LAS VEGAS – SweetPro’s Bruiser was touted all season long as the most consistent World Champion Bull contender, and Bruiser got World Championship certification on Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.
Bruiser was able to find his inner strength to dislodge 2016 PBR Brazil champion Dener Barbosa at the 7.15-second mark to propel himself to the 2016 World Champion Bull title with a 46.25-point bull score.
Bruiser won the championship with a total two-out bull score of 90.75 points and his season-long consistency came up clutch at the Built Ford Tough World Finals.
“Heck yeah,” H.D. Page said. “I didn’t think he had a big chance coming in because he had so much ground to makeup, but after he buck, I knew we were in the game. That was awesome. That bull is clutch. He always has been. Calling him clutch is almost an understatement because he is clutch every day. He never failed me since the very first time we had him in the bucking chute.”
The D&H Cattle Company bovine athlete actually finished in a three-way tie with fellow World Champion Bull contenders SweetPro’s Long John, the previous reigning World Champion, and Pearl Harbor.
According to the PBR’s World Finals ground rules, the first tiebreaker was the sum of a bull’s best eight outs.
Therefore, the fact that Bruiser arrived at the World Finals as the No. 1 regular-season bull ended up becoming a huge benefit.
He is the 16th different World Champion Bull in PBR history.
“He is stronger at 8 seconds than he is at 2 seconds, but he bucks hard at 2 seconds and he never fails,” PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert said. “His consistency is what got him that. As it turned out, there were three bulls that had a really good Finals. Bruiser’s yearlong consistency is what came in to play and separated him.”
Bruiser, who finished runner-up to Long John at the 2015 World Finals, concluded the season with 14 consecutive buckoffs after being ridden by Mason Lowe for 91 points in Oklahoma City.
The 5-year-old was marked 46 points or higher one-third of the time this season.
Bruiser’s season-high 46.75-point bull score for bucking off Lowe in Nampa, Idaho, as well as his 45.25-point score for bucking off Tanner Byrne in San Jose, California, last month helped push Bruiser into the world No. 1 ranking before the World Finals.
“He is better if he is not laid off,” Page said. “He is a better bull if he is in his everyday work clothes. That is probably the reason I went to the last few events that moved him into the lead and on the average. He had a couple of great outs there toward the end of the season. That ended up being the dealbreaker.”
Lowe was bucked off by Bruiser in 5.66 seconds in Round 2 last Thursday.
Bruiser was only marked 44.25 points, but Lowe said Bruiser was by far his choice for World Champion Bull if he could pick one based on his three trips with him.
“I do,” Lowe said. “He gets out and he is good every time. He bucks every time. He should be the World Champion. No doubt.”
Barbosa called it an honor to attempt the World Champion. The 22-year-old was already thinking about getting a rematch in 2017 if he is on the Built Ford Tough Series.
“Bruiser bucks like a Brazilian bull and I felt good when I had seen him,” Barbosa said. “I think this bull is the best. He is the most consistent the all year. He bucked more than all of those bulls.”
JARED ALLEN’S AIR TIME STRUGGLES AGAIN IN LAS VEGAS
The highly anticipated matchup between Jared Allen’s Air Time and J.B. Mauney wound up anticlimactic as Air Time posted a second consecutive sub-part out at the World Finals.
Mauney, who partially dislocated his riding shoulder during the matchup, was awarded a re-ride in Round 5 after Air Time hooked himself near the chutes while first getting out of the chute decently clean.
The two-time World Champion lasted less than 4 seconds before hitting the ground.
Air Time was marked 43 points during the out after previously scoring only 42.5 points in his 6.47 seconds of work against Zane Cook in Round 2. He finished second to last in the World Champion Bull standings.
FINAL 2016 WORLD CHAMPION BULL STANDINGS
SweetPro’s Bruiser - 90.75
Pearl Harbor - 90.75
SweetPro’s Long John - 90.75
Seven Dust – 90
Stone Sober – 88.75
Hey Jack - 88.5
Jared Allen’s Air Time – 85.5
Crossfire - 85.25
Cochise - 0
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko