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Breaking Down the Rumble in the Rockies

Asteroid hasn’t bucked on the BFTS since March. Photo by Andy Watson / BullStockMedia.com.

BREAKING DOWN THE RUMBLE IN THE ROCKIES (4-30-2014)

FORT WORTH, Texas ― Fabiano Vieira will be the featured out Saturday night in the 15/15 Bucking Battle in Colorado Springs, Colo., when he matches up with Shepherd Hills Tested, who is the Bad Boy Mowers Bonus Bull this week, in the final out.

However, all eyes will be on Asteroid.

The 2012 World Champion Bull will be making only his third appearance at a Built Ford Tough Series event and fourth overall including THE AMERICAN. He will be matched up with two-time World Champion Silvano Alves.

Alves has been on Asteroid three times before.

In their most recent meeting, during the Oklahoma City event back in January, he bucked off in 2.47 seconds. Alves had previously bucked off in 1.81 seconds in Sacramento, Calif., in 2012 and 3.23 seconds a year earlier in Thackerville, Okla.

VIDEO: Asteroid dispatches Silvano Alves in Sacramento, Calif.

Asteroid hasn’t competed since the first week in March.

Rumble in the Rockies 15-15

Should one or more of the Top 15 riders become unable to compete, the first alternates will be Sean Willingham, Kasey Hayes and Ryan Dirteater.

The five previous 15/15 winners this year are Eguchi (Oklahoma City), Joao Ricardo Vieira (Anaheim, Calif.), Alves (Fresno, Calif.), Fabiano Vieira (Nampa, Idaho) and Gay (Billings, Mont.).

In the actual three-day event in Colorado Springs, the only two new riders are Mason Lowe and Luis Blanco.

Kody Lostroh, who won the 2009 world title, is competing with an injury exemption, while Harve Stewart, Jordan Hupp, J.W. Harris and Pistol Robinson are alternates.

Veteran Billy Robinson remains in the draw, but is still listed as questionable.

If Robinson is unable to compete, the next alternate in the world standings would Reese Cates, but he’s out after undergoing shoulder surgery. Therefore, it would be Austin Meier, who was in Des Moines last week and is ranked 37th in the standings.

At this point, 11 different riders have either won or split a BFTS win in 16 previous events. Five of them have won multiple times—Nance has won three times, while Fabiano Vieira, Joao Ricardo Vieira, Mauney and Eguchi have all won twice.

Marchi has yet to win a BFTS event in 2014, despite being atop the standings for the past nine weeks and 11 of the previous BFTS events.

This week’s draws for the BFTS event and the 15/15 Bucking Battle will be made official Wednesday afternoon.

Follow Keith Ryan Cartwright on Twitter @PBR_KRC.

© 2014 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.

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