Game Notes: Bismarck

By: Jordan Marie Johnson June 12, 2014@ 03:00:00 PM

The DCB PBR Bull Riding takes place in Bismarck, N.D., on June 13-14. Photo by Andy Watson / BullStockMedia.com.

PUEBLO, Colo. – This week, the Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Division will visit Bismarck, North Dakota, for PBR Stock Contractor Chad Berger’s DCB PBR Bull Riding Challenge. The competition will take place Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. CT. This year’s two-day event will be formatted as two separate events with a winner each day and $20,000 added on each day.

Berger has paid more than half a million dollars throughout the 14 years this event has taken place and he has a chance to award another $100,000 if four-time defending PRCA champion J.W. Harris successfully covers two-time PBR World Champion Bull Bushwacker on Friday night.

PAST BISMARCK PBR EVENT WINNERS –

2013 Chase Outlaw
2012 Ben Jones
2011 Robson Palermo
2010 Sevi Torturo
2009 Billy Robinson
2008 Cody Ford
2006 Rob Bell
2005 Helton Barbosa

PBR LIVE BROADCAST – The DCB PBR Bull Riding Challenge will be streamed in real time on PBR LIVE via PBR.com beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET with Justin McBride providing play-by-play coverage and Matt West handling behind-the-chutes interviews and updates. To sign up for all coverage of the PBR this summer on PBR LIVE, visit PBR.com.

THE RIDERS:

BOUT TIME – In a bonus round Friday night, four-time defending PRCA champion J.W. Harris will take on two-time PBR World Champion Bull Bushwacker for a payout of $100,000 if Harris can make the 8-second mark. Harris was bucked off by Bushwacker in their first and only meeting of their careers in 2010 in Waco, Texas. Harris managed to last 6.2 seconds in that attempt.

MONEY MIKE – 2004 PBR World Champion Mike Lee walked away with an extra $15,000 in winnings last weekend during four-time defending Stock Contractor of the Year Jeff Robinson’s TPD event in Asheville, North Carolina. Lee won both the Asheville TPD and J.W. Hart’s Decatur, Texas, TPD event on May 31, meeting the requirements of the challenge set by Robinson and Hart. If the same man won both of their events, they would award him $15,000. Lee’s win in Asheville is his third consecutive victory in as many weeks.

BREAKDOWN OF BISMARCK TPD COMPETITORS BY COUNTRY

Australia (1) – Ben Jones

Brazil (3) – Luis Blanco, Guilherme Marchi & Fabiano Vieira

Canada (1) – Ty Pozzobon

United States (40) – Brant Atwood, Reagan Avery, Dakota Beck, Shawn Best II, Matt Bohon, Jarrod Craig, Ryan Dirteater, Jay Dunford, Casey Farrington, Cody Ford, Gage Gay, Tyler Harr, J.W. Harris, Kasey Hayes, Colter Hensel, Skyler Johnson, Skeeter Kingsolver, Scottie Knapp, Kritter Lamb, Stetson Lawrence, Mike Lee, Dakota Louis, Mason Lowe, Dylan Madsen, Markus Mariluch, Jory Markiss, Austin Meier, Bart Miller, Jay Miller, Cody Nance, Chase Outlaw, Zac Peterson, Billy Robinson, Pistol Robinson, Brady Sims, Taryl Smith, Bryan Titman, Matt Triplett, Guytin Tsosie & Stormy Wing.

BREAKDOWN BY STATE – Arkansas – Tyler Harr & Chase Outlaw; Colorado – Casey Farrington; Kansas – Kasey Hayes & Skeeter Kingsolver; Louisiana – Reagan Avery; Minnesota – Colter Hensel; Missouri – Matt Bohon, Mason Lowe & Brady Sims; Montana – Dakota Louis, Jory Markiss & Matt Triplett; Nebraska – Bart Miller; Nevada – Markus Mariluch; New Mexico – Guytin Tsosie; North Carolina – Gage Gay; North Dakota – Jay Dunford, Skyler Johnson, Stetson Lawrence, Zac Peterson and Taryl Smith; Oklahoma – Ryan Dirteater & Austin Meier; Oregon – Cody Ford; South Carolina – Jay Miller; South Dakota – Kritter Lamb & Dylan Madsen; Tennessee – Cody Nance; Texas – Brant Atwood, Jarrod Craig, J.W. Harris, Scottie Knapp, Mike Lee, Pistol Robinson, Bryan Titman & Stormy Wing; Virginia – Billy Robinson; Washington – Dakota Beck & Shawn Best II.

THE BULLS:

Two great bulls will be on the scene this weekend in Bismarck.

BYE BYE BUSHWACKER – Bushwacker had a $1 million bounty placed on him during the Dr Pepper Iron Cowboy V. He was the Bad Boy Mowers Million Dollar Ride, where the winner of the Iron Cowboy V had the opportunity to ride him for $1 million. Joao Ricardo Vieira, the winner of the Iron Cowboy V title, lasted less than three seconds during the $1 million ride attempt on Bushwacker. He is only the second bull in PBR history to have such a lucrative bounty placed on him for a successful 8-second ride. In 2003, Chris Shivers took on Little Yellow Jacket with $1 million on the line in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

While in Oklahoma City earlier this year, stock contractor Julio Moreno announced that Bushwacker will take one last lap on the BFTS this season before retiring to Moreno’s ranch in California. After successfully attaining his second PBR World Champion Bull title last year following the 2013 World Finals, the two-time champ has earned it.

Bushwacker bucked for the first time in 2014 during the Oklahoma City 15/15 Bucking Battle by taking on reigning World Champion J.B. Mauney. He made quick work of Mauney, sending him overboard in 1.13 seconds for a score of 46.75 points. Mauney has attempted the World Champion Bull 12 times in his career, successfully covering him only once on his ninth try to end the bull’s consecutive buckoff streak of 42 straight BFTS riders (and a total of 56 consecutive dumped riders overall) for a score of 95.25 points – the highest score of the 2013 season. Bushwacker added Nathan Schaper, Markus Mariluch, Vieira, Guilherme Marchi and L.J. Jenkins (twice) to his list of buckoffs this year.

SAYONARA SMACKDOWN – Another one of the rankest bulls in the PBR is set to retire at the end of the season. Chad Berger – one of Smackdown’s owners – delivered the news while in Tacoma, Washington, in mid-March. Smackdown has bucked on the Built Ford Tough Series tour since September 2009, making his first appearance in Reno, Nevada. Smackdown has a buckoff rate of 77 percent and has bucked off 55 of his 76 total opponents. He has an average bull score of 45.04 out of 50 points.

According to Probullstats.com, he is one out shy of moving into the Top 10 bulls of all time with the most outs and only 11 away from entering the Top 5 category. He soon will reach 100 total career outs, which include BFTS, Touring Pro Division and pro rodeos – something that only 68 out of 31,175 bulls with records on Probullstats.com have accomplished.

The highest-marked ride Smackdown has ever been a part of was during Berger’s 2011 TPD event in Bismarck when Robson Palermo rode him for 94.5 points in June 2011.

BISMARCK CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND – Here is a complete list of bulls for the DCB PBR Challenge Championship Round for both Friday and Saturday nights. All bulls are owned by Chad Berger and reside in North Dakota.

BULL (BFTS OUTS/RIDDEN)

Loco Lizard (0/0)
Ropin Dreams (22/4)
Ferdinand (1/1)
Apollo Stripes (11/0)
War Pony’s Fire ‘n Smoke (10/1)
Smackdown (76/21)
Rock River Red (14/2)
Prince Albert (35/20)
Twitter This (2/0)
Flint (24/6)
Cooper Tires Semper Fi (8/2)
Cowtown Slinger (20/7)
Modified Clyde (15/5)
Sayiwont Gunslinger (8/1)
Cooper Tires Brown Sugar (7/1)

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