It was a classic Friday night in Tulsa.

In an area of the country known for rank bull pens, the opening round of the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational featured ABBI Classic (3 and 4-year old) bulls, and it was a classic battle in every sense of the word.

There were only eight qualified rides, including that of round winner Kody Lostroh, who was 88.50 on Splat Kat.

Lostroh had originally drawn Ghost Rider, that same bull that injured his riding elbow back in Omaha, but the bull turned up sore this afternoon and turned out of the event. The top-ranked rider, however, was in classic form, and observers believe he would have ridden anything run under him.

“Kody Lostroh was absolutely classic tonight,” said Clint Adkins, who along with partner Brandon Bates are the in-arena announcers at all Built Ford Tough Series events.

“He stays so focused at the task at hand and get all fired up. It’s amazing to watch how calm, cool and collected that he actually is. … He doesn’t let anything bother him. … He’s one of the physically more talented bull riders in the world, but mentally I think he’s one of the most gifted riders going down the road.”

There’s a reason Lostroh and Guilherme Marchi are the top two professional bull riders in the world.

Not only did Lostroh answer lingering questions about his injured riding elbow, but Marchi proved just how difficult it will be to unseat the defending World Champion.

Marchi finished fourth in the round with a solid 87.50 performance on Life Sentence in spite of being in the throes of the flu. The Brazilian, who is trying to become the first rider in PBR history to win back-to-back titles, was sporting bloodshot eyes and experiencing cold sweats.

“He looked rough,” Adkins noticed.

Finishing second behind Lostroh was Daisy Rookie of the Year contender Skeeter Kingsolver, followed by Sean Willingham, Marchi, Dustin Elliott, Shane Proctor, Cord McCoy and Clayton Baethge.

There would have been nine qualified scores on the leader board, but Wiley Petersen took a one off when he accepted Semi-Automatic as a re-ride opportunity and was unceremoniously bucked off.

While it was believed the riders would be much improved since their last BFTS event in Pueblo (their 22nd in 20 weeks), they actually earned two fewer qualified rides in the opening round.

Their eight marks Friday night is a season low. They only had 10 in Pueblo, and the next lowest total is 14 Omaha. By comparison, 26 of 40 riders earned a score back in Tallahassee and twice – Baltimore and Winston-Salem – they’ve earned 24.

“Well, you can’t blame it on the guys being tired,” Adkins said. “Lack of effort? I don’t know. I’m not qualified to answer that question, but there are 40 who can.”

Adkins later added, “If you want to step up and make the PBR World Finals you have to. This is the time. This is the absolute time. You have to bear down no matter what they run underneath you.”

With the Top 4 riders separated by only one point, and just eight total scores, it’s still anyone’s event to win, especially with one of the rankest championship round pens still to come Sunday afternoon.

The three-day event continues tonight with Round 2, which gets underway at 7:30 p.m. CT at the newly constructed BOK Center.

NEWS AND NOTES

Mark of greatness: Typically, the mark of a great bull is 45 points, and considering 33 riders came up short of the 8-second whistle, one would assume there would have been some 45-point bull scores. Not so fast: There weren’t any 45-point scores Friday, though there were eight scores between 44 and 44.75.

Top Notch Jap was the high-marked bull of the round. He earned 44.75 points in sending two-time World Champion Chris Shivers to the dirt.

Black Pearl, Deja Blu, Stringer and Bring It all earned 44.50 points, while the trio of Ground Zero, Red Bone and TBB 519 all got solid scores of 44 in bring down Cody Nance, Travis Sellers and Renato Nunes, respectively.

Welcome home party: “People came off their feet and were screaming as soon as Ryan Dirteater’s name was mentioned,” Adkins said.

The Cherokee Kid returned to BFTS after missing seven events with a broken femur. Unfortunately, he bucked off his re-ride bull Coyote Cat in 7.4 seconds. Dirteater, a fan favorite from Oklahoma, was a Top 5 rider when the injury occurred and is currently ranked 16th in the world standings.

“That would have been just an unbelievable Round 1 comeback for him if he could have (ridden) that bull,” Adkins said. “He tried, but just couldn’t make it happen.”

Road to Vegas: All roads are leading to Las Vegas! After a two-month hiatus in which many of the top riders in the world have taken to the highways and byways as part of the annual Cowboy Christmas, the Built Ford Tough Series resumes this weekend in Tulsa. The event will be tape-delayed on Versus, but PBR fans can read about the action on www.pbrnow.com.

Foreign Exchange: Silvia Hirsch of Zizatur Travel Agency will be arranging packages for the World Cup that include air flight, host hotel room with breakfast and lunch every day, transportation from the airport to the hotel, shuttle to the venue, tickets for the event, and more.

Five different travel packages are available with prices starting at $2,748 per person (NOTE: Prices are changing daily due to airfare fees). Click the following link for more information: http://www.zizatur.com.br/?dir=barretos_09.

Worldwide leader in sports: After reading all the content – Web features, blogs and Podcasts – at www.pbrnow.com, fans can get even more coverage from ESPN by logging onto www.espnbullriding.com.

— by Keith Ryan Cartwright