Vieira Wins Uvalde BlueDEF Tour Event

UVALDE, Texas, — Fabiano Vieira enjoys getting revenge, but his cowboy hat nearly paid the price on Saturday night during the Fifth Annual Cactus Jack PBR Bull Riding Uvalde, Texas, BlueDEF Tour event.

Vieira was so jacked up following his 88-point ride on Yoga during the championship round that he flung his black cowboy hat within inches of the massive ceiling fans that were churning at full force trying to keep the Uvalde County Fairplex cool enough on a hot, humid night in Southwest Texas.

The ride capped a 3-for-3 winning performance for the No. 3 bull rider in the world standings and helped him gained 80 points on world leader J.B. Mauney with the victory.

Vieira trails Mauney by only 133.01 points heading into next weekend’s final Built Ford Tough Series event of the first half – Last Cowboy Standing.

“I am very, very happy to win this big event,” Vieira said. “I took a week off (last week) at my house. I didn’t think about nothing about bull riding. I thought about staying at my house and my wife (Jilian) said, ‘No. No. No. You need to ride. You are a cowboy. You go.’

Vieira rode Slow Boogie for 78.5 points earlier Saturday in Round 2. He previously rode Cactus Jack for 83.5 points in Round 1 on Friday night.

The 33-year-old had arrived in Uvalde in a 1-for-10 slump on the Built Ford Tough Series.

Vieira’s ride on Yoga was meaningful to him because Yoga had eliminated him from the last PBR Major – Iron Cowboy – in just 2.99 seconds.

“I told Silvano, ‘He bucks pretty hard now, but I am going to concentrate today,” Vieira said. “He is not going to buck me off. I am going to concentrate to win the event.’”

Vieira then watched on as Guilherme Marchi, Tyler Harr, Winston Lopez and Marco Eguchi all bucked off in the championship round.

Eguchi slapped Have Ya Heard at 2.52 seconds, which nullified what would have been an 8-second winning ride on the last out of the evening.

“This could have helped Marco Eguchi more,” Vieira said letting out a sigh. “I thought Marco was going to win this event. I am No. 3 now. He is trying to come back to the Top 35. He slapped the bull. I hate to see that. I like Marco. He is a good friend of mine. Our wives are best friends. I want him to come back into the Top 35. He is a good guy.”

Eguchi (2-for-3) finished in second place and earned 50 points toward the world standings. Eguchi unofficially moves up 10 spots in the world standings to 46^th.

Lopez (2-for-3) was bucked off by Wipeout in the championship round, but the weekend was still a major success for the 21-year-old from Bandera, Texas. Lopez placed third and earned 30 points toward the standings to unofficially move to up to 42^nd, likely putting himself into Last Cowboy Standing as an alternate next weekend.

Lopez hasn’t competed on the BFTS since making his debut at Iron Cowboy in February.

“I just want to be there,” Lopez said. “Just being here with all of these top dogs feels like more of a blessing. I am here and I want to be at that caliber. I respect them and I just want them to realize I want to be somebody up there. I want to stay.”

Lopez slammed his fist to his chest and hollered in celebration toward his father, Noel, on the back of the bucking chutes following his 86-point ride on Dirty Wranglers in Round 2.

“He is real big, so I really had to hustle,” Lopez said. “Right when I found that spot I let him have it and I got excited.”

Emilio Resende won Round 2 with an 88.5-point ride on Southern Twist as the former BFTS rider continues to chip away at making a BFTS comeback.

“Today I had a really, really good draw,” Resende said. “I knew this was my last chance on this bull and he bucked really good. I rode jump for jump.”

The ride propelled Resende to a sixth-place finish overall and earned him an extremely important 10 points toward the world standings. He is unofficially 43^rd in the standings, which may give him an alternate spot for Last Cowboy Standing.

“I don’t know,” Resende said. “I am going to try and go to Las Vegas and Last Cowboy Standing.”

Harr (2-for-3) finished fourth overall for 20 world points, and Marchi (2-for-3) placed fifth for 15 world points.

Harr unofficially moves from 37^th to 34^th in the world standings, while Marchi increases one spot in the standings to 19^th.

At the end of the evening though, it was all about Vieira.

Vieira arrived in Uvalde in a 1-for-10 slump on the BFTS, and he now heads to Last Cowboy Standing with all of the momentum in the world.

“I am riding good now,” Vieira concluded. “I am tough. I needed this practice for Last Cowboy.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko