LOUISVILLE, Ky. ― Kent Cox couldn't help but shake afterward.

For the 41st consecutive time he watched as Bushwacker, the bull he handles and hauls for owner Julio Moreno, bucked one of the top riders in the world off his back. This time it was Ben Jones.

Bushwacker was marked 48.25 points ― the second highest score of his career.

"That's incredible," said Cox, whose voice cracked a time or two from the adrenaline rush. "That's what we go for."

Cox added, "I don't know what to say about it. That's just him. That's his heart and his will."

In his past five outs he hasn't scored less than than 47 points and hasn't been marked fewer than 45 points since September 2010. The next time he competes will be in the third round of the upcoming Last Cowboy Standing, in which he will be one of two Monster Energy Bonus bulls worth an additional $80,000 if the rider who draws him can make the 8-second whistle.

Bushwacker, who was 2011 World Champion Bull, has clearly established himself as the No. 1 contender for the title again this year along with reigning World Champion Bull Asteroid.

Asteroid bucked off Stormy Wing, who won the opening round of the Bass Pro Chute Out, in Louisville, Ky., and was third in the average coming into the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, and was marked 44.75 points.

He'll be out again next week, in Des Moines, Iowa, before heading west to Las Vegas for the Last Cowboy Standing. Like Bushwacker, Asteroid will be worth $80,000 for whomever draws him in Round 3.

One out prior to Bushwacker and then Asteroid, Tennessee native Cody Nance earned his first Built Ford Tough Series win of 2013.

Nance rode Rock & Roll for 86.5 points and was the lone rider to cover all three bulls at the KFC Yum! Center.

"It was good," said Nance, who is not one of the more talkative riders on the elite tour. He did recall that a year ago he rode another unridden bull named Rock & Roll and joked that, perhaps, "they should just name all the bulls Rock & Roll."

Nance scored 253.5 points to win followed by Kody Lostroh, who went 6.47 seconds on King Lopez only to lose out for a second time this season on a possible event win having chosen the same bull in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round draft.

Eduardo Aparecido, Wing and Jones rounded out the Top 5.

Overall it was a tough weekend for the Top 35 riders, including the top contenders for the world title.

There were only nine qualified rides in each of the two long rounds ― a total of 18-for-70 ― and one in the final round.

Aparecido was the only rider among the Top 10, who covered two bulls, and Marco Eguchi was the only one of the Top 5 riders to get his name on the leaderboard with at least one score. He managed 85.25 points on Motown Magic in Round 2 and finished seventh in the round, but was only 12th in the average and missed the final round by two spots.

Eguchi closed the gap between him and No. 1 rider Shane Proctor from 569.87 points to 444.62 points.

Proctor has now been atop the world standings for eight of the past nine weeks.

Follow Keith Ryan Cartwright on Twitter @PBR_KRC.