Dougherty becomes Newest Rider to Join Rookie of the Year Conversation
By: Justin Felisko
OKLAHOMA CITY – Chase Dougherty has been looking to break through on the Unleash The Beast all season long, and he finally did so in a major way Sunday in Oklahoma City.
After using an 85-point ride on Slinger to qualify for the championship round of the PBR Express Ranches Invitational on the final out of Round 2, Dougherty erupted for a 91.25-point ride on Detroit Lean in the championship round to propel himself to a career-best fourth-place finish.
“Those might be the two biggest rides of my career,” Dougherty said. “This is what I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, is get to the short round and make it count. I think this is the second short round of my career, and I finally did it.”
Dougherty was the last rider in the 12-man championship round, and the 11 riders ahead of him left Detroit Lean on the board as the last pick in the draft.
Detroit Lean was previously 6-0 on the Unleash The Beast and 7-0 overall. He had bucked off the likes of two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood, Silvano Alves and Joao Ricardo Vieira.
“I knew he was probably the last one because nobody wanted him for some specific reason,” Dougherty said. “Cody Lambert came up and said this is a good one to have in the short round, and that kind of changed my whole perspective on it.”
Dougherty earned 63 world points with his 2-for-3 performance inside Chesapeake Energy Arena to jump to 25th in the world standings and into the Rookie of the Year race.
The 23-year-old was a last-minute addition to the draw this week after 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis pulled out Thursday because of a concussion. Dougherty jumped 19 spots in the world standings as he began the event ranked No. 44 in the world standings.
“I wouldn’t quite call it a relief because I know I’m still going to have to work to keep it there,” Dougherty said. “But I’d say it’s a little bit of pressure off your shoulders, just to know that, hey, you are here, you can do it. Now you’ve just got to keep doing it.”
Dougherty won the 2018 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo event average title and had never been seeded on the PBR’s premier series until now.
“I knew it was going to be tough, so I knew what I was getting myself into,” Dougherty said. “It’s bull riding; it’s never easy, especially with the bulls they bring nowadays and the bull riders that are coming from everywhere. It’s tough.”
Dougherty will head into next weekend’s Nampa Invitational ranked third in the rookie standings. Nampa is where Dougherty made his premier series debut at the end of last season. Next weekend will be his sixth career UTB event.
“Oh, definitely a hometown-er for me,” Dougherty said of Nampa. “I’ve got a bunch of friends up in Idaho, right there around Nampa, like Roscoe (Jarboe) and Brady (Portenier).”
Current Rookie of the Year leader Colten Fritzlan went 2-for-3 in OKC to finish third overall in the event. Fritzlan rode Funky Cold Medina for 86.75 points in Round 2 before ending his weekend with 89.75 points on Speed Demon in the championship round.
2021 Rookie of the Year Standings
1. Colten Fritzlan (283.5 points)
2. Marcelo Procopio Pereira (-179.5)
3. Chase Dougherty (183)
4. J.T. Moore (-201.50)
5. Jesse Petri (-206.67)
While Dougherty understands the prestige of a rookie title, he wants to make sure he is looking further than just that.
“I’ve got tunnel vision,” Dougherty said. “I’ve got my eyes on the gold. Nobody’s ever won (Rookie of the Year and a World Championship) in the same year, and that’s kind of my goal.
“It’s kind of everybody’s goal.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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