Cody Lambert competed at the first PBR event here in 1996, and has had either had a hand in, or been completely responsible for, assembling the pen of bucking bulls here ever since. The PBR livestock director was pleased with the stock performance last weekend.

“Out of all the years we’ve been to Billings, I probably had better bulls than that there one time,” Lambert said. “I think we’ve had that good five or six times, and we’ve had better one time.”

Of the 137 bulls mounted at the Stanley Tools and Security Invitational presented by Cooper Tires, 14 (10.2 percent) produced a bull score of 44 points or higher. Braveheart (Judd Leffew/D Bar M) finished ahead of the pack with a 45.25 for his third-round dismantling of Douglas Duncan in 1.75 seconds.

A pair of Circle T Ranch & Rodeo bulls, After Party and Asteroid, scored 44.75 points each. Jeff Robinson’s Slim’s Ghost and Circle T’s Speckled Ivory each earned 44.5 points. Speckled Ivory carried Valdiron de Oliveira to an event-high 91.25.

Valdiron de Oliveira also tallied the second-highest ride with an 89.5 on Robinson’s Jeffrey Scott Titanium Tough. Guilherme Marchi was 89.25 on Bird Creek (Robinson/Bar None/Frakes). Lambert said he thinks the judges might have been a little too conservative in their scores.

“I think their scores were just a hair low, a half a point to a point low on the great rides,” he said. “That kind of stuff happens.”

Lambert added that he doesn’t expect his and the four judges’ assessments of a bull and rider’s performances to match.

“I wouldn’t be very involved in the bull riding event if I watched three days of bull riding and I agreed with every score the judges had,” he said. “It’s an opinion, and if they agreed with every score I had, then they wouldn’t be using their own opinion. After three days of bull riding, I can’t agree with every score they’ve got.

“I thought they did a decent job; I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse.”

Lambert inserted Braveheart into the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, but he came nowhere close to duplicating his earlier score. He dropped Dusty Ephrom in 3.22 seconds and drew 42 points. It was only the second Built Ford Tough Series event this year (Portland) in which no bull averaged at least 45.

Lambert reminisced about some of the great bulls that have bucked in Billings. He recalled seeing Little Yellow Jacket – the only three-time PBR World Champion Bull (2002-04) – back in 1999, and his sire before that.

“Little Yellow Jacket came to Billings when he was just a baby, barely or almost a 3-year-old,” Lambert said. “And so did Yellow Jacket. That’s kind of cool. … [Current bulls] Hank, Yellow Jacket, Jr., Mellow Yellow Jacket – those bloodlines have been going to the Billings event for 16 years.”

— by Chris McManes