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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – So far so good for reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger and his experiment of moving Smooth Operator to a right-hand delivery.
After a disastrous outing at the 2017 PBR World Finals with Cooper Davis, Berger decided to switch Smooth Operator over to the right for his annual New Town, North Dakota, bull riding this past November.
Berger was happy with what he saw as Smooth Operator bucked off Cody Casper and Logan Biever just past 3 seconds for identical 45-point bull scores.
Still, Berger was curious as to how Smooth Operator would do on the right side against an experienced and veteran bull rider on The 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast.
Berger got his answer two weeks ago in Chicago when Smooth Operator had a clean and honest trip against Fabiano Vieira as the veteran bull left the chute to the right and continuously kept turning and fading.
Vieira lasted 5.19 seconds and Smooth Operator was marked 45.75 points. The trip was Smooth Operator’s best since being scored a career-high 46.5 points in the 2015 Seattle championship round against J.W. Harris.
“I took him to New Town for two trips and he did the same thing two times,” Berger said. “He is going to hang there.”
The 2015 World Champion Bull contender was marked 45 points or higher three more times after Seattle that season, but he has yet to truly regain his similar form since a lower back/pelvis injury caused him to miss the first seven months of the 2016 season.
This weekend will be Smooth Operator’s fifth consecutive trip from the right side at all levels of PBR competition when he faces off against Derek Kolbaba in the 15/15 Bucking Battle at the Wrangler Long Live Cowboys Classic in Sacramento, California.
Smooth Operator earned 44 points for bucking off Cody Rodeo Tyler in 4.79 seconds in Oklahoma City last weekend.
Once again, Smooth Operator went to the right, which would be away from Kolbaba’s riding hand.
“I didn’t see him last weekend, but out of the right he looks like the one to have,” Kolbaba said on Tuesday morning.
Kolbaba – the runner-up in the 2017 world title race – said in Oklahoma City that he has been trying to gather up some momentum through the first month of the season after winning Round 2 with 91 points on Big Dutch.
It has been a slow start for the 21-year-old through the first three events of 2018. He is 3-for-10 with four of his seven buckoffs coming at 5.19 seconds or later.
“Man that is the hardest thing,” Kolbaba said. “You ride one so well for 6 seconds and then you have a flipping brain malfunction and just let it all fall to shit. We are going to try and not let that happen anymore.
“I don’t know if it is worse falling off at 2 seconds or at 7. It kind of eats at you a little more. Hell if you rode him for 7, I don’t see why you can’t ride him for another second. It is just some little things that were making me make some mental errors.”
The mental errors may be even more frustrating for Kolbaba.
One week it is a failure to pull his rope tight enough, and then another it is placing his hand in the wrong spot on the back of a bull.
Kolbaba said those issues won’t be a problem anymore this year.
“I don’t know whether it is not really worrying about it or thinking that it doesn’t matter,” Kolbaba said. “At the end of the day it shouldn’t, but it is little things like that on these great bulls that can be a difference. We have to get it right in the bucking chute and let everything else fall where it will.”
15/15 Bucking Battle Matchups
Derek Kolbaba vs. Smooth Operator (47-3, PBR UTB)
Jose Vitor Leme vs. Speed Demon (13-2, PBR UTB)
Cody Campbell vs. Indian Medicine (2-3, PBR UTB)
Tye Chandler vs. SweetPro’s Bruiser (37-10, PBR UTB)
Kaique Pacheco vs. Jack Shot (25-3, PBR UTB)$
Jess Lockwood vs. Talking Smack (3-0, PBR UTB)
Dakota Buttar vs. Pearl Harbor (32-4, PBR UTB)
Stetson Lawrence vs. Moleek (11-0, PBR UTB)
Joao Ricardo Vieira vs. Catfish John (26-9, PBR UTB)
Eduardo Aparecido vs. Mudshark (8-4, PBR UTB)$
Valdiron de Oliveira vs. Gambini (13-1, PBR UTB)
Claudio Montanha Jr. vs. Spotted Demon (32-3, PBR UTB)
Ryan Dirteater vs. Frequent Flyer (10-0, PBR UTB)
Cooper Davis vs. Wicked Stick (19-4, PBR UTB)*
Dener Barbosa vs. Heartbreak Kid (9-0, PBR UTB)
*Rematch
$ Rider has successfully previously ridden the bull
This weekend’s 15/15 Bucking Battle is based off the 2018 standings.
Kolbaba is the last rider in the draw seeing as No. 14 J.B. Mauney, No. 16 Brady Oleson and No. 18 Lindomar Lino are not competing. Mauney is out because of an on-going groin injury, while Oleson and Lino did not qualify for the regular three-day event in Sacramento this weekend.
Eduardo Aparecido and Kaique Pacheco have two favorable rematches for the 15/15 Bucking Battle.
Aparecido previously rode Mudshark for 88.75 points at the 2017 Ty Murray Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Pacheco is 2-3 against Jack Shot. Pacheco has ridden Jack Shot for 91 points (Denver Velocity Tour event) and 86 points (Billings, Montana). Two of his three buckoffs came after 6.88 seconds.
World leader Dener Barbosa will look to extend his 45-point lead on No. 2 Cooper Davis when he takes on Heartbreak Kid.