TULSA, Okla. ― It was only fitting that Kent Cox would bethe first man to embrace J.B. Mauney after the26-year-old threw his hat in victory.
Cox, who has hauled Bushwacker for his owner Julio Morenothroughout his career, and Mauney have gone through so muchtogether in the nine times the Mooresville, N.C., native has facedthe bull most revered as arguably the greatest bucking bull in PBRhistory.
"I don't know if it's a relief or not," said Cox, about how hefelt after watching Mauney snap Bushwacker'srecord-setting streak of 42 consecutive buckoffs at Built FordTough Series events, "but it happened. We knew it would happeneventually, and I'm just really happy J.B. was the one to do itbecause he's been getting on that bull for a couple years now andit had just never worked out and today he did it."
Cox's voice crackled.
And the veteran bull man nearly choked up as a tear welled up inhis left eye, but never did it stream down his cheek ― atleast not in the arena. Not even after Mauney, whose skin shiveredand filled with goose bumps, praised the former rider, who hasraised and worked with the 2011 World Champion Bull since beforethe 7-year -old bull's bucking career even began.
"If there's one man that helps me out more at these bullridings," said Mauney, standing shoulder to shoulder with Cox,"it's this man right here flanking him. Whether I'm getting on abull that he's flanking or not he comes to me and he tells me, hesaid, 'Keep your chin down and be a cowboy. Don't look off and beno girl.'
"That's what it goes back to. That's why I rode that bull rightthere, it's because I kept my chin down and when he did get me outof shape I didn't panic. I just ― you got to be a cowboyand keep your hand shut and finally I did it for the whole 8seconds."
Mauney did what he failed to do eight times before, and that'scounter-match Bushwacker's every move.
In a matter of 8 seconds, Bushwacker made a total of eightpowerful jumps-none of which were in time with one another and, ofcourse, none of which were easy for Mauney to handle.
He was in and out of position throughout the entire ride and, asCox observed, what made the ride spectacular is the fact thatMauney "just kept gathering Bushwacker back up."
Cox added, "J.B. tried his guts out and it paid off."
Mauney called it a dogfight.
"I was just hanging the heck on because I thought a few times Iwas about to get my teeth knocked out," explained Mauney. "I justkept my hand shut and it worked out."
It worked out to the tune of 95.25 points.
It wasn't quite the record-setting score people imagined aqualified ride on a bull that caliber would be, but it came withall the drama, excitement and the thrill of victory that it wouldhave had, had it been 96.75 points and a new PBR high-markedride.
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Midway through the ride, every rider and stock contractor behindthe chutes was cheering him on. The crowd inside the BOK Centermade more noise Saturday night than they did the night Mike White,who was on horseback Saturday night as the safety man, made back in2008 when he rode Troubadour for 95.75 points.
Coincidentally, those are just two of the many great momentsthat have come during the nine seasons in which the Built FordTough Series has been to Tulsa.
However, no one cheered like Cox.
"I think I was yelling louder than anybody back there for J.B.,"Cox said. "I was really happy for him."
Cox admitted he didn't know if Mauney made the whistle or notuntil afterward when he glanced at the time clock in the arena.
WRECK: Bushwacker had J.B. Mauney's number in2011.
Mauney's wife Lexi, his sister Jessie, his brother-in-lawShane Proctor and his uncle, DickiesDuraBullfighter, Frank Newsom were all there to witness themoment.
So too was Markus Mariluch.
The Elko, Nev., rider was one of only two riders― Thiago Paguioto being the other ― tomake the whistle on Bushwacker, in October 2009, but in many waysthat was an entirely different bull. Bushwacker was only 3 yearsold then.
Mariluch, a last minute alternate in Tulsa, who replaced theinjured Kody Lostroh in the draw only a day before the event began,insisted on pulling Mauney's bull rope for him.
It had nothing to do with the fact that he had once ridden thebull at a time when Cox said Bushwacker was still a baby. Instead,it had everything to do with the simple fact that Mauney has madethe whistle every time Mariluch has done so.
In the early morning hours, Mariluch joked on Twitter it was theonly good thing he did all weekend:
Mauney, who tweeted this weekend for the first time sinceJanuary 2011, thanked Mariluch.
Unlike Mariluch, Mauney rode with as much, or more, confidenceas he did in 2009 when he rode all eight bulls at the World Finals.Thisweekend's event win - his first of 2013 - moved him from 10th inthe world standings to sixth.
More importantly, he went from slightly more than 3,000 pointsbehind No. 1 Silvano Alves to within 2,326.5points in only two days with eight regular-season BFTS eventsremaining on the road back to Las Vegas.
"I'm as high as can be right now," Mauney said. "A bull thatgood and that rank over that many years that hadn't been rode andI'd been on him so many times over and over and he's always got meon the ground, to be able to get lucky enough to just be able toride him-I mean, your confidence can't get any higher thanthat."
Follow Keith Ryan Cartwright on Twitter @PBR_KRC