Looking to become only the second person in history to win both the World Championship and the World Finals Event title in the same year, Renato Nunes of Buritama, Brazil, selected Willie Wilco (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) for Round 5 of the 2010 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough World Finals on Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“Renato likes big, strong bulls that spin left, and Willie Wilco is a big, strong bull who spins left,” said PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert.
The pairings for Round 5 were determined in a draft where riders selected their bulls based on their finish in Round 4. Round 5 will be at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday followed by the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, featuring the Top 15 riders in the event. Tickets are still available at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, online at www.unlvtickets.com and by telephone at 866-PBR-SHOW. The crowning of the World Champion will be televised on NBC at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday.
The championship round will feature World Champion Bull contenders Major Payne (Robinson/Katich/Pinnacle Bull Group), Bones (Teague Bucking Bulls, LLC), Uncle Buck (Jeff Robinson/Cappello/Teague), Chicken on a Chain (Robinson/Tedesco/Larry the Cable Guy), and Big Tex (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve).
The only rider to ride all four bulls in the Finals, Nunes is in first place in the World Finals event race with 356.25 points. For the fourth straight day, he gained ground in the race for the World Championship and $1 million, moving past Austin Meier of Kinta, Okla., who is 118.25 points behind. The 2010 PBR World Champion will be the rider with the most Built Ford Tough Series points accumulated during the regular season and the World Finals. Willie Wilco has bucked off his last six riders to improve to 6-for-9 for his career.
Austin Meier of Kinta, Okla., who is ranked second in the BFTS standings, chose Pandemic (Mark Ward), who was ridden for 87.25 in Round 3 by Wiley Petersen of Fort Hall, Idaho. Third-ranked J.B. Mauney of Mooresville, N.C., selected Braveheart, who has only been ridden once in seven outs, by Meier for 88.75 points in the Built Ford Tough Championship to win at Ontario, Calif.
The premier matchup of the round will be Valdiron de Oliveira of Aparecida de Goiania, Brazil, who is ranked fourth in the BFTS standings, on Voodoo Child (Robinson/Beutler/McNeely). Voodoo Child has been a finalist for World Champion Bull each of the last two years and is a perfect 10-for-10 in the World Finals, including bucking off 2009 World Champion Kody Lostroh in 6.4 seconds in Round 2.
Two-time World Champion Chris Shivers of Jonesville, La. chose Slim’s Ghost (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls), who was ridden for 87.75 by Paulo Lima in Round 2. Shivers is in second place in the event title race with 264.25 points.
Rookie of the Year candidate Wesley Lourenço of Santo Antonio da Barra, Brazil selected Highway 12 (Robinson/Mesa) for Round 5. The 20-year-old is in fourth place in the event standings after riding his first three bulls of the Finals before being bucked off in Round 4.
For more information on the 2010 World Finals, please visit www.pbr.com.
The Finals consist of six rounds of competition. The first five rounds feature all of the riders matched against the toughest bulls. The scores from the five rides will be combined, and the Top 15 riders will advance for an additional round of competition, following the completion of Round 5 on Sunday, Oct. 24.
2010 Built Ford Tough World Finals at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas
PBR World Finals Event Leaders
2010 World Standings
2010 World Champion Bull Contenders
About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)
The PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 100 million viewers annually watch over 400 hours of primetime PBR programming on VERSUS, NBC, CBS and networks around the world. The 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. The PBR was nominated as 2010 Sports League of the Year at the Sports Business Journal Sports Business Awards, alongside the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. Nearly 2 million fans attend Built Ford Tough Series and Touring Pro Division events each year. For more information on the PBR, go to www.pbr.com, or follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and http://twitter.com/TEAMPBR.