Rodeo Insider: Despite bad elbow, Lostroh is top bull rider

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August 21, 2009

Brett Hoffman The Huntsville Item Fri Aug 21, 2009, 11:23 PM CDT

The Professional Bull Riders’ 2009 season is in the final stretch, and if I were betting the ranch on who’ll finish No. 1, I’d go with Kody Lostroh.

With six regular-season tour stops and the World Finals (Oct. 30-Nov. 1 and Nov. 5-8 in Las Vegas) remaining, Lostroh ranks first in the Built Ford Tough Series standings.

Lostroh, who lives in Longmont, Colo., has 10,049 points, and he maintained his commanding lead after finishing third during last weekend’s tour stop in Nashville, Tenn. Defending world champion Guilherme Marchi, a Brazilian who lives near Dallas, is ranked second with 8,681.25 after finishing runner-up at the Nashville show. North Carolina’s J.B. Mauney is third with 8,432.5.

Lostroh’s success is amazing. He tore the tendon in his left elbow in late April at Omaha, Neb. And after undergoing an MRI exam, he discovered an older injury on the inside portion of the elbow, which means that he’ll someday will have to undergo surgery to remove some bone fragments in his riding arm.

In spite of the bad news, Lostroh began wearing an arm brace and managed to make a qualified ride on long round bulls at the May tour stops in Des Moines, Iowa, and Pueblo, Colo. He advanced to the final round at both shows and extended his lead in the world standings.

After that, Lostroh gave the elbow time to heal while the Ford Series was at rest from mid-May through mid-July. When the tour resumed in Tulsa, Okla., Lostroh won the title on the weekend of July 17-19 and hasn’t looked back. He also qualified for the final rounds at the next two tour stops in San Antonio and Nashville.

But what about Marchi?

I’ve recently seen improvement with Marchi, but not enough. Both he and Mauney had a great chance to gain significant ground on Lostroh when Lostroh wasn’t running full throttle in May. But they didn’t do it.

Although Marchi wants to repeat, his riding has been in cruise control too often after pulling out all of the stops to win the world title last year, after he’d been denied the gold buckle for the three previous seasons. This year, it’s like he’s in high gear on some weekends and coasting on others.

However, I’d bet on Marchi a lot quicker than Mauney. Though Mauney has been billed as an heir-apparent after finishing runner-up in the world title race last year, he’ll probably end up as a bridesmaid again.

Mauney’s problem is he’s not quite consistent enough to win it all. In order to win, he’s going to have to stay more focused on the Ford Series. He also regularly enters numerous lower-tier PBR events and some rodeos, which seems to weaken his overall performance on the top tier tour.

New bareback record — Clint Cannon of Waller has broken the PRCA bareback riding regular season earnings record. In the PRCA standings released Monday, Cannon led the world title race with $154,192. The previous record was $152,184 by Bobby Mote in 2007. Last weekend, Cannon earned $2,494 by placing in rodeos at Mesquite, Sonora, Hermiston, Ore., and Coffeyville, Kan.

Trevor Brazile watch — Trevor Brazile of Decatur increased his chances of snaring a record-tying seventh PRCA world all-around title after winning the tie-down roping and all-around titles last weekend at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston, Ore. It was Brazile’s eighth all-around title at a PRCA show in the past three weeks, and the $6,294 he earned at the Oregon rodeo raised his season total to $189,194. That’s $9,165 ahead of where Brazile was at this time of the season in 2007. Two years ago, he broke the PRCA record with annual earnings of $425,115.

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Rodeo Insider: Despite bad elbow, Lostroh is top bull rider

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