed the “Built Ford Tough Road to Vegas presented by Cooper Tires”, is slated to take place on Friday, October 15, live in Times Squares, at 1PM and will feature the world’s top ten bull riders locking horns with the fiercest bucking bulls in PBR. In addition, this historic event will be broadcast nationally following the NFL on CBS on Sunday, October 17 at 3PM ET or 5PM ET (Check local listings for times).

The 2010 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals will take place from October 20-24 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the coveted PBR Championship Buckle and a $1 million bonus are on the line in the single richest riding event in the world.

The 2010 PBR season has been the most competitive in the sport’s history with the first 28 events producing 20 different winners.

Top-ranked Austin Meier (Kinta, OK) and third-ranked Renato Nunes (Buritama, BZ) have the most victories on this year’s tour with five and three respectively. Meanwhile, second-ranked J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, NC), fourth-ranked Valdiron de Oliveira (Aparecida de Goiania, GO) and the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, Silvano Alves (Pilar, BZ), have two wins apiece. Seven of the top ten riders and thirteen of the top twenty have an event win this year.

The lead in the 2010 Built Ford Tough Series standings has changed hands eleven times with six different riders ranking first. Austin Meier and J.B. Mauney have held the top spot at three different points this season while Renato Nunes has been ranked #1 twice.

2010 Built Ford Tough Series Standings

1. Austin Meier – 10,891.75

2. J.B. Mauney – 10,385.00

3. Renato Nunes – 9,591.00

4. Valdiron de Oliveira – 9,157.25

5. Ryan McConnel (Colgate, OK) – 8,216.75

6. Mike Lee (Decatur, TX) – 7,913.00

7. Robson Palmero (Rio Branco, BZ) – 7,544.00

8. McKennon Wimberly (Cool, TX) – 6,756.25

9. Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, BZ) – 6,575.00

10. Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, NM) – 6,571.75

In related news, PBR will be returning to the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena’ for the fifth consecutive year to kick off the 2011 Built Ford Tough Series season from January 7-9, 2011. Tickets for the Madison Square Garden event go on sale Friday, October 15 via telephone at (800) 745-3000, online at www.ticketmaster.com or at the Madison Square Garden box office.

About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)

PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 100 million viewers annually watch over 400 hours of primetime PBR programming on CBS, NBC, VERSUS and various networks around the world.

PBR has awarded over $100 million in prize money and 20 riders have earned over $1 million including Justin McBride with $5.5 million, the most of any western-sports athlete in history.

PBR was nominated as the 2010 Sports League of the Year at the Sports BusinessJournal Sports Business Awards alongside Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League.

Nearly two million fans attend elite Built Ford Tough Series and Touring Pro Division events each year.

For more information on PBR, go to www.pbr.com, or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEAMPBR.

Click on the following links for Examiner.com's coverage of PBR's highly successful invasion of New York City in 2009:

Professional Bull Riding comes to Madison Square Garden for the 4th consecutive year

PBR crowns 2009 World Champion, Madison Square Garden Invitational on horizon

PBR Bull Bucking Hero schmorgesborg, Mechanical Bull Media Showdown to precede MSG Invitational

Professional Bull Riders close trading on the NASDAQ; Garth Brooks and PBR to join forces

Professional Bull Riders and Garth Brooks partner to raise $1 million in 2010

Professional Bull Riders New York City Invitational: Results, interviews, pictures, slideshow

New York City Invitational: Exclusive interview with PBR icon Ty Murray; PBR 101 (Video)

PBR New York City Invitational: Top 10 observations

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a special video presentation on the 'Toughest Sport in the World'.