World number one Silvano Alves’ amazing riding percentage of 69.0 this year causes doubt about whether or not the PBR is the toughest sport on dirt simply because he makes it look so easy. Three time title holder Adriano Moraes said this on PBR’s official website:
“He’s got one thing that a lot of World Champions didn’t have, and that’s youth, he’s more calm than all of the other riders and he’s not going to feel the pressure. He’s just going to continue to do his business.”
Alves rode for the world champion title while the rest of the riders rode for the event win. However round ones win went to Caleb Sanderson, who rode Vitalix White Velvet for a score of 88.5. This put him in a comfortable lead for round two, where he shared the number one spot for the event with Ruebens Barbosa, who delivered a 90.75 ride on Cowboy Casanova.
Douglas Ferreira took round three with 91 points on Smackdown joining the Rockstar 90 Point Club with several other riders in the series so far.
The event made several changes in round four as far as winners and positions. The riders were allowed to pick a bull they wished to ride. J.B. Mauney chose Train Wreck, a bull he was very familiar with since it was the same bull that fell on top of him at last year’s world finals. They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice, but on this fateful day in the PBR it did. Train Wreck stumbled right out of the gate and sure enough fell right on top of Mauney for the second time. He was not seriously hurt in the accident and took the re-ride option afforded to him by the judges. The round four win went to Stormy Wing who chose the bull Delco. Wing rode for a score of 90.25.
Robson Palermo took round five with a score of 93.25 on King of Hearts. This was a controversial score, because many fans and spectators argued that Palermo slapped the bull on the horn during the ride (touching any part of the bull is a no score penalty), but the judges saw it fit to award Robson the points and the event win.
Silvano Alves and the bull, Bushwacker, pretty much had their titles before they set foot in the arena. However all participants must go through the motions. Alves rode Yellow Jacket Junior for 92.5 points, securing his title as World Champion of the 2011 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals. His picture will now be in the hall of legends in the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas Nevada. As for Bushwacker, he takes the world champion bull title with his status of remaining not ridden all series long.
