Barbosa Earns Important Round Win In Kansas City

By: Justin Felisko
February 21, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Here are three things we learned from the Built Ford Tough Kansas City Clash this weekend at the Sprint Center.

Barbosa earns important round win; trying to avoid BFTS cut

Rubens Barbosa was one of the riders entering the weekend that needed a big ride or two to avoid the upcoming BFTS cut in two weeks.

It took one extra night, but Barbosa came through with a major 88.5-point ride aboard Hillbilly to win Round 2 and an even larger 100 points toward the world standings.

The ride was his only one of the weekend after bucking off Shaft in 3.33 seconds during the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, but the one ride was enough to help him finish sixth in the event average for an additional 45 world points and a tie for fifth overall.

The 145 total world points move him from 85th in the world standings on Sunday morning to 29th heading into next weekend’s Choctaw Casino Iron Cowboy, powered by Kawasaki.

“I feel happy to cover that bull today because I know I needed to so bad,” Barbosa said with Guilherme Marchi translating. “The past few weeks I have done no good. I know it is the time and am happy to do really good today.”

Barbosa added he wasn’t feeling the nerves about the looming cut.

“I am not nervous, but every day I was trying and it couldn’t come true,” he said. “Today I drew a good bull and he fit me pretty good. I give everything I knows and made a good ride today.”

The ride was Barbosa’s highest qualified ride on the BFTS since riding Priceless for 92.5 points at the 2011 Built Ford Tough World Finals.

Following the Iron Cowboy, BFTS draws will be based upon the 2016 world standings and any riders that have remaining injury or World Champion exemptions.

Ben Jones (40 world points; 85.75-point ride on Chocolate Shake in Round 2) finished 10th and Nathan Schaper (35 points; 84.25 points on Clevenger in Round 1) 11th to help crack The Top 35 heading into next weekend. Jones is the 34th rider in the world standings, while Schaper is 35th.

Meanwhile, Claudio Crisostomo and Reese Cates head into Iron Cowboy outside of the Top 35 with one final guaranteed BFTS event.

Barbosa tied for the Round 1 win last year at Iron Cowboy with an 87.5-point ride that ultimately helped him earn a spot on the BFTS as he went from 40th in the world to 31st.

“Iron Cowboy is another opportunity to win a lot of points and a lot of money in the game,” Barbosa said. “I am so happy to be at the event for a second year.”

Aparecido wins first event of 2016

Eduardo Aparecido didn’t have a lot of time to compose himself Sunday afternoon in the championship round, but he knew he wanted a $30,000 payday and the event victory.

Aparecido won his first event of 2016 by riding Texicali for 89 points roughly 5 minutes after earning a re-ride option during his 81.25-point ride on Bootdaddy.com.

The ride capped a 3-for-3 weekend for the fourth-year professional bull rider.

“I needed one more ride because I only scored 80 points,” Aparecido said with the help of Valdiron de Oliveira translating. “I didn’t want to win second. I wanted to win first. I wanted to ride my bull. It is hard to go back-to-back with another bull because the rope is a little dirty and I have to clean it and make it stick again. You have to concentrate a little more to get on another rank bull.”

Aparecido’s last ride came down to a review in the final seconds.

“I was pretty sure I was going to get a score, because I felt a little bit of the rope in my hand,” he said. “I was a little nervous because of my wrist though.”

Aparecido’s ride placed him second in the round for 60 world standings points. He earned 400 of his event-winning 520 points for winning the event average.

The 25-year-old picked up 50 points in Round 1 with his 85.5-point ride on Glory Days for a third-place finish in the round and earned 10 points in Round 2 earlier Sunday with his 85-point ride on Big Benny that helped him split sixth and seventh place.

Aparecido jumps from 13th in the world standings to seventh and trails world leader J.B. Mauney by 683.34 points.

Mauney finished 2-for-3 with an 87-point ride on Fire & Smoke that was upheld by a judge’s review.

Judges spent several minutes looking to see if the defending World Champion’s free arm may have grazed Fire & Smoke. If Mauney was still riding with a cast on his free arm, he certainly would have slapped Fire & Smoke.

The ride helped him place fourth in the round for 40 world points. Mauney earned a total of 145 points and leads No. 2 Paulo Lima by 227.5 points.

Aparecido had to attempt his re-ride seeing as Kaique Pacheco had earlier ridden Crystal Can Do for 86.25 points in the championship round for his third ride of the weekend.

Pacheco, the only other rider to go 3-for-3, finished in second-place with 370 points, while Lachlan Richardson (320 points, 2-for-3) finished third and Joao Ricardo Vieira placed fourth (155 points, 2-for-3).

Richardson wins first BFTS round in two-plus years

Richardson propelled himself to the third-place finish thanks to his championship-round winning 89.5-point ride on Pound The Alarm.

Not only did he tie his career-high ride score, but it was also his first Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) round win since winning Round 2 of the Battle at the Beau in Biloxi, Mississippi, in Sept. 2013.

“He faked right, went left,” Richardson said. “I had seen him before. He is normally around to the right, but I had seen him last week went left. I wasn’t really sure what he was going to do.”

Richardson previously rode Jack Daniel’s After Party for 89.5 points in Uncasville, Connecticut, during his BFTS debut in April 2012.

The 23-year-old rode Moto Moto for 86.5 points in Round 2. He placed fourth in that round for 40 world points.

Richardson moves up one spot in the world standings to 10th heading into Iron Cowboy.

“It just like any other week when you are riding confident,” Richardson said. “It doesn’t matter where it is. If it is a $1,000 show or Iron Cowboy, it is a new week and I have to ride me next bull.”

Injury Updates

There were only 14 riders in the championship round after Robson Palermo and Fabiano Vieira each missed the final round because of injuries.

According to Dr. Tandy Freeman, Palermo aggravated a previous back injury during his 84.75-point ride on Spitball and Vieira sustained a concussion during his 82.75-point ride on Ambush in Round 2. Palermo is probable for Iron Cowboy, while Vieira is listed as questionable.

Guilherme Marchi did not compete Sunday because of a sore right (riding hand). He is probable for Iron Cowboy.

Shane Proctor (concussion), Wallace de Oliveira (right facial fracture/left arm contusion) and Derek Kolbaba (riding hand injury) all missed the final day because of their injuries from Round 1. Proctor and Oliveira are probable for Iron Cowboy and Kolbaba is questionable.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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