After Last-Minute Arrival, Kolbaba Comes through in Round 1 in Chicago
By: Justin Felisko
CHICAGO – Derek Kolbaba was sitting inside Salt Lake City International Airport on Saturday morning when he saw his flight to Chicago get delayed an hour.
An hour then became two hours.
Two hours then became cancelled.
Kolbaba briefly thought to himself, “Well, this is great. I had a great one drawn in the first round, and I am going to miss it due to something dumb.”
The good news was that it was only 9:30 in the morning, and Kolbaba knew he had time to try to scramble and find a new option. Luckily he was able to get himself on a United flight that landed at Chicago O’Hare International Airport just before 5 p.m.
Kolbaba then headed straight to Allstate Arena for the Chicago Invitational, where he was set to face off with Apper’s Mind Freak, instead of heading to his hotel to check in.
His travels may have had some hiccups Saturday, but his riding did not, and Kolbaba later went on to ride Mind Freak for 87.25 points to tie for a fifth-place finish (6.5 world points) in Round 1.
“I guess we are going to have to start doing that every time now,” Kolbaba said with a laugh on RidePass. “It is just one of those things that is a part of it. Sometimes you are going to have little hiccups and things that might get you straying from what your job is. At the end of the day, like I said (earlier), it is either sitting in a hotel room or sitting on a plane. I am happy to be here and feeling good.”
The reality is, though, that Kolbaba was lucky to make it to Chicago. More than 1,100 flights were cancelled at O’Hare and Midway International airports as a winter storm brought heavy rain, flooding, sleet, freezing rain, accumulating snow and gusty winds.
The majority of riders competing in Chicago changed their flights Friday to avoid the weather, and everyone made it in time for the event, which concludes Sunday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. ET.
“I didn’t think it was going to be dicey, but apparently they wanted it to be,” Kolbaba said. “It wasn’t too bad. I had plenty of time and booked another flight. I was just hoping that flight was going to go the way they made it sound. Pretty much every flight from Salt Lake to Chicago was cancelled, so here we are.”
Now Kolbaba can focus Sunday on riding Rocket Man (29-2, UTB) in Round 2 and continue his push up the world standings. The 23-year-old is No. 6 in the world standings and 112.5 points behind world leader Joao Ricardo Vieira, who was bucked off by Buckeye Bill in 4.02 seconds.
Rocket Man bucked Kolbaba off in 2.83 seconds last year at the Music City Knockout.
Fans can watch all the action from Championship Sunday beginning at 2:45 p.m. ET on RidePass and at 8 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
QUARESIMA DRIVES ALL NIGHT TO MAKE IT TO CHICAGO
One way to avoid flight issues is to simply not a take a plane.
That was the plan for Junio Quaresima on Friday night when he learned that he could take 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis’ draw spot after Davis learned via a CT scan that he has a neck fracture.
Quaresima booked himself a rental car – a Nissan – within 40 minutes and was on his way to Chicago.
It took Quaresima 16 hours to drive from Decatur, Texas, to Chicago by himself, and he drove all night before finally arriving around 9:30 in the morning.
2017 PBR Australia champion Troy Wilkinson flew over from Australia to compete this weekend, and he tipped his hat to Quaresima.
“It took him longer to drive to Chicago than for me to fly here from Australia,” Wilkinson said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Wilkinson is competing at his first premier series event since the April 2018 event in Billings, Montana. He was bucked off by Iceberg Slim in 2.8 seconds.
Vanished bucked Quaresima off in 1.99 seconds in Round 1, but Quaresima is focusing on getting back on track against It’s Time in Round 2.
“God has a plan, but I need to make points and get back on tour,” Quaresima said with the help of Paulo Crimber translating.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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