Rookie earns hard win
Before Saturday, only one rider had ever stayed on board Bones, the 2008 PBR World Champion bull, for eight seconds.
But rookie Pete Farley became the second rider, out of 30, to accomplish the feat in the second round of the PBR World Finals at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Farley scored 93.25 points on Teague Bucking Bulls’ Bones to win Round 2 of the Finals and $25,000 in prize money.
“He’s hard to ride. He’s a world champion,” Farley said in his native Australian accent. “It’s the best bull I’ve rode, that’s for sure.”
Farley, who has the highest score so far in the Finals, picked Bones over Avalanche and Bells & Whistles in the draft.
“I guess I was kind of backed into a corner with the third-to-last pick,” he said. “To be truthful, if I was the first pick, it wouldn’t have been the bull I picked. But I was glad it worked out like it did.”
The 21-year-old Farley, last year’s PBR Australia national champion, said he’s learned everything he knows about bull riding from his father and two older brothers, including Jared, who also competes in the Professional Bull Riders Series.
“I spoke with my brothers on the phone back home in Australia (on Saturday),” he said. “They just told me to have fun and keep loose and ride him.”
The victory helped Farley close the gap in the PBR Rookie of the Year race. He trails rookie leader Cody Nance by less than 500 points.
“The rookie who has the best Finals will probably win, so I just need to keep riding bulls and see what happens,” he said.
J.B. Mauney is the only other rider to stay on Bones for eight seconds — which he did in February — and one of only seven riders to successfully ride their bulls in the first two rounds of the Finals.
Mauney tied Ryan McConnel for second place Saturday with a 91.25-point ride on Troubador and passed defending PBR world champion Guilherme Marchi — who was bucked off for the second straight night — into second place in the season standings.
Mauney, who won the first round with an 89.75-point ride on Chester, leads the Finals with 181 points and trails Kody Lostroh by 126.25 points in the season standings in the closest race in PBR history.
Lostroh rode Lone Star for 88.25 points and is in seventh place in the Finals with 172.25 points.
The bulls were in charge Saturday as only 10 of 44 riders stayed on board for eight seconds.
McConnel, who survived a life-threatening car accident Tuesday, scored 91.25 points on Unabomber and is in second place in the Finals with 179.25 points.
Valdiron de Oliveira scored 90.25 points on Spit Fire to finish fourth and is in third place in the Finals with 176.25 points.
Shane Proctor scored 88.75 points on King of Hearts to place fifth and is in fourth place in the Finals with 176 points.
Robson Palermo, the defending PBR World Finals champion, placed sixth with 88.5 points on Super Duty and is in fifth place in the Finals with 174.50 points.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0354.