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Proctor Ready for Showdown with Mick E Mouse

NAMPA, Idaho – Shane Proctor is well aware of how focused and determined he is going to have to be on Saturday night when he settles into the bucking chute against the unridden Mick E Mouse.

“He doesn’t have a set pattern,” Proctor said. “He is getting like Bushwacker was later in his career. He is going to do whatever it takes to get a guy off. You are going to have to feel like you can ride Godzilla that day.”

Proctor’s showdown with Mick E Mouse is one of the featured matchups of this weekend’s 15/15 Bucking Battle, which takes place on Saturday night following Round 1 of the DeWALT Guaranteed Tough Invitational and can be seen Sunday on CBS network television at noon ET.

Mick E Mouse has bucked off 33 riders in a row on the Built Ford Tough Series. Overall, Marlene Henry’s bull is a perfect 39-0 at all levels.

Proctor is no stranger to the power and strength of his unkindly foe.

The 30-year-old had a chance at winning $78,000 aboard Mick E Mouse two years ago in Billings, Montana.  Instead, Mick E Mouse made Proctor into nothing but spare change inside the Rimrock Auto Arena and tossed the 2011 PRCA champion to the ground in just 1.53 seconds.

Proctor admits he didn’t even have much time to really feel what Mick E Mouse was capable of inside the arena because of how quickly he was dispatched. However, he still remembers how big and hard Mick E Mouse felt inside the bucking chute.

“I just remember when I went to pull my rope he was as hard as a rock,” Proctor recalled. “He was stout. He doesn’t have a set pattern. He is getting like Bushwacker was later in his career. He is going to do whatever it takes to get a guy off.”

Mick E Mouse heads into the matchup 5-0 this season with an average bull score of 45.4 points per out. He bucked off J.W. Harris in 2.97 seconds during his last out at the Ty Murray Invitational and he was marked 45.5 points.

The 2.97 seconds is the longest any rider has lasted on Mick E Mouse this season. In his career, only two riders have made it past the 7-second mark – Harris (7.47 seconds) in Thackerville, Oklahoma, and Guilherme Marchi (7.39 seconds) in Huntington Beach, California, last year.

Proctor says that he and the other riders are very aware of the caliber of bulls they get to face in the 15/15 Bucking Battles.

Nampa is the second of five straight 15/15 Bucking Battles.

Proctor added that there is especially a higher-awareness when it comes to bulls such as Mick E Mouse and Smooth Operator.

“There is no way of not knowing who Mick E Mouse is,” Proctor said. “The way he bucks and the style he has is going to make him one of the greats. We are fully aware of what this matchup and his caliber is. Smooth Operator is starting to get that way. I’m a Gangster was that way.  Bushwacker was that way. Bones was that way. You know when you are getting on the greats.”

PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert says Smooth Operator and Mick E Mouse are the top two bulls on the BFTS right now.

“Those are the two best bulls right now,” Lambert told Slade Long this week. “They’re both unridden. I figure they’ll both get ridden before the year is out, but I was a lot surer about that before the last couple of events.”

Smooth Operator is 16-0 in his BFTS career and has a second meeting with Kaique Pacheco in the 15/15 Bucking Battle. The World Champion Bull contender bucked off the leading Rookie of the Year contender in 2.45 seconds at the Kansas City, Missouri, BFTS event.

Chad Berger’s bovine athlete is coming off arguably his strongest performance of the season after tossing Harris two times in a 24-hour span.

Proctor arrives in Nampa following a two-ride performance two weeks ago in Seattle. He capped off the weekend with an 89.75-point ride on Beaver Creek Beau, who has only been ridden in two of 24 BFTS outs.

He posted an 86.5-point ride at a rodeo in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday and flew out of Las Vegas earlier Saturday morning following a 77-point ride at a rodeo event in Logandale, Nevada, on Friday night.

“I crave riding bulls,” Proctor said. “It is something I think about every day. When I am not doing it, it actually makes me sorer than when I am riding every day. It is good for me to get a couple under me just because it gets me going. When I am moving I feel good.”

Proctor is 14th in the world standings and has five eighth-place finishes on the BFTS this season. He has gone 18-for-39 (46.15 percent) and has placed in eight rounds through 13 events.

There is no doubt to Proctor that Mick E Mouse may end up being one of the best – if not the best – bulls he will attempt this season.

“This is what we live for, crawling on these rank bulls,” Proctor said. “He is one of the rankest to come along in a long time. Whether he dumps me on my head, wrecks me out or I stick him for a bunch of points it is going to be fun. I love the challenge.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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