Pacheco Wins First Round of Denver Chute Out

By Susan Kanode
For the National Western Stock Show Rodeo

DENVER, Colo. – Kaique Pacheco’s score from the first performance of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Denver Chute Out on Monday stayed at the top of the leaderboard through another 45 riders on Tuesday.

Pacheco from Itatiba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, rode Flying S Bucking Bull’s Insane Hurricane for 87.5 points to win the first round of the National Western’s bull riding. Pacheco got a check for $2,853 and stands to win even more. The Denver Chute Out is part of the PBR’s Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour.

Cody Heffernan from Singleton, New South Wales, Australia, had the high-marked ride on Tuesday. He rode Selman & Terrell, LLC’s Rock Bottom. As the high-marked ride of the night he got to ride against former world champion Guilherme Marchi for $5,000.

Heffernan got on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Freckled Fire. He was the first one to ride and scored 86. Then Marchi rode Shad Smith’s Slider and had a successful ride. Fans were anxiously waiting to see what his score would be.

The judges totaled their numbers and Marchi had an 84 by his name. His fans were disappointed, but Heffernan was glad to get the $5,000 bonus for the Australia versus Brazil match.

There were 31 bull riders that had scores here in the first round of competition. They will all compete again on Wednesday night in a semi-finals round. Their scores from both rounds will be added together with the best 15 getting to ride for the championship.

Wednesday night’s competition starts at 7 p.m. in the Denver Coliseum.