Round 2 Matchups:
Mason Lowe on 013 Tracker:
Lowe has really drawn well here. He posted 87.75 points on a good bull last night, and he has one of the more rideable bulls in this round. Tracker is a pretty straight-forward long round bull with no tricks, and decent timing. He’s probably not the bull to win the round on, but should help Lowe get a second score.
Cody Nance on 023 Rusty:
Nance also drew a good one here. He was 89.25 last night on a very difficult bull, and this one should be a little easier. Rusty can be good enough to win a round or at least place in one. More importantly for Nance, while he’s not a pushover, he’s quite a bit smoother than Brutus.
Brady Sims on 991 Crystal Pistol:
Another guy with a good chance to go 2-for-2, Sims will actually have to work a little harder than he did last night. Crystal Pistol is a little stronger than Sims’ first round bull, and a little more unpredictable. He’s got a lot of up and down, and he doesn’t seem to want to stay hooked in any one direction. All that aside, he’s a pretty honest bull with no dirty tricks, and he is rideable.
Emilio Resende on U87 Kitty Shack:
Resende hasn’t exactly been riding well lately, but he’s matched up well here. He has ridden this bull before if he can remember back that far. They met in Springfield, Missouri, in 2012 and Resende easily picked up 88 points.
Ryan Dirteater on 1415 Palm Springs:
Palm Springs is a tricky bull that doesn’t look tricky. In 104 career outs, he has been ridden just 15 times, and truth be known, it was probably on his 15 least tricky days. His trick is that he spins really fast and bucks pretty slow, and it probably makes him feel weird compared to a normal bull. If you look back at all the times he was ridden you’d probably find that he was more “normal” than he normally is. What this adds up to is that Dirteater has his work cut out for him, and if he can get a little help from the bull his chances here improve greatly.
Robson Palermo on 27 Gentleman Jim:
Palermo may have come down in Round 1, but he’s probably going to put up a good score here. Gentleman Jim has been ridden in his last five outs, and he’s the kind of bull that Palermo usually shines on.
Tanner Byrne on 177Y Earl Sports:
Earl Sports in 2-3 against right-handed riders, and Byrne is one of the three. They met in Kansas City, Missouri, earlier this year, and Byrne was 82.75 points. That won’t be good enough to get him into the short round here, so he’ll have to hope for the bull to have a good day today.
Kaique Pacheco on 942 Mr. Clark:
Pacheco kept a low score last night rather than taking a reride option, and it was a really bad decision. I wonder sometimes if bull riders are capable of making rational decisions right after they get off a bull. There are times when keeping a low score makes a lot of sense, and there are times like this one where it makes no sense. The reason in this case is because of this bull — Mr. Clark. Both long rounds were drawn before this event started, so Pacheco knew what he would be up against here. Mr. Clark is one of the more difficult bulls going. He’s been ridden just four times in 63 career outs. He’s a long-round caliber bull, but his difficulty rating is about the same as Long John. Not a great bull to draw to say the least. And because of his decision last night, Pacheco must ride him to get to the short go. Not a great position to be in.
Fabiano Vieira on 09 Legal Tender:
As good as J.B. Mauney has been since the break, Vieira has pretty much hung with him. The guy looks invincible. He’s going to have his hands full here. This bull is not terribly difficult, but he’s not the best fit for Vieira either. He will typically go to the right and can have some backup and suck guys down on top of his head. The bull should have a little edge here, but it wouldn’t be wise to bet against Vieira right now.
Nathan Schaper on 620 Cowboy’s Dance Hall Blonde Bomber:
This is a really good long round draw, but he’s not an easy score for anyone. Bomber is an honest bull, but he’s an old school style bucker. He relies on power rather than speed and he can shell out some hard knocks. He does give up some rides because he isn’t tricky – he just tries to outwork every rider. So a rider who can keep bringing it can beat him, but there’s not much room for error.
J.B. Mauney on 605 Beefcake / Joao Ricardo Vieira on 00 Superstition:
The road to the World Championship always goes in random directions, and this is a good one. The top two guys in the standings both have absolutely unknown bulls in this round, and both really want that second score. Stats aren’t much help here — these bulls each have two career outs and no qualified rides. But, this brings up an interesting perspective. If you pit these two guys against each other on 75 random, unknown bulls in a row, Mauney would almost certainly come out the winner. Vieira needs variables to work in his favor and Mauney doesn’t.
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