A young and hungry Queensland team was able to outlast a courageous New South Wales side to become the very first Monster Energy PBR Origin champions at the ICC Theatre in Sydney, New South Wales on Saturday night.
The Maroons recorded eight qualified rides to the Blues five and took the win 689.5 points to 341 points.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Queenslanders, who started the night 0-for-5 while NSW recorded qualified rides through Ethan Watts and Nathan Burtenshaw in the opening section.
Watts had the Sydney crowd on their feet as the whistle blew and was marked 85 points for his ride on Jackie Who (Dunne Bulls). Burtenshaw was rock solid aboard On Point (Throsby & Russell Bucking Bulls), moving the NSW total on by a further 83.5 points.
Kurt Shephard was able to stop the rot at the midpoint of the round, putting Queensland’s first points on the leaderboard with a flashy 87 point ride on High Class Hooker (Dittmann Bucking Bulls).
The next rider to put a score on the board was Mitchel Paton, who moved Queensland into the lead after he combined with Super Natural (Wallace Bucking Bulls) for 86 points.
At the end of Round 1, the cowboys had just four scores on the leaderboard with Queensland holding a slender 4.5 point lead, and the scoreboard read 173.0 points to 168.5 points.
During the round, Cody Heffernan withdrew from the competition after a rough dismount from Mixed Culture (Brandenburg Bucking Bulls) which reaggregated injuries he sustained a fortnight ago in Rockhampton.
Mitchel Paton opened up Round 2 and was able to extend Queensland’s lead after he produced a brilliant ride on Iron Jacket (Wallace Bucking Bulls). The 87 point ride also put him on top of the Cowboy of Origin standings as the first rider to stay a perfect 2-for-2 on the night.
The bulls went to work again, bucking off nine straight riders before NSW Captain Troy Wilkinson got the Blues back within a hand full of points after he made a great bull ride on Rev It Up (Throsby & Russell Bucking Bulls) for 83 points.
Brady Fielder answered straight back for the Maroons thanks to an 85 point effort on High Risk (Dunne Bulls) which silenced the vocal NSW crowd.
That was until Nathan Burtenshaw produced one of the rides of the season, scoring a season-high 89.5 points aboard POA Ray Ban (Dittmann Bucking Bulls).
The score moved Burtenshaw into a tie with Mitchel Paton on the Cowboy of Origin leaderboard with both riders ending Round 2 on 173 points.
View the completed Daysheet here
In another blow for the NSW team, Burtenshaw took a shot from POA Ray Ban after the whistle and was also ruled out of the remainder of the competition with concussion symptoms.
Queensland Captain Aaron Kleier closed out Round 2 with a well earned 81.5 points on Cowboy Cash (Wallace Bucking Bulls) to give his side a 426.5 to 341 lead heading into the final eight outs of the evening.
View the complete Results from the PBR Origin
In the Bonus Round, Queensland was able to extend it’s lead, posting three quick scores to put the competition out of reach for the New South Welshmen through Aaron Kleier, Brady Fielder and Kurt Shephard.
Kleier was first to post a score, combining with Rock the House (Dunne Bulls/BSA) for an excellent 86 point ride. Fielder made a great 84.5 effort aboard Wrangler’s Volatile (Kasper Bucking Bulls), and that was followed up by Kurt Shephard who conquered High Flying Akubra (John Gill & Sons).
Shephard was marked 85.5 points which moved him into the third spot on the individual standings with a total score of 172.5 points. He finished the event just 0.5 points behind co-winners of the Cowboy of Origin award, Mitch Paton and Nathan Burtenshaw.
Fielder finished the event in fourth place with 169.5 points total with the Queensland Captain Kleier just behind on 167.5 points in fifth.
Cliff Richardson added a consolidation score of 87.5 points aboard Down Under (John Gill & Sons) in the final out of the night to finish the event in the sixth spot.
The split win moved Mitchel Paton up four spots on the PBR Australian National Standings leaderboard from ninth to fifth place and he now trails No. 1 ranked Cody Heffernan by 1207.5 points.
Nathan Burtenshaw’s share of the points also seen him jumped up the standings, bounding from 27th on the ladder right up to the 11th spot.
View the updated PBR Australian National Standings
It was a big night for Dittman Bucking Bulls, taking home the Bull Team of the Event award, and taking home the High Marked Bull award for both POA Palooka and POA Fully Locked & Loaded who were both marked 44 points during the Bonus Round.
Final Results:
- Queensland 689.5 defeated New South Wales 341.
- Mitch Paton and Nathan Burtenshaw shared the Cowboy of Origin award with a total score of 173 points.
- The bull team event went to Dittmann Bucking Bulls.
- POA Palooka and POA Fully Locked & Loaded were joint winners in the high marked out of the night award.
The riders covered 25% of their bulls on a night when the bullpen was outstanding, averaging a bull score of 42.22 points which is the highest we have seen in the past 15 months of PBR Australia competition.
It was also announced that in 2020, the Monster Energy PBR Origin would be returning to the ICC Theatre in Sydney on the 20th of June.