Kolbaba Wins the Second Semi-Final at Days of ’47
By: Justin Felisko
July 20, 2018
Derek Kolbaba took home the victory on night two of the Days of ’47. Photo: Peggy Gander.
PUEBLO, Colo. – Derek Kolbaba is no stranger to the rodeo circuit, and the Walla Walla, Washington, bull rider took a step toward another prominent rodeo victory on Friday night.
Kolbaba won the second Semi-Final performance at the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo in Salt Lake City by riding Shake It for 82 points.
The victory qualifies Kolbaba for the Gold Medal Round on Tuesday night in Utah.
“This is an awesome event that everybody has put together,” Kolbaba told Anthony Lucia on RidePass. “There is a lot of money up for grabs and some good points. And some great fans. It makes it real exciting for us.”
Two-time World Champion Justin McBride was in the RidePass booth as Kolbaba put together the first qualified ride of the bull riding.
“If Kolbaba weakens halfway through that ride, that bull is going to stick him into his hand and buck him off,” McBride said. “That bull has off timing the whole time. He is not real smooth. You can see he is hitting it a little funny. Kolbaba keeps trying to get into the middle of that bull. He is not just satisfied with being a little stuck into his hand. He moves back to the front and gets back to where he belongs.”
There were no other qualified rides in the round.
Therefore, Miles Englebert was the other rider to advance courtesy of having the longest buckoff time, according to the RidePass broadcast team.
The Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo features four Semi-Final performances (July 19-21, July 23) and then one Gold Medal Round (July 24).
The top two finishers from each Semi-Final performance advance to the Gold Medal Round. The final two spots will go to the two highest finishers from any of the four semifinal bull ridings that had failed to qualify.
The winner of the bull riding gold medal will also earn 120 world points and $50,000. Each victor of the rodeo disciplines automatically qualifies for the next three WCRA $1 million rodeos.
Garrett Smith and Cody Rodeo Tyler were the two riders to advance out of the first Semi-Final Performance on Thursday evening.
Kolbaba is sitting 20th in the PBR world standings and is 17-for-54 (31.48 percent) at all levels of PBR competition. It has been a rough four months for Kolbaba since he tore his right ACL on March 2 in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
The 22-year-old has not put together back-to-back qualified rides in PBR competition since February, but he has started finding his groove this summer on the rodeo trail.
Kolbaba won a round at the Calgary Stampede, and most recently went 1-for-2 Wednesday night at the California Rodeo Salinas PBR event with a ride aboard Fantastic (87 points).
Fans can watch the Days of ’47, which is a WCRA Rodeo, on RidePass beginning at 10 p.m. ET. CBS Sports Network will also air highlights from the Days of ’47 on July 20 (10 a.m. ET), July 21 (4 p.m. ET), July 22 (9:30 a.m. ET), July 24 (11:30 a.m. ET) and July 25 (7 p.m. ET).
CBS national television will air “B&W Trailer Hitches Days of ’47” on July 29 at 1 p.m. ET.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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