Paulo Lima rode two bulls for a combined 176.75 points to take the early lead at the nationally-televised Milwaukee Invitational Presented by Cooper Tires at the Bradley Center.
Lima won Round 1 on Friday with 88 points on Cowboy Casanova (Mesa Bucking Bulls), and finished fourth in the Built Ford Tough Short Round with 88.75 points on Paycheck (Brookman Hyland Rodeo Company). He will be looking for his second win of the season, having finished first in Oklahoma City in February.
Round 3 and the Built Ford Tough Championship round will begin at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. Tickets are available at the Bradley Center box office, www.Ticketmaster.com, and by telephone at (800) 745-3000.
Robson Palermo is ½ point back after riding Bad Moon (Circle T Ranch & Rodeo) for 89.25 points to tie for first place in the short round. As the second rider of the night, he took the early lead in Round 1 with 87 points on Larry the Cable Guy’s Git-R-Done (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls), before eventually finishing second to Lima. Palermo, who is ranked third in the world, will be trying for his BFTS-leading fifth win on Saturday.
Shane Proctor, who rode Jeffrey Scott’s Titanium Tough (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls), and Rubens Barbosa, who rode King Lopez (K-C Bucking Bulls), also tied for first in the short round. Barbosa is in third place with 175.75 points, and Proctor is in fourth place with 175.25 points.
Top-ranked Silvano Alves rode Red Hot (Dakota Rodeo/Berger/Struve/Schott) for 81 points in Round 1, but did not qualify for the short round.
Each of the 40 riders will ride on Saturday. Following Round 3 on Saturday, the riders with the 10 highest cumulative scores will advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round where they will compete with one more bull. The overall event winner will be the rider with the highest combined score from all four rounds.
The first 22 events have produced 14 different winners, led by Palermo and Valdiron de Oliveira, who have four victories each. The Top 5 riders in the world began the weekend separated by less than 3,800 points. There are 1,100 possible points available in Milwaukee as the winner of the event will receive 300 points and each of the four round wins is worth 100 points, plus the ride score.
Cooper Tires will host “Coffee with a Cowboy” on Saturday from 8-9 a.m. CT at the Marriott Courtyard Milwaukee Downtown, 300 W. Michigan Street. Fans will receive a Cooper Tires poster featuring 2010 PBR World Champion Renato Nunes, Ryan Dirteater, Skeeter Kingsolver, Palermo and funnyman and World Champion barrel man Flint Rasmussen. Dirteater, Palermo and Rasmussen will be available for autographs and photographs.
The action will be televised in HD on VERSUS at 11:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday. Play-by-play broadcaster Craig Hummer will be joined by two-time PBR World Champion Justin McBride, who will provide color commentary, and Leah Garcia, who will be doing dirt-level interviews. BFTS telecasts are produced for the PBR by David Neal Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company led by 34-time Emmy® Award winner and Peabody Award winner David Neal, who serves as executive producer and creative lead.
Milwaukee is the 24th stop on the nationally-televised BFTS, which makes 29 stops in 23 states. The season began at world-famous Madison Square Garden, and culminates Oct. 26-30 in Las Vegas at the richest bull riding event in the world, the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals. The Finals is where the 2011 PBR World Champion will be crowned and awarded the $1 million Built Ford Tough bonus.
Friday’s Results from Milwaukee Invitational Presented by Cooper Tires
Bradley Center in Milwaukee
Event Leaders (Round 1-Built Ford Tough Short Round-Event Total Points)
- Paulo Lima, 88-88.75-176.75 points
- Robson Palermo, 87-89.25-176.25 points
- Rubens Barbosa, 86.5-89.25-175.75 points
- Shane Proctor, 86-89.25-175.25 points
- Douglas Duncan, 84.5-85.25-169.75 points
- Kasey Hayes, 84.25-84.75-169 points
- (tie) Ben Jones, 86.25-inj-86.25 points
(tie) Mike Lee, 86.25-0-86.25 points - Jordan Hupp, 86-0-86 points
- Tony Mendes, 84.5-0-84.50 points
- (tie) Brendon Clark, 84-dnq-84 points
(tie) Fabiano Vieira, 84-dnq-84 points - Ryan McConnel, 82.5-dnq-82.50 points
- (tie) L.J. Jenkins, 81-dnq-81 points
(tie) Silvano Alves, 81-dnq-81 points - Stormy Wing, 80.25-dnq-80.25 points
Aaron Roy, 0-dnq-0 points
Austin Meier, 0-dnq-0 points
Caleb Sanderson, 0-dnq-0 points
Chris Shivers, 0-dnq-0 points
Cody Nance, 0-dnq-0 points
Colby Yates, 0-dnq-0 points
Cord McCoy, 0-dnq-0 points
Dakota Beck, 0-dnq-0 points
Dustin Elliott, 0-dnq-0 points
Elton Cide, 0-dnq-0 points
Guilherme Marchi, 0-dnq-0 points
Harve Stewart, 0-dnq-0 points
J.B. Mauney, 0-dnq-0 points
Jarrod Craig, 0-dnq-0 points
Jason O'Hearn, 0-dnq-0 points
Justin Koon, 0-dnq-0 points
Luke Snyder, 0-dnq-0 points
Pete Farley, 0-dnq-0 points
Pistol Robinson, 0-dnq-0 points
Rocky McDonald, 0-dnq-0 points
Ryan Dirteater, 0-dnq-0 points
Sean Willingham, 0-dnq-0 points
Valdiron de Oliveira, 0-dnq-0 points
Wesley Lourenço, 0-dnq-0 points
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.
