FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. ― If J.B. Mauney is able to come from behind to win his first world title, it won't be without a fight from the two-time defending World Champion Silvano Alves.

The top two ranked riders in the world standings went head-to-head this weekend in Fayetteville, N.C., with each covering 2-of-3 bulls in the Fort Bragg Wounded Soldier Foundation Invitational, and Mauney winning for the second week in a row and the fourth time in eight weeks.

Alves finished fourth in the average as Mauney made up 195.75 points in the overall standings.

He now trails Alves by 1,393.75 points.

It's widely believed among many riders that going into Las Vegas for the World Finals, where there are 5,500 points up for grabs, within 1,500 points is like going into the season finale in a virtual tie.

"You have a legitimate chance when you get there," Mauney said. "There are so many points and bonus points available."

Mauney won the opening round Friday night at Crown Coliseum with 87 points on Showing Out and was fifth in Round 2 with 86 points on Stacks of Cash. He had difficulty getting out of the chutes the second time.

"Kept my cool," said Mauney, who admitted he doesn't like being in the box longer than he needs to be, "but I kept my wits about me."

The Mooresville, N.C., native took Superfreak - a bull co-owned by Jerome Davis and Brian Canter and the same bull he won the Greensboro, N.C., event on a year ago - with the first pick in the bull draft for the Built Ford Tough Championship Round.

He had already secured the Built Ford Tough Series win by the time he climbed into the bucking chute, but as the 26-year-old would later say, "It's about points."

Mauney's two other wins prior to winning last weekend in Grand Rapids, Mich., came in Tulsa and Thackerville, Okla.

Rounding out the Top 5 in the average were Eduardo Aparecido, who moved past Guilherme Marchi into fifth overall in the world standings, Validron de Oliveira, Alves and Markus Mariluch.

Mauney would have liked one more qualified ride and, more importantly, needed it to help close the gap with only one regular-season event remaining - Hollywood, Fla. - on the road to the World Finals.

It is in Las Vegas where Mauney predicts the world title will be decided.

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"I let two bulls slide away from me," said Mauney, also referring to Friday night's bonus bull for having won last week in Grand Rapids, Mich. "I could have been a lot more points. The way I look at it is it's going to all come down to Vegas. I just have to keep riding my bulls, and Vegas is going to make or break one of us."

Unlike last week, when Alves said he "did no good," he split sixth and seventh in Round 1 and ninth and 10th in the second round with scores of 82.75 points and 84.5 points.

However, with so few qualified rides - there were nine in Round 1 and 12 in Round 2 - there wasn't much separation between the riders in the average. Therefore, Mauney worked hard all weekend for considerably less gain in the standings than the more than the 765.25 points he made up a week earlier.

Friday night, he talked about the work ahead.

It's also worth noting that in spite of his prolific eight-week stretch, Mauney still has quite the deficit to overcome. Still, he'll have four bulls in next week's BFTS event in Florida, one more in the 15/15 Bucking Battle and then another six at the World Finals.

While Alves built his lead a few points at a time this year, Mauney does not have the same luxury.

Follow Keith Ryan Cartwright on Twitter @PBR_KRC

Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series
Fort Bragg Wounded Soldier Foundation Invitational
Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, N.C. 
Final Results (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Total Points, Money Earned) ... 

1. J.B. Mauney, 87-86-0-173.00 points, $34,830.00
2. Eduardo Aparecido, 86.5-86.25-0-172.75 points, $16,925.00
3. Valdiron de Oliveira, 85.25-85.5-0-170.75 points, $9,775.00
4. Silvano Alves, 82.75-84.5-0-167.25 points, $5,925.00
5. Markus Mariluch, 85.75-0-74-159.75 points, $17,100.00
6. Douglas Duncan, 0-87.75-0-87.75 points, $6,480.00
7. Austin Meier, 0-87.25-0-87.25 points, $5,150.00
8. Renato Nunes, 86.5-0-0-86.50 points, $4,275.00
9. Stormy Wing, 0-86.25-0-86.25 points, $3,050.00
10. Joseph McConnel, 0-85.5-0-85.50 points, $1,425.00
11. L.J. Jenkins, 0-84.75-0-84.75 points, $770.00
12. Jory Markiss, 0-84.5-0-84.50 points, $400.00
13. Cody Nance, 0-83.25-0-83.25 points, $400.00
14. Brenton Chaffin, 82.75-0-0-82.75 points, $925.00
15. Kody Lostroh, 81.5-0-0-81.50 points, $770.00
16. Ryan Dirteater, 0-73.5-0-73.50 points, $400.00
17. Claudio Crisostomo, 57.5-0-0-57.50 points, $400.00
Agnaldo Cardozo, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Ben Jones, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Billy Robinson, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Brant Atwood, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Brendon Clark, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Chase Outlaw, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Emilio Resende, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Guilherme Marchi, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Jared Farley, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Joao Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Jordan Hupp, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Lachlan Richardson, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Luke Snyder, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Marco Eguchi, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Matt Triplett, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Mike Lee, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Nathan Schaper, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00
Sean Willingham, 0-0-0-0.00 points, $400.00