LAS VEGAS - Silvano Alves became the firstrider in PBR history to win the Built Ford Tough Series WorldChampionship the year after earning the Rookie of the Year title onSunday. Alves earned $1 million for winning the World Championship,which brings his season earnings to $1,456,964.
"I am very content to be the champion of the world," Alves said."This is a dream that every bull rider has. I managed to do thiswithout becoming injured this year. Those two things together makeme very content with the outcome."
Alves, who has earned $1,778,544 in 18 months competing on theBFTS, finished with 15,742 points. He finished third in the WorldFinals event average with 434.5 points and earned $93,875 from theevent itself.
The World Finals, which drew almost 70,000 fans through fivedays at the Thomas & Mack Center, is the richest bull ridingevent on the planet, with a total purse of $2.2 million, includingthe $1 million bonus to the World Champion.
Robson Palermo won the World Finals event titlewith 446.25 points, earning $301,375, which gave him $618,875 forthe season and $1,848,286 for his career. Palermo, who also won theWorld Finals event title in 2008, finished 305 points behindrunner-up Valdiron de Oliveira in the WorldChampionship standings. Oliveira earned $396,171 for the season tobring his career earnings to $1,432,404.
Palermo won the Built Ford Tough Championship Round with 93.25points on King Of Hearts (Corey & Lange). Thescore ties him for the 20th-highest score in World Finals history,and earned Palermo the Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award, presented tothe bull rider with the highest-marked ride at that World Finals.Palermo had the two highest scores of the regular season with 93.5points on RMEF Gunpowder & Lead in Milwaukee,and 93.25 points on the same bull at Pueblo, Colo.
Caleb Sanderson, who led after each of thefirst four days, finished second with 440.75 points. In his thirdseason on the BFTS, he earned $182,375 at the World Finals toincrease his season earnings to $270,342. In his first two seasonson the BFTS, Sanderson had earned $159,610.
Rubens Barbosa was named the PBR Rookie of theYear with $209,799, including $112,500 after a fourth-place finishat the World Finals. He won Round 5 and $25,000 on Sunday with 92.5points on Priceless (D&H Cattle Co./L&EBulls). He tied for first place in Round 2 with Oliveira, scoring90.75 points on Cowboy Casanova (Mesa BuckingBulls).
Bushwacker (Julio Moreno/Richard Oliveira) wonthe World Champion Bull title with 96 points, including the highestbull score of the season with 48.5 points (out of a possible 50points per out) on Friday. Bushwacker, who was 2-0 at World Finalsand 14-0 in BFTS outs in 2011, also won the Mikel Moreno Bull ofthe PBR Finals award. He is 28-1 all-time in BFTS events, includinga buckoff streak of 26 consecutive riders.
Asteroid (Circle T Ranch & Rodeo) finishedsecond with 92.5 points, followed by RMEF Gunpowder & Lead(Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) with 91.8 points, andSmackdown (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Struve/Rosen)with 90.5 points.
Aaron Roy won $139,993 to capture his fourthconsecutive Glen Keeley Award, presented to the Canadian bull riderwho earns the most money during the season.
2011 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough SeriesWorld Championship
1. Silvano Alves, 15,742 points, $1,456,964
2. Valdiron de Oliveira, 13,340.25 points, $396,171
3. Robson Palermo, 13,035.75 points, $618,875
4. Guilherme Marchi, 9,820 points, $233,174
5. Fabiano Vieira, 9,170 points, $249,045
6. Austin Meier, 8,227.75 points, $169,513
7. J.B. Mauney, 7,673.25 points, $209,835
8. L.J. Jenkins, 7,118.25 points, $180,632
9. Shane Proctor, 6,451.5 points, $245,492
10. Ryan McConnel, 6,369.5 points, $122,632
2011 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough WorldFinals
Oct. 26-30 at Thomas & Mack Center in LasVegas
1. Robson Palermo, 446.25
2. Caleb Sanderson, 440.75
3. Silvano Alves, 434.50
4. Rubens Barbosa, 357.25
5. Valdiron Oliveira, 356.25
6. Guilherme Marchi, 351.00
7. J. B. Mauney, 333.50
8. Fabiano Vieira, 264.00
9. Aaron Roy, 262.25
10. Cord McCoy, 260.00
11. Douglas Ferreira, 178.00
12. Pete Farley, 175.75
13. Mike Lee, 175.25
14. Jock Connolly, 174.75
15. Justin Koon, 174.75
16. Paulo Lima, 174.50
17. Austin Meier, 172.50
18. Brendon Clark, 170.50
19. Stormy Wing, 169.75
20. Sean Willingham, 89.75
21. Ryan Dirteater, 88.25
22. Douglas Duncan, 88.25
23. Chris Shivers, 88.25
24. L.J. Jenkins, 87.50
25. Kody Lostroh, 87.50
26. Cody Nance, 87.50
27. Hector Cardona, 87.00
28. Dusty Ephrom, 87.00
29. Renato Nunes, 86.75
30. Cody Campbell, 86.75
31. Ben Jones, 86.25
32. Harve Stewart, 86.00
33. Ryan McConnel, 85.50
34. Tyler Thomson, 85.25
35. Jordan Hupp, 84.00
36. Luke Snyder, 81.75
2011 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough WorldFinals
Built Ford Tough Championship Round, Oct. 30 at Thomas& Mack Center in Las Vegas
1. Robson Palermo, 93.25
2. Caleb Sanderson, 92.5
3. Silvano Alves, 92.25
4. Valdiron de Oliveira, 88.5
2011 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough WorldFinals
Round 5, Oct. 30 at Thomas & Mack Center in LasVegas
1. Rubens Barbosa, 92.5
2. Fabiano Vieira, 91.75
3. Valdiron de Oliveira, 90.25
4. Paulo Lima, 89.75
Robson Palermo, 89.75
6. Cord McCoy, 89.25
7. Silvano Alves, 88.25
8. Cody Nance, 87.5
9. Douglas Ferreira, 87
Austin Meier, 87
Mike Lee, 87
Aaron Roy, 87
13. J. B. Mauney, 86.5
Guilherme Marchi, 86.5
15. Ryan McConnel, 85.5