Snyder wins over $200,000 as PBR's 'Last Cowboy Standing'
Crowd of over 6,000, pay-per-view audience watch historic victory
It came down to the final ride of the night, and Luke Snyder did not disappoint the near-capacity crowd of 6,011 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and a pay-per-view audience on Saturday. The Raymore, Mo., native rode Cooper Tires Wild & Out (Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Box K Cattle Co) for 90 points to be the “Last Cowboy Standing” and take home the $200,000 first prize in the progressive-elimination event.
Snyder earned an additional $16,500 in round money and moved from 31st to first place in the season earnings race with more than $240,000. He won Round 1 with 88 points on Slim Chance (D&H Cattle Company), and tied for second in Round 2 with 90.5 points on Braveheart (Judd Leffew/D BAR M).
The $216,500 is the highest one-day payout of the 2011 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series season, and the second highest in history.
The victory assures Snyder a berth in his 11th PBR World Finals, which will be held on Oct. 26-30 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The richest bull riding event in the world, the Finals is where the 2011 PBR World Champion will be crowned and awarded the $1 million Built Ford Tough bonus.
Saturday night began with 40 riders, and 16 advanced to Round 2, including 2008 PBR World Champion Guilherme Marchi and 2006 PBR Rookie of the Year Reese Cates.
Four riders advanced to the third round. Following buckoffs by Pistol Robinson, Aaron Roy, and Sean Willingham, it came down to Snyder.
It is the second big payday in Las Vegas for Snyder, who won the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals and $263,000 in 2001 as a 19-year-old. He captured the 2001 PBR Rookie of the Year title as well, finishing with $348,561. Saturday’s event was the 300th of the 28-year-old’s career, the third most in PBR history.
Colby Yates, who won the bracket-style Iron Cowboy event in February at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, also advanced to the second round, as did top-ranked Valdiron de Oliveira and second-ranked Silvano Alves. Yates missed out on an additional $100,000 in February when he could not ride championship-contender bull Super Duty. The $100,000 was added to the purse for Saturday, for a total of $300,000.
The Built Ford Tough Series will make its 16th stop of the season on April 29-30 at KeyArena in Seattle, Wash. Tickets are on sale at the Key Arena box office, online at www.Ticketmaster.com, and by telephone at (800) 745-3000. Bull riding begins at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 29, and at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 30.
Professional Bull Riders Last Cowboy Standing
April 16, 2011 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas
Round 1
Luke Snyder, 88 points
Sean Willingham, 86 points
Pistol Robinson, 85.25 points
Aaron Roy, 86 points
Silvano Alves, 87.75 points
(tie) Colby Yates, 87.25 points(tie) Kody Lostroh, 87.25 points(tie) Kasey Hayes, 86.25 points(tie) Valdiron de Oliveira, 86.25 points
David Kennedy, 86 points
Ben Jones, 85.5 points
Guilherme Marchi, 85.25 points
Fabiano Vieira, 84.75 points
Reese Cates, 84 points
Caleb Sanderson, 83.5 points
Douglas Duncan, 83.25 points
Brett Hanrahan, 0 points
Chris Shivers, 0 points
Cody Nance, 0 points
Cord McCoy, 0 points
Douglas Ferreira, 0 points
Dustin Elliott, 0 points
Dusty Ephrom, 0 points
Dusty LaBeth, 0 points
Elliott Jacoby, 0 points
Elton Cide, 0 points
J.B. Mauney, 0 points
Jordan Hupp, 0 points
L.J. Jenkins, 0 points
Mike Lee, 0 points
Paulo Lima, 0 points
Pete Farley, 0 points
Robson Palermo, 0 points
Ryan McConnel, 0 points
Shane Proctor, 0 points
Skeeter Kingsolver, 0 points
Stormy Wing, 0 points
Tony Mendes, 0 points
Travis Sellers, 0 points
Ty Pozzobon, 0 points
Round 2
Sean Willingham, 90.75 points
(tie) Luke Snyder, 90.5 points(tie) Pistol Robinson, 90.5 pointsAaron Roy, 85.25 points
Douglas Duncan, 0 points
Ben Jones, 0 points
David Kennedy, 0 points
Fabiano Viera, 0 points
Caleb Sanderson, 0 points
Kasey Hayes, 0 points
Reese Cates, 0 points
Kody Lostroh, 0 points
Colby Yates, 0 points
Guilherme Marchi, 0 points
Silvano Alves, 0 points
Valdiron de Oliveira, 0 points
Round 3
Luke Snyder, 90 points
Pistol Robinson, 0 points
Aaron Roy, 0 points
Sean Willingham, 0 points
2011 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series Season Standings
(Events, Wins, Top 5 finishes, Points, Earnings)
Valdiron de Oliveira, 15, 3, 8, 7,303.75, $227,885.63
Silvano Alves, 15, 1, 6, 5,592.75, $121,320.27
Austin Meier, 14, 0, 5, 4,781.75, $101,500.00
Guilherme Marchi, 15, 2, 4, 4,497.25, $114,793.33
L.J. Jenkins, 15, 1, 5, 4,465.75, $105,504.33
Shane Proctor, 15, 0, 3, 4,190.25, $67,742.40
Ben Jones, 15, 0, 4, 3,993.00, $75,729.16
Robson Palermo, 12, 3, 3, 3,755.50, $162,628.67
Ryan McConnel, 15, 0, 2, 3,372.50, $61,516.92
J.B. Mauney, 15, 0, 2, 3,215.25, $49,901.60
Kody Lostroh, 10, 0, 2, 3,077.50, $43,118.93
Dustin Elliott, 15, 0, 1, 2,740.25, $28,325.00
Sean Willingham, 15, 0, 1, 2,347.00, $25,975.00
Luke Snyder, 13, 1, 1, 2,322.50, $241,624.08
Aaron Roy, 14, 0, 1, 2,303.75, $37,456.69
Chris Shivers, 9, 0, 1, 2,253.75, $39,590.00
Cody Nance, 15, 0, 1, 2,163.75, $26,745.00
Skeeter Kingsolver, 14, 0, 1, 2,136.50, $34,025.00
Paulo Ferreira, 14, 1, 2, 2,116.00, $62,630.20
Pistol Robinson, 15, 0, 2, 1,972.50, $22,998.33
Jordan Hupp, 14, 0, 2, 1,962.25, $22,150.00
Renato Nunes, 7, 1, 2, 1,948.25, $69,636.67
Mike Lee, 11, 0, 1, 1,848.50, $39,182.52
Caleb Sanderson, 9, 1, 1, 1,809.75, $73,253.76
Colby Yates, 15, 1, 1, 1,772.50, $71,770.00
Fabiano Vieira, 8, 0, 1, 1,754.00, $36,249.65
Stormy Wing, 15, 0, 2, 1,566.00, $36,116.60
Ryan Dirteater, 10, 0, 0, 1,544.00, $15,753.85
Wesley Lourenço, 6, 0, 0, 1,383.50, $23,506.97
Douglas Duncan, 15, 0, 1, 1,354.50, $47,645.00
Travis Briscoe, 12, 0, 1, 1,260.75, $16,285.00
Chance Roberts, 6, 0, 0, 1,140.50, $25,917.89
Elliott Jacoby, 4, 0, 1, 1,061.25, $43,077.77
Ned Cross, 10, 0, 0, 972.50, $11,897.20
Brendon Clark, 10, 0, 0, 852.25, $10,747.23
Cody Campbell, 9, 0, 0, 834.75, $14,338.79
McKennon Wimberly, 3, 0, 1, 790.25, $10,396.00
Elton Cide, 12, 0, 0, 765.50, $101,020.22
Brian Canter, 4, 0, 1, 762.00, $11,357.41
Tony Mendes, 3, 0, 1, 670.00, $23,889.79
Douglas Ferreira, 9, 0, 1, 664.50, $33,170.27
Pete Farley, 9, 0, 0, 597.00, $42,299.43
Kasey Hayes, 6, 0, 0, 576.00, $10,250.33
Cord McCoy, 10, 0, 0, 519.00, $21,498.91
Reese Cates, 6, 0, 0, 436.25, $24,645.31
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.