GET SOCIAL 
SHOP NOW AT:
WRANGLER.COM

Road Warrior Mauney Ready for the Battle to Qualify for the World Finals in Arlington on Nov. 12-15

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – The main problem facing two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney on Monday evening was trying to balance paying at a tollbooth in Kansas moments after his son, Jagger, was trying to shove a cheeseburger down his throat.

Mauney laughed and pleaded with his son to back off as he was maneuvering his Prism motorhome toward a KOA stop in Kansas.

The Mauney family has been busy traveling all over the United States the past few weeks as J.B. has been going almost anywhere possible to get on bulls consistently at PRCA rodeos and on the PBR’s Unleash The Beast every weekend.

Mauney has faced an uphill climb to get back into World Finals contention after missing the first seven months of the season recovering from reconstructive right shoulder surgery, but the life on the road has started to pay dividends.

The future Ring of Honor inductee is finding his game just in time, and he has posted a round win in each of his last two UTB events, looking more like a true World Finals qualifier than a fringe qualifier.

Mauney has surged from 98th to 38th in the world standings in the past two events. There are still three Unleash The Beast events remaining until the 2020 PBR World Finals get underway for the first time in league history in Arlington, Texas, for Mauney to solidify himself inside the Top 35.

“Oh yeah, we are getting all the kinks worked out,” Mauney said Monday evening. “I just had to get on more bulls. When you come back and you have short amount of time to make the PBR Finals, when you are rusty and everything isn’t working right, you get frustrated, you start fighting your head. I knew all I needed and had to do was get on more bulls. It feels like now every weekend it feels better and better. Everything is clicking and going a lot better now.”

 
Mauney is 5-for-18 (27.78%) in seven events.

2002 World Finals event winner J.W. Hart credited Mauney’s fortitude and toughness during this past weekend’s CBS Sports Network broadcast.

“The injuries he has come back from. The toughness he has shown over the years. He ranks right up there in every single category from mental toughness to physical toughness to riding ability to money won to events won,” Hart said. “I can’t say that we are not looking at maybe the best ever.”

Mauney has no rodeos on the docket this week before riding at the PBR Express Ranches Classic, presented by Bass Pro Shops, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the BOK Center.

The 14-time PBR World Finals qualifier is only 6.16 points behind No. 35 Amadeu Campos.

It may not be the Top 35 just yet, but No. 38 would get Mauney into the Finals if the season ended today, with Fabiano Vieira currently out of competition with a severe head injury and No. 29 Dakota Buttar and No. 30 Lachlan Richardson ineligible for Top 35 World Finals qualifications. Buttar and Richardson turned down UTB draw spots to remain in their home countries earlier in the season. However, the two riders can still qualify for the World Finals via the Velocity Tour Finals in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Nov. 6-7 if they are atop the PBR Australia and PBR Canada national standings to earn an invite to the Velocity Finals.

Mauney is no stranger to October heroics, either.

The 33-year-old won both of his World Finals event titles in the month of October, and he is a 58.8% career bull rider in October with 15 90-point rides and six event wins.

Mauney in the month of October

2019: 0-for-3
2018: 5-for-8
2017: Injured
2016: 6-for-10, 1 90-point ride, 1 event win
2015: 7-for-8, 3 90-point rides, 1 event win
2014: 5-for-10, 3 90-point rides
2013: 13-for-15, 3 90-point rides, 3 event wins, 2013 World Finals event winner
2012: 4-for-11, 1 90-point ride
2011: 8-for-13
2010: 4-for-13
2009: 14-for-17, 2 90-point rides, 2009 World Finals event winner
2008: 6-for-9, 1 90-point ride
2007: 6-for-11, 1 90-point ride
2006: 2-for-8
Total: 80-for-136 (58.83%) |15 90-point rides | 6 event wins

 
Mauney has not competed inside AT&T Stadium since the 2018 Last Cowboy Standing event and The American.

He is 7-for-21 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys on the PBR’s premier series with one event victory.

“I don’t really look at it as anything different,” Mauney said. “It is another bull riding. That is the way you have to look at it. I like (the Finals being in Texas) because it is closer to home.”

In 2012, Mauney won the sport’s third Iron Cowboy competition in league history by lasting 7.22 seconds on three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker. The 2012 Iron Cowboy was a bracket-style event then, and Mauney defeated Austin Meier (4 seconds on Asteroid).

“That is right up there,” Mauney said when comparing his Iron Cowboy victory to his 31 other event wins. “That was one of the first years they did that, and that event is not very easy to win because you had to get on so many bulls. You have to be on your A-game to win an event like that.”

That was the seventh matchup at all levels between Mauney and Bushwacker. The legendary bovine would buck Mauney off again – 3.11 seconds in Springfield, Missouri, in 2012 – before Mauney conquered him for a historic 95.25 points in Tulsa the next season.

Mauney will now look to make history in Tulsa once again this weekend by attempting to win his 33rd premier series event to pass two-time World Champion Justin McBride for sole possession of most event wins in PBR history.

Round 1 airs exclusively on RidePass beginning at 7:45 p.m. ET on Saturday night. CBS Sports Network and Ridepass will carry all the action from Championship Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

TICKET INFORMATION FOR THE 2020 PBR WORLD FINALS: Unleash The Beast

Date & Times: Nov. 12-13 (8:30 p.m. CT), Nov. 14 (6:30 p.m. CT), Nov. 15 (4:30 p.m. CT)
Location: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
Ticket Pricing: Elite Seats: $1,000 / Reserved Seats: $251, $126, $100, $86, $51, $36, $25, $10

How can I buy tickets?

• Seatgeek.com
• AT&T Stadium Box Office
• Attstadium.com
• PBR.com
• PBR Direct Customer Service (800) 732-1727

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

© 2020 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.

Related Content