It was a lean weekend event-wise but there were some very important results for cowboys chasing the Australian National Champion and World Champion buckles.
The weekend kicked off on Saturday night here in Australia with the PBR Australia Touring Pro Division bull ride at the Cunnamulla Fella Festival in South West Queensland. The action continued on Sunday with Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour and Touring Pro Division events in the USA.
PBR Australia Touring Pro Division
2015 PBR Australia champion Fraser Babbington (Gisborne, NZ) outlasted a 10-man field over three rounds of competition to take out the Cunnamulla Festival PBR on Saturday night. The 31-year-old produced a perfect 3-for-3 performance in challenging conditions, with rain and hail falling during the event.
Round 1
The opening round was taken out by Lachlan Richardson (Gresford, NSW) who produced an 83.0 point ride on Sweet Pro’s Rhinoplsty from Kasper Bucking Bulls. Mitchel Paton (Nebo, QLD) also got his night off to a good start with the judges rewarding his qualified ride on Sargent Fox (Stuart Timm) with 81.5-points. Babbington kicked off his night with a 75-point ride on Stuart Timm’s Big Buck Hunter which was good enough for third on the Cunnamulla Festival PBR leaderboard with Cody Heffernan (Singleton, NSW) sitting in fourth with his 66-point ride on Guilty Pleasure (Kasper Bucking Bulls)
Round 2
Babbington took the Round 2 win with an 83.5 point effort on Spartan from the Robert Bunn herd. Jason Mara (Cloncurry, QLD) got his name on the Cunnamulla Festival PBR leaderboard with an 82.0 point ride on Loose Cannon (Robert Bunn) with Tully, QLD cowboy Michael Smith also completing his first ride of the night for 80.5 points on Chameleon (Robert Bunn). Richardson and Paton maintained their perfect night with rides of 74.0 points and 68.0 points respectively.
Round 3
The final round of the night was taken out by Heffernan with 81.0 points on Rock Solid (Robert Bunn). Babbington and Richardson split the points for second place with both riders recieving 80.5 points. Babbington was successful on Rober Bunn’s Acid Rain while Richardson made the whistle on Stuart Timm’s Snap Chat.
The Result
Fraser Babbington was crowned Cunnamulla Festival PBR Champion with 239.0 points. Lachlan Richardson finished close behind on 237.5 points while Mitchel Paton took home third place with 149.5 points.
View the Completed Daysheet HERE
The Bulls
The high-marked bull of the event was Volatile who dispatched Harry Bridges before the whistle in Round 3 earning a bull score of 43.5 points. It was the second high marked bull award in only his third event for Kasper Bucking Bulls bucker after he took home the award at the Mt Cotton event back in May.
The Standings
The win boosted Babbington back into second place on the PBR Australian National Standings and closed the gap between himself and current No. 1 Aaron Kleier to 405 points. On the World scene, the Kiwi jumped from 43rd to 41st position with his 60 point haul enough to overtake Kleier and American Tye Chandler in the PBR World Standings.
Richardson’s second place finish maintained his 34th position in the PBR World Standings BUT jumped up two spots to 8th in the Australian Standings. Heffernan remains 4th but has closed the gap between himself Kleier to under 1500 points.
PBR Touring Pro Division
Tamworth’s Lachlan Slade was the only Aussie to compete in the USA this weekend. The 24-year old came down before the whistle in Eureka, MT courtesy of Sid’s Wish from PK Triplett Bucking Bulls. The event was taken out by Idahoan Ryan Prophet who scored an event high 87-points on Payback (PK Triplett Bucking Bulls) in Round 1.
PBR Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour
World No. 1 Kaique Pacheco increased his lead in the PBR World Standings this weekend after sharing the Bulls of Summer event title with fellow Brazilian Alex Marcilio in Salinas, CA on Sunday. Pacheco entered the Championship Round in 7th spot with his 83-point ride on Psycho Blue taking his event total to 162. points. Marcilio’s 162 points came courtesy of 82.0 points on Slappy in Round 1 and an 80-point ride on Smoke Show in the Short-Go.
Coming Up:
The PBR Australia Touring Pro Division heads to Blackall, QLD on Saturday evening (1-Sep) for the B150 Blackall PBR celebrating the town’s 150th birthday. The event is Free so make tracks to the Blackall Showgrounds for a 5pm start with the bull riding starting at 7pm.
No events are scheduled for the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast tour this weekend by there are two PBR Touring Pro Division Events.
The 20th Annual Jerome Davis Invitational is on in Archdale, NC starting at 10am Saturday 1-Sep and continuing on Sunday.
Belton, TX will be the venue for the Johnson Brothers Ford Touring Pro which starts on Sunday 2-Sep at 10am and concludes on Monday.
PBR Canada has Touring Pro Division action scheduled for Sunday for the Glen Keeley Memorial Bull Ride from Stavely, AB and I am sure we will have Australian Riders in the draw.
View the Upcoming RtR Event Schedule HERE
*All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)