SEATTLE – With a third place finish at the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) Seattle Invitational, 2013 PBR Rookie of the Year Joao Ricardo Vieira became the No. 1 bull rider in the PBR world standings on Saturday at KeyArena, unseating Matt Triplett.
Vieira went 2-for-3 on the event to earn 240 world standings points and picked up another 150 points with his victory in the 15/15 Bucking Battle on Friday night. The total 390 world standing points helped him secure the top spot in the standings.
Vieira also posted the highest-marked ride of the weekend atop Walk Off (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) for 92.25 points in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round.
Fellow Brazilian Valdiron de Oliveira earned his first win of the 2015 BFTS season, going 3-for-3 on the weekend for an aggregate total ride score of 260.25 points. He placed third in Round 1, second in Round 2 and seventh in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, collecting 510 world standings points overall.
“Things are much better now (after the win),” Oliveira said. “This year I’ve kept more focus now, doing more work and I try to change things up to ride better.”
Oliveira moved into the No. 3 spot in the PBR world standings with the win.
L.J. Jenkins, who won in Seattle in 2011, placed second in the event as the only other rider to cover all three of his bulls. He earned 300 points toward the world standings.
Three-time PBR World Champion Silvano Alves, and Nathan Schaper rounded out the Top 5. They picked up 220 and 155 points, respectively, toward the world standings.
With a bull score of 46.5 out of 50 points, Smooth Operator (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Julie Rosen) was named the Salem NationaLease High-marked Bull in Seattle as he bucked off 2014 PBR Rookie of the Year J.W. Harris in 2.44 seconds.
The Seattle Invitational was the 13th of 27 stops on the 2015 PBR Built Ford Tough Series schedule. The 19-state tour will culminate with the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas on Oct. 21-25 when the 2015 PBR World Champion, the bull rider who earns the most PBR world standings points during the 2015 season, will be crowned and receive the coveted $10,000 World Championship belt buckle and $1 million bonus.
The BFTS will take a week off for Easter, traveling to Idaho the weekend of April 11-12 for the DeWALT Guaranteed Tough Invitational, presented by Express Employment Professionals. The event will take place at the Ford Idaho Center on Saturday, April 11, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 12, at 2 p.m. The Idaho Center will also be the site of the fourth 15/15 Bucking Battle of the season which will air on CBS Television Network on Sunday, April 12 at 12 p.m. ET.
The BFTS is televised every week on CBS, CBS Sports Network – the home of the PBR – and networks around the world. BFTS telecasts are produced for the PBR under a multi-year agreement with David Neal Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company led by 34-time Emmy® Award winner and Peabody Award winner David Neal, who serves as executive producer.
2015 Professional Bull Riders – Seattle Invitational
Seattle – KeyArena
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Valdiron de Oliveira, 86.75-86.75-86.75-260.25-510 Points.
2. L.J. Jenkins, 85-85.25-87.5-257.75-300 Points.
3. Joao Ricardo Vieira, 86.5-0-92.25-178.75-240 Points.
4. Silvano Alves, 84-82.5-88-254.50-220 Points.
5. Nathan Schaper, 0-88.75-87.25-176-155 Points.
6. Guilherme Marchi, 85.5-0-90.5-176-115 Points.
(tie). Cooper Davis, 89-82.75-0-171.75-115 Points.
8. Shane Proctor, 0-86-89.75-175.75-110 Points.
9. Rubens Barbosa, 87.5-0-0-87.50-70 Points.
10. Robson Aragao, 78.25-86.25-0-164.50-60 Points.
11. Douglas Duncan, 86.5-84.25-0-170.75-45 Points.
12. J.W. Harris, 84.75-0-0-84.75-10 Points.
(tie). Mike Lee, 86-0-0-86-10 Points.
(tie). Tanner Byrne, 0-84.5-86-170.50-10 Points.
(tie). Bryan Titman, 83.75-0-0-83.75-10 Points.
16. Ben Jones, 83.5-0-0-83.50
17. Lachlan Richardson, 0-83-0-83
18. Austin Meier, 0-81.75-0-81.75
19. Fabiano Vieira, 0-80.75-0-80.75
Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0
Stetson Lawrence, 0-0-0-0
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0
Ryan Dirteater, 0-0-0-0
Bonner Bolton, 0-0-0-0
Kasey Hayes, 0-0-0-0
Renato Nunes, 0-0-0-0
Dave Mason, 0-0-0-0
Brady Sims, 0-0-0-0
Claudio Crisostomo, 0-0-0-0
Sean Willingham, 0-0-0-0
Alexandre Cardozo, 0-0-0-0
Mason Lowe, 0-0-0-0
Aaron Roy, 0-0-0-0
Markus Mariluch, 0-0-0-0
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