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Rookie Newman Conquers Mississippi Hippy in Debut

By: Justin Felisko
February 14, 2016

Nevada Newman sticks it out on Mississippi Hippy for 87.75 points. Photo By: Andy Watson/BullStockMedia.com

Nevada Newman sticks it out on Mississippi Hippy for 87.75 points. Photo By: Andy Watson/BullStockMedia.com

ST. LOUIS – Here are three things we learned from the Bass Pro Chute Out, presented by Cooper Tires, this weekend at the Scottrade Center.

Rookie Newman conquers Mississippi Hippy

Nevada Newman weighs 140 pounds soaking wet. Mississippi Hippy weighs more than 2,300 pounds.

Regardless, Newman – a 23-year-old making his Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) debut – showed no fear in selecting the gargantuan bovine athlete Sunday afternoon and became just the third rider in 38 BFTS outs to ever ride Mississippi Hippy.

“Oh, it was crazy,” Newman said. “He was definitely big and strong and yanking on me. My rope slipped through my fingertips about half way through and I just wanted to bear down and ride that sucker bad.”

Newman earned an 87.75-point ride to finish the Built Ford Tough Championship Round in second place for 60 world points.

Newman made the stunning selection of Mississippi Hippy with the 10thpick in the championship round draft.

However, he knew Sunday morning that if he came into the championship round in the middle of the pack that he would made a statement selection.

“I talked to my dad (T.J.) a bunch and he said, ‘If you make that short round, you make a statement,’” Newman said. “You get on Asteroid or Mississippi Hippy or something that bucks. I had a feeling this morning when I woke up that if no one picked Mississippi Hippy I was going to.”

Newman joins Eduardo Aparecido and Kasey Hayes as the only riders to make the 8-second mark on Mississippi Hippy at the BFTS level.

Stock contractor Kenny McElroy was extremely impressed by Newman, who also rode McElroy’s Ante Up to win Round 1 on Friday night with an 88.25-point effort.

McElroy gave Newman a massive bear hug toward the end of the event.

“If you are going to ride bulls like that first out, I love it,” McElroy said to Newman. “You just keep coming baby and I’ll keep bringing the good ones.”

Sunday was Mississippi Hippy’s first out since undergoing multiple procedures during the offseason to remove cancerous tumors from his eyelids. Mississippi Hippy was marked only 43 points and did appear sluggish – or maybe rather it was shock – the farther the ride went on.

“Oh, I think it was good that he got rode,” McElroy said. “That bull has been off since October. I was tickled. You could tell he was rusty. He will go home and we will regroup and he will be better. That is the thing about this sport. If you don’t want them rode, don’t bring them here. They will ride them eventually. I am tickled.”

Newman finished in a tie for second place in the event with Wallace de Oliveira. Newman finished 2-for-4 with 340 world points, while Oliveira went 3-for-4 for 340 world points. Oliveira earned 240 for finishing second in the event average, while Newman picked up 180 for finishing third in the average.

The 340 points push Newman to 10th in the world standings. He began the weekend ranked 24th with 170 points.

“That is why everything happens for a reason,” Newman said during the PBR LIVE broadcast. “I came here at the age I am now and I have a little seasoning on me. I can handle that mental stuff. I just remembered to breathe and stay focused.”

Proctor dominates on final day to win Bass Pro Chute Out

Shane Proctor used a dominating performance Sunday afternoon to take home his first event victory since winning the February 2013 event in Anaheim, California.

Proctor won not only Round 2 with an 88.75-point ride on Shoot Out The Lights, but Proctor capped off the weekend with an 89-point ride on Cooper Tires Brown Sugar to win the championship round.

The season-high ride is Proctor’s highest qualified ride since March 2015 (89.75 points on Beaver Creek Beau).

More impressive is the fact that Proctor won two rounds in one day after winning just one round in the entire 2015 season.

“He is one of those bulls if you make a mistake you are going to get bucked off, but you should ride him,” Proctor said. “But he is kind of a pressure bull and you don’t want to mess up. They tease you a little bit in the locker room if you mess up. He shot out there and instead of going left like he normally does he went right and when you work hard and you let things get on a roll luck happens to go your way. He turned right into my wheelhouse and it was great.”

This weekend is Proctor’s first 4-for-4 showing since riding all of his bulls last year at the event in New York City.

Proctor earned a season-high for a non-PBR Major event with 755 points in the victory. He earned 500 of them for winning the event average, 200 for the two round victories, 50 for his third-place finish in Round 1 (87 points on Rebound) and five points for his seventh-place finish in Round 2 (81 points on Mr. Hobbs).

The 30-year-old moves from 23rd in the world standings to seventh.

“That is a big, huge jump and I am just excited,” Proctor said.

Top-5 in the world getting jumbled

The vultures are coming after world leader Paulo Lima.

Oliveira and J.B. Mauney made big gains on Lima during a weekend where the majority of the riders failed to hit the 8-second mark – the 34 qualified rides were the second fewest this season and the fewest for a three-day event.

Lima had an OK weekend, going 2-for-4 for 62.5 points, but it was Oliveira and Mauney doing the bulk of the damage outside of Proctor and Newman.

Oliveira moved from sixth to third in the world standings and only trails Lima by 167.5 points. Oliveira bucked off Who Dey in 2.67 seconds in the championship round, but did place third in Round 3 with an 86.75-point ride on Doc Mosely.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Mauney is right on the doorstep of the world No. 1 ranking for the first time since winning his second gold buckle last October and will head to Kansas City just 7.5 points behind Lima.

Mauney had an opportunity to take over the world No. 1 ranking during the championship round, but bucked off both Modified Clyde (6.58 seconds) and Machinery Auctioneer’s Little Joe (2.79 seconds). Mauney was awarded the re-ride after he challenged that he did not nod for the gate during his ride attempt aboard Modified Clyde.

No. 4 Joao Ricardo Vieira and No. 5 Fabiano Vieira both remain within less than 200 points of Lima.

Joao Ricardo Vieira (172.5 points behind) finished 11th with 40 points and Fabiano Vieira (188.84 points behind) placed 15th for five points.

Fabiano Vieira could have had an opportunity to go after his third event victory, but he was unable to compete on Sunday because of a strained neck he sustained attempting to ride Cochise during the 15/15 Bucking Battle on Saturday night.

Injury Updates

There were only 14 riders available to compete in the championship round Sunday in part because of various injuries.

According to Dr. Tandy Freeman, Gage Gay (concussion) and Joao Ricardo Vieira (hamstring) did not compete in the championship round because of injuries.

Ben Jones, Guilherme Marchi and Rubens Barbosa all chose not to get on as alternates during the championship round after not qualifying within the Top 15.

Ryan Dirteater did not compete in Round 3 after sustaining facial lacerations when he was struck by Buckle Up’s horn as he was thrown off in Round 2 in 1.83 seconds.

Robson Aragao did not compete in Round 3 because of a mandible fracture from Round 1, while Douglas Duncan also did not ride in Round 3 because of a left calf contusion and broken right fibula.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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