Lockwood Wins Sixth BFTS Round

By: Justin Felisko
September 17, 2016

CHARLOTTE – Here are three things we learned from this weekend’s Charlotte Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Lockwood wins sixth BFTS round (9-17-16)

Jess Lockwood may have had to deal with some harmless locker room pranks on Friday night, but the 18-year-old got the last laugh Saturday when he won Round 2 with an 88.25-point ride on Billy Bat Skat.

“That bull is cool,” Lockwood said. “He is a big, ole scary rodeo-looking bull. He was real good and right around to the left.”

Lockwood was all smiles following his ride on Billy Bat Skat prior to the championship round even with a tiny chunk of his hair missing after he was pranked on Friday.

An unknown rider put rosin in Lockwood’s helmet prior to Round 1 to the shock of the Volborg, Montana, native. Lockwood spent Friday night cutting the rosin out of his hair with fingernail clippers because he couldn’t find any scissors.

“Oh, just another day being a rookie,” Lockwood said on the back of the chutes.

Lockwood was angrier about being bucked off by Milky Jones in 5.79 seconds during the Built Ford Tough Championship Round.

Prior to the buckoff, Lockwood said he has been trying to improve his chute procedure lately.

“My chute procedure leaving the chute has been a little rough recently,” Lockwood said. “We are fixing that. I know what to do, but sometimes bulls throw a little different stuff at you. We are not working on it physically, more mentally. I also have been getting too deep of a hold with my spurs and not enough with my knees. Cody (Lambert) said to try to focus on that if you can, but just ride like you do.”

Lockwood (1-for-3) finished sixth overall (110 points) thanks to his seventh round victory in 10 events.

He is ninth in the world standings heading into next weekend’s Rumble in the Rockies in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the Broadmoor World Arena.

Pacheco keeps on rolling and extends world lead

World leader Kaique Pacheco turns 22 years old on Sunday and the second-year pro gave himself an early birthday present in Charlotte.

Pacheco went 3-for-3 to win the Charlotte Invitational for a second consecutive season and didn’t waste any opportunities this weekend with the No. 2 rider in the world standings, Cooper Davis, home recovering from surgery to repair his broken clavicle.

Pacheco rode Crazy Horse for 88.5 points win the Built Ford Tough Championship Round and earned a total of 510 points toward the world standings.

“I marked down all of the bulls I wanted to get on, like Who Dey,” Pacheco said with the help of Robson Palermo translating. “Then those guys picked a couple other bulls I wanted. I had the fourth (pick) and he was one I liked. I saw Marco Eguchi and Eduardo (Aparecido) get on the bull. I thought he fit me pretty good and could make a good score.”

Pacheco then watched from the back of the bucking chutes as Guilherme Marchi (6.02 seconds on Machinery Auctioneer’s Little Joe), Mike Lee (1.09 seconds on Kookaburra) and J.B. Mauney (2.83 seconds on Who Dey) all bucked off their championship-round bulls to solidify his victory.

He extended his lead on Davis to 590.33 points.

Pacheco began the weekend with 85 points on I’m Trouble in Round 1 for a sixth-place round finish (10 world points) and 85.5 points on Slick Rick in Round 2 for an eighth-place round finish.

Mauney (2-for-3, 325 world points) finished second in the event to only lose 185 points on Pacheco in the world title race. Pacheco holds an 860.33-point advantage on Mauney in the world standings.

Aparecido finished third in Charlotte to move up to fourth in the standings. He earned 305 world points by going 2-for-3. Aparecido rode Fit to be Relaxed for 86.5 points in Round 2 and Magic Train for 87.75 points in the championship round.

The 26-year-old is 1,516.16 points behind Pacheco in the world standings.

Charlotte was a good bounce back performance by Pacheco after the 2015 Rookie of the Year went 1-for-5 in Springfield.

Pacheco’s championship-round win gives him BFTS round wins in three consecutive events. He began the second half with only three round wins.

The 2015 Rookie of the Year leads the PBR with 38 qualified rides – a new career high – and has the largest lead atop the world standings in his career.

Pacheco knows the CBS Sports Network cameras and the media attention will be focusing more and more on him during the final five BFTS regular-season events, but he doesn’t plan to let that affect his mindset of going after his first gold buckle.

“I know I am in first place and everyone is watching and talking about me,” Pacheco said. “I didn’t pay any attention to that. I have always been like that since I started riding bulls and I am going to continue being the same.

“I am focused.”

Air Time slips up in Charlotte; likely to buck in Nampa, Idaho

Jared Allen’s Air Time appeared poised to end his regular season on a high note during the championship round, but the World Champion Bull contender caught his horn in the bucking chute during his 1.41-second buckoff of Stormy Wing.

The slight hiccup caused Air Time to begin his out a little awkward and Wing was unable to last long enough while Air Time began to regain his steam.

Stock contractor Matt Scharping said Air Time was fine following the out and he didn’t sustain any injuries.

“The bull’s fine,” Scharping said. “He is healthy. It was just a bad deal. We really didn’t get to see anything. He hung that horn and Stormy came down early. It was a wasted out, honestly.”

Scharping originally had plans for Charlotte to be Air Time’s last out, but he wants Air Time to end his regular season on strong note. He, therefore, expects to bring Air Time to Nampa, Idaho, on Oct. 7-8 for the DeWalt Flexvolt Invitational, presented by Wrangler.

“I don’t want him going into the Finals with that,” Scharping said. “He needs to go into the Finals with a strong day. That means we are going to load up and go to Idaho I guess.”

Air Time is 8-0 with a 45.63-point average bull score.

Injury Updates

According to Dr. Tandy Freeman, J.B. Mauney sustained a broken rib when Who Dey bucked him off in the championship round.

Brant Atwood broke his right clavicle (riding arm) when he was thrown hard
on his shoulder by Silver Dollar (2.67 seconds) in Round 2.

Valdiron de Oliveira did not compete on Saturday night after spraining his right (riding) hand during his 3.81-second buckoff against Ante Up in Round 1.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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