Sugar City cowboy Ryan Storey pulled off the first 90-point ride of his career to win PBR Australia’s 2018 Mackay Invitational at Queens Park on Saturday Night.
Urged on by a boisterous hometown crowd, the 11-year PBR Veteran combined with POA Fully Locked & Loaded (Dittmann Bucking Bulls) for a massive 90.5 points in the Championship Round.
The Champion
33-year-old Storey got his night off to a solid start with a qualified ride on Jackie How (Dunne Bucking Bulls).
After faking left, Jackie How spun right into Storey’s wheelhouse and the ride was over.
The judges awarded the pair 86.5 points which gave Storey the event lead after Round 1 of competition.
In Round 2, Storey faced Superstitious from Wallace Bucking Bulls.
The bull got the better of Storey as he rolled and kicked his way down PBR Australia’s mobile stadium.
The result was a 3.27 buck off but the Mackay product’s Round 1 score was good enough to bring him back for the Mackay Invitational Championship Round.
After drawing short-go regular POA Fully Locked & Loaded in the Championship Round, Storey added a career-best 90.5 points to take his 2-for-3 aggregate total to 177.0 points.
The ride brought a massive eruption from the Mackay crowd who sensed that the local cowboy would hold on for the Mackay Invitational win.
He did, holding off Ayr’s Budd Williamson and Nebo’s Mitchel Paton to take home his first buckle since the Julia Creek PBR Bullride back in 2015.
The Rundown
It was a night for the veterans of the PBR Australia Monster Energy tour with Budd Williamson (Ayr, QLD) finishing second in the Mackay Invitational.
Williamson opened his night with an 82.5-point effort on the previously unridden Moonshine Bandit (Fred Kleier).
The 32-year-old remained perfect through two rounds of competition, adding a textbook 83-point ride on Sick an Twister from Dittmann Bucking Bulls. The ride wound up being the high-marked ride of the second round.
After leading the field into the Championship Round, Williamson was unable to make the whistle on up and coming bull Super Natural (Wallace Bucking Bulls) leaving himself in second place on an aggregate score of 165.5.
Nebo’s Mitchel Paton became the first rider to conquer Dunne Bucking Bulls’ Plant Hire in the opening round of night to get his Mackay Invitational campaign underway.
Paton’s ride was scored 81-points by the judges and he looked on track to back up last weekend’s win in Blackall with another solid result on home soil.
On a night where qualified rides were hard to come by, the 28-year-old gritted out a 77-point effort on Hash Tag (Diamond J Bucking Bulls) in Round 2.
Paton was offered a re-ride but declined his option to enter the short-go in second place on 158.0 points as one of only two riders to go 2-for-2.
King Kong (Fred Kleier) had too much power for Paton in the Mackay Invitational Championship Round, winning the matchup in 5.37 second to end Paton’s night in third place.
Kurt Shephard (Atherton, QLD) returned to PBR competition with a 83.5 point ride on Road Rage (Fred Kleier) in Round 1.
Despite bucking off a pair of Dunne Bucking Bulls’ in Round 2 (Domino Effect) and the Championship Round (Rock the House), the 24-year-old’s single score was good enough to take home fourth placing.
Rounding out the Top 5 was Sonny Schafferius (Dysart, QLD) who also made a successful return from injury at the Mackay Invitational with an 83-point ride on Jungle Thunder from Dunn Bucking Bulls in the opening round of the night.
Schafferius came down early in Round 2 from Django (Wallace Bucking Bulls) while POA Palooka (Dittman Bucking Bulls) proved too strong for the 29-year-old in the Championship Round.
View the Results from all Rounds at the Mackay Invitational.
The Standings
Mackay Invitational Champion Ryan Storey picked up 600 of the maximum 700 points to jump from 25th in the Australian National Standings to now sit in 13th place.
It was a rough night for Standings Leader Aaron Kleier (Clermont, QLD) and No. 3 Fraser Babbington (Gisborne, NZ) who both went home from the Mackay Invitational empty handed after failing to record a qualified ride in either long-go.
Cody Heffernan (Singleton, NSW) was unable to fully capitalise on his rivals’ slip up but did earn 92.5 points towards the National Standings to close the gap slightly.
View the updated Australian National Standings leaderboard.
The Bulls
Dittmann Bucking Bulls (Bloomsbury, QLD) completed a great night for the local’s, taking home the Mackay Invitational Bull Team Competition with POA Fully Locked & Loaded the cornerstone, taking home yet another high-marked out of the night.
The bull was scored 44.5 points in his Championship Round out with Mackay Invitational Event Champion Ryan Storey aboard.
Twin Power (Fred Kleier) put up 44-points in his 1.97 second demolition job of Ethan Watts in Round 1.
POA Palooka (Dittmann Bucking Bulls) and King Kong (Fred Kleier) also produced very solid outs with 43.5-point bull scores awarded to the pair in the Mackay Invitational Championship Round.
Up Next
The PBR Australia heads to the Beef Capital on the 22nd September for the Rockhampton Invitational Monster Energy Tour event at Browne Park, Rockhampton, QLD.
Visit the PBR Australia website for all the important ticketing information.