Guilherme Marchi and J.B. Mauney are hunting for two different gold buckles.

Marchi is rapidly closing in on the Built Ford Tough Series world title at the 2008 Professional Bull Riders World Finals.

Mauney, who has a very slim mathematical chance of overtaking Marchi in the world race, instead is focusing on winning the World Finals average buckle.

Both men are the only competitors who have stayed on all four bulls as the World Finals concluded its fourth round Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The 15th World Finals concludes Sunday, and the World Champion will receive a $1 million bonus. The World Finals average winner - the rider with the highest aggregate score after eight rounds - will earn $250,000.  

Mauney, a rising superstar from Mooresville, N.C., who has earned $85,000 during the Finals, won the fourth round with a score of 93.75. He also won the first two rounds.

In the average race, Mauney has a commanding lead with a four-ride score of 367.25, 8.5 points ahead of Marchi, who has a 359.75.

Mauney won Round 4 after staying aboard the spinning, high-leaping bull Crosswired, owned by D&H Cattle Co.

"The first half of the ride was pretty good when he was kicking and spinning,” Mauney said. “I thought, 'This is nice.' But when he went to doing that leaping stuff, I threw everything out the window and just held on.”

In the world title race, Mauney moved from fourth to second. With four rounds remaining, Marchi leads Mauney in the world standings by 3,922.5 points, 14,328.75 to 10,406.25.

Valdiron de Oliveira is ranked third with 10,228.75 and Kody Lostroh is fourth with 10,997. But the two men have stayed on only two bulls and lag in the average race.

Marchi has yet to clinch the title because Mauney conceivably could earn 4,500 points by sweeping the next four rounds. But in order to accomplish that, he would have to score 100 points in each of four rounds and win each round (2,000 world title race points) and then win the average (2,500).

Looking at the situation historically, that’s very unlikely. The Finals points record is 4,801, set by Mike Lee in 2004 when the Texas cowboy won both the Finals and World Championship.

The 4,801 points were earned throughout eight rounds. So, with that in mind, the thought of earning 4,500 points in four rounds and the chance of Marchi picking up little or no points is highly improbable .

In fact, Mauney was asked by a reporter if he had hopes of catching Marchi in the world title race. Mauney gave a look of resignation that indicated that it was not his goal, but immediately warmed up to talking about his dream of winning the World Finals.

“I told somebody before the Finals that I was going to win every round,” Mauney said.

Mauney wears a buckle that commemorates his winning the PBR’s 2006 Challenger Tour title. He said that he aspires to replace that one with a World Finals buckle.

“If I win the Finals, I would have to retire the buckle that I have on and put the new one on,” Mauney said.

Meanwhile, Marchi said he’s elated that he’s stayed on all four bulls and is on the brink of winning a first world title.

“It’s my dream, and I came here to ride all of my bulls,” said Marchi, who has Finals earnings of $29,000. “I’m very grateful every day that God has allowed me to be in this position and is giving me support to stay on all of my bulls.”

Marchi tied for seventh in the round after turning in a score of 89.25.

After turning in the 93.75, Mauney edged second-place finisher Robson Palermo by a point. Palermo scored 92.75 on Hot Stuff, owned by D&H Cattle Co. Third was Mike White with a 92.5 aboard Maverick, owned by Lufkin Ranch and Rodeo.
             
        
HONORING MORAES

The retirement party for three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes drew some of the biggest names in pro bull riding.

PBR riders, administrators and loyal fans packed a South Point Hotel ballroom on to pay homage to Moraes, 38, who said will retire after the 2008 World Finals.

Moraes and his family sat on stage while high-profile leaders paid tribute to the legendary rider from Brazil. They included PBR Chief Executive Officer Randy Bernard, longtime PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert, former competitors David Fournier and Michael Gaffney, PBR sports physician Dr. Tandy Freeman and Brazilian competitors Paulo Crimber and Guilherme Marchi.

In an interview, Moraes said he savored the chance to both reminisce and say goodbye.

“It was a very good farewell to my friends and my fans,” Moraes said. “I was pleased with the outcome.”

During the program, Ty Murray drew laughs when he said that he wished Moraes would have retired when the two competed against each other in the 1990s and early part of the 2000s. Murray said Moraes was one bull rider who frequently beat him.

“Adriano would go up and take our money, then go sign autographs … and then come back and take more of our money,” Murray said.

More than once, Murray said Moraes was the best bull rider that the PBR has produced.

“Who else has three world titles?” Murray asked the crowd to make his point.

Moraes won the PBR’s inaugural world title in 1994. He also earned gold buckles in 2001 and 2006.

Freeman, who has offered medical attention to Moraes for many years, said Moraes won consistently because he could ride effectively with pain.

“Adriano is one of the toughest of the toughs,” Freeman said.

Though he was bucked off during the fourth round, Moraes said his hand is holding up well. He stayed on his first two bulls and has received a zero on the last two.

“I’m 50 percent and I’ve still got plenty of bulls,” Moraes said. “I just need to stay on two more, make the short round and then ride my last bull.”

Moraes said he will change his strategy during the draft when he picks his bull going into Friday’s fifth round. He said he picked bulls that were more difficult to stay on in the first and second rounds, but he has been thrown off of two bulls that were perceived to be less difficult to ride.

“I’ve proved to myself that I don’t need to try to play it safe, and that’s what I did on my last two draws and it didn’t work,” Moraes said. “So I think I need a little more bull. If I have a chance (in the draft), I’m going to try to pick a better bull. I need a bull that’s a little more gassy. ”  
       
A FAMILY AFFAIR

For Randy Wohlers, the PBR is a great escape for his family and friends.

An Iowa farmer, Wohlers and his family are attending all seven performances of the PBR World Finals.

“I like the whole experience," Wohlers said. “My wife and daughters like to do the shopping. And I like the livestock, the Ford displays and all that. We also like to take in the local travel and do some sightseeing. but we focus around all of the PBR stuff such as the Fan Zone.

“The PBR is a great family-oriented experience.”

Wohlers, a resident of Mondamin, Iowa, said he has attended the World Finals since 1999. In 2008, he attended regular season events in Omaha, Tulsa, Kansas City, Des Moines, Nashville and Oklahoma City.

“We usually take my parents and up to 15 or 20 people to events when they are closer to home,” Wohlers said. “I like the excitement. It’s something that I didn’t have the opportunity to do as a child. The rodeo opportunity just wasn’t there when I was growing up in Iowa in the 1970s.”

Wohlers said he also enjoys watching the PBR draft, the system that allows contestants to handpick their bulls for the upcoming round.

“I like the rivalries between the riders and the bulls and that they can pick bulls that they can actually win on,” Wohlers said. “The draft involves the fans more and it shows you the true grit of some of these guys who pick the tougher bulls. It really shows that they are out to win a go-round instead of just safetying up.  

Wohlers, 46, also gets a lot of satisfaction from taking his 8-year-old daughter, Skylyr, to the shows.

“Some of the riders such as Cord (McCoy) and Adriano (Moraes) and (comedian) Flint Rasmussen know her by name, and they’ll come up to her at the hotel and ask her how she’s doing and tell her that they’re glad to see her,” Wohlers said. “She likes to go to all of the autographing sessions and to take pictures.”

Skylyr Wohlers, a third-grade student, said the PBR scene is hard to beat.

"I get to see Adriano and all the others,” she said. “It’s better than watching TV.”

Wohlers’ wife, Carrie, said she appreciates the PBR contestants’ willingness to readily interact with fans. “The cowboys are so approachable and they make it a family event. It’s very down to earth,” she said.

Wohlers’ eldest daugther, Lyndsie, 26, said she also likes to go along for the ride. “It’s exciting and something different, something that we’ve always done, a ritual for us,” she said.
    
LOOKING BACK

When he arrived at the PBR 1999 World Finals, Ty Murray knew he didn’t have a mathematical chance of winning the world title.

That belonged to Cody Hart, who had clinched the gold buckle late in the regular season.

But Murray, a PBR founding father who had clinched a record seventh world all-around title a year earlier, realized that there was one coveted prize that he could gain at the Las Vegas championships: $200,000 for winning the average.

Throughout the weekend, Murray rode with passion.

When the average title - the highest aggregate score on five bulls - was at stake in the final round, Murray turned in a whopping score of 94 aboard the rapid-fire spinner, Panhandle Slim, the PBR's top bull in 1997.

After the last bull had bucked, Murray edged Chris Shivers in the average race, 458 to 444.5, and earned $247,348 at the championships, pushing his 1999 PBR earnings to $360,579.

In earlier rounds, Murray turned in a 95.5 on the notorious bull Red Wolf, and received a 90.5 after conquering a beast named Vindicator.

“I just felt good that week; I was really healthy and I didn’t have anything hurting,” Murray said. “I drew the best bulls in the business, ranging from Panhandle Slim to Red Wolf, and I drew rank eliminators such as Vindicator.” 

As the World Finals progressed, Murray exuded confidence.

“I was in that zone where you have that confidence,” Murray said. “I remember going into the short round and they asked me, ‘What bull do you want in the short round? I said, 'I don’t care.’ I felt like it didn’t matter because I felt like I could ride any of them.”

Murray said it was a special win.

“To win the PBR Finals, you know that’s when all of the best guys and all of the best are in one place,” Murray said. “That’s definitely one (victory) to remember.”

BRIEFLY

*Crosswired earned the ABBI Bucking Bull Classic title after helping Mauney turn in the 93.75. The victory earned the bull’s owners, Cliff Wiggins and Dillon & HD Page, the coveted  $250,000 prize.

*Brian Herman, who is competing in his 13th World Finals, made his first qualified ride. Herman was bucked off of his first three bulls last weekend. But during the fourth round, Herman turned in an attention-grabbing 88 aboard a bull named Holy Smoke.

*Clayton Williams, the PBR’s 2007 Daisy Rookie of the Year, has bucked off of his first four bulls during the World Finals. During the fourth round, he was thrown from the bull Basic Instinct.

*Big Bucks, the PBR’s 2005 World Champion Bull, bucked off Josh Koschel in 5.3 seconds.

*Voodoo Child, a contender for the PBR World Champion Bull title, bucked off rookie Pistol Robinson in 3.2 seconds.

*Renato Nunes finished fourth in the round with a 91.25 on the 2007 World Champion Chicken on a Chain (owned by Robinson, Tedesco and Larry the Cable Guy).

*Fort Worth cowboy Colby Yates finished fifth with a 90 on the Diamond S Bull, Mission Accomplished.

*Fans have witnessed 18 rides in the 90s during the World Finals, bringing the total for the year to 143, the second-highest tally in PBR history. The record is 179 in 2001.

*Reese Cates leads the Daisy Rookie of the Year race with $91,923. :Pistol Robinson is ranked second with $75,093. Cates ranks fourth in the average race.

*Ednei Caminhas, the 2002 World Champion, has been bucked off of his first four bulls at the World Finals.

*Two-time World Champion Chris Shivers was bucked off in the fourth round. But after staying on his first three bulls, he ranks fourth in the average.

*Wiley Peterson, the 2007 World Finals average winner, turned in an 87.5 on the bull Red Kat.

*Two-time World Champion Justin McBride was bucked off in 3.6 seconds. He has stayed on two of four bulls.

*Twelve of the 45 cowboys made qualified rides in Round 4 after facing what was termed the "rank pen" of bulls. 
  
-By Brett Hoffman              

PBR BUILT FORD TOUGH WORLD FINALS PRESENTED BY WRANGLER ROUND FOUR: 1) J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) 93.75 points on Crosswired (D&H Cattle Company), $25,000; 2) Robson Palermo (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil) 92.75 points on Hot Stuff (D&H Cattle Company), $18,000; 3) Mike White (De Kalb, Texas) 92.25 points on Maverick (Lufkin Ranch & Rodeo), $12,000; 4) Renato Nunes (Buritama, SP, Brazil) 91.25 points on Chicken on a Chain (Robinson/Tedesco/Larry the Cable Guy/Broken N-N), $10,000; 5) Colby Yates (Fort Worth, Texas) 90 points on Mission Accomplished (Diamond S Bucking Bulls), $5,000; 6) Kasey Hayes (Liberal, Kan.) 89.75 points on El Presidente (Jeff Robinson-Broken N-N).
BUILT FORD TOUGH SERIES POINT STANDINGS:
1) Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, Brazil) 14,328.75 points, $361,474; 2) J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) 10,406.25 points, $323,490; 3) Valdiron de Oliveira (Aparecida de Goiania, GO, Brazil) 10,228.75 points, $189,227; 4) Kody Lostroh (Longmont, Colo.) 10,097.5 points, $284,964; 5) Renato Nunes (Buritama, SP, Brazil) 8,743.25 points, $199,878; 6) Mike Lee (Decatur, Texas) 7,633.75 points, $303,063; 7) Ross Coleman (Molalla, Ore.) 7,393.75 points, $102,932; 8) L.J. Jenkins (Texico, N.M.) 6,835.5 points, $197,677; 9) Wiley Petersen (Fort Hall, Idaho) 6,431.5 points, $114,289; 10) Mike White (De Kalb, Texas) 6,080 points, $139,032.
EVENT STANDINGS THROUGH FOURTH ROUND:
1) J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) 367.25 points; 2) Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, Brazil) 359.75 points; 3) Renato Nunes (Buritama, SP, Brazil) 275.25 points; 4) Chris Shivers (Jonesville, La.) 270.25 points; 5) Reese Cates (Carthage, Texas) 269 points; 6) Mike White (De Kalb, Texas) 268 points; 7) Robson Palermo (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil) 265.5 points; 8) Aaron Roy (Asquith, SK, Canada) 263 points; 9) Mike Lee (Decatur, Texas) 259.25; 10) Shane Proctor (Grand Coulee, Wash.) 250.25 points.