First Half Recap: Vieira Holds Off Lowe while Kolbaba Arrives

PUEBLO, Colo. – Now that summer has arrived and we’re that much close to the start of the second half of the Built Ford Tough Series in Nashville, PBR.com wants to take you back and look at the first half of the season.

Oklahoma City: It came down to the wire in Oklahoma City between Fabiano Vieira and Mason Lowe. Both Lowe and Vieira had entered the Built Ford Tough Championship Round a perfect 3-for-3 before Lowe threw down the gauntlet with a 91-point ride on SweetPro’s Bruiser. Then Vieira answered on the last ride of the night with an 89.25-point trip on Red Moon, enough to slip past Lowe in the event average and claim the victory.

“I am 33 years old,” Vieira said. “I feel young. I feel 22 years. I feel like I am getting better and better. I don’t know. There is too much competition until the Finals. This is the third event of the PBR. I think it is too early. I want to concentrate on riding. It is too early to think about the World Championship. I need to ride, ride, ride. Every bull rider wants to be a World Champion.”

Anaheim: With his childhood friend and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Josh Manson, and the majority of the Byrne family, in attendance, Tanner Byrne won his first career BFTS event by riding Doc Mosely for 86.5 points in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round to cap off a perfect 4-for-4 weekend.

“It feels great,” Byrne said. “I feel like it has been a long time coming. I have come close quite a few times and never really sealed the deal. I had a good feeling about Anaheim with everything we have been doing here. The Honda Center feels like home.”

Anaheim 15/15: 19-year-old rookie sensation Derek Kolbaba made his first mark on the Built Ford Tough Series when he turned in an 89.25-point ride on DaNutso to win the Anaheim 15/15 Bucking Battle. Kolbaba, a protégé of BFTS veteran Shane Proctor, had been extremely successful on the BlueDEF Tour earlier in the season and continued that success on the BFTS with his first 15/15 Bucking Battle victory.

“To go against the Top 15 guys in the world and actually come out on top was pretty cool for me,” Kolbaba said. “This is the biggest level in bull riding, but in the end it is still just riding bulls. “If I can keep it simple and stay to the basics and not let everything else get to me, then everything else should work out.”

PBR Senior Writer / Editor Justin Felisko contributed to this series.

CHECK OUT THE REST OF OUR FIRST HALF RECAPS

–Part 1