News

Dark horse

Effort, talent and study bring Brown within range of a world title

LAS VEGAS (October 26, 2009) - A few hours before the final day of the Mohegan Sun Invitational, Zack Brown was mining the back halls of the arena when he finally found what he was looking for.

Cody Lambert.

The PBR livestock director was in the Versus catering area talking with broadcasters Craig Hummer and Justin McKee when Brown joined them. He had a list of bulls, a pen, and more than a dozen questions for Lambert.

One by one, Brown went down the list of bulls for the short go. For each and every one of them he intently listened to Lambert and took notes. Hours later, the study session paid off.

“He was serious about winning that event,” Lambert said.

To that point in the three-day event, Brown was two-for-two with an 87 in the opening round on Team Equine’s Evil Forces and an 85.5 on Little Coyote in Round 2. Brown had had the third pick in the draft for the second round and had spent time consulting with stock contractor Chad Berger.

After another solid effort in the third round, where he was 85.5 on Wrangler Big Rig, Brown had the first pick in the draft for the championship round.

With his notes in hand, he stepped up on the shark cage, and with little hesitation, knew that he wanted Red Bull.

In spite of a rib injury that was obviously causing him considerable discomfort, Brown was confident that he was on the verge of his fourth BFTS event win of the season, and would likely enter the upcoming PBR World Finals ranked fourth in the world.

When asked by in-arena announcer Brandon Bates about the injury, Brown smirked and said, “What injury?”

He was one of 10 riders to cover in the short go, and his 86.75-point effort was enough to win the event by a single point over Robson Palermo.

The 10-minute conversation with Lambert may well have made the Hawaiian native a dark-horse favorite on the Road to Vegas.

“I always feel confident going into Vegas,” Brown said, “and I’m definitely not giving up on my goal for the season. I’m going to fight it out until the bitter end.”

In 31 events, which is only the second time in his career he’s been healthy enough to ride every scheduled BFTS event, Brown has covered 42 of his 82 bulls. His riding average of 51.2 percent is up just over five percent from his career average of 45.85 percent.

To go with his four event wins this season, he has 13 Top 10 finishes and is poised for his best finish since 2004, when he ended the season 6th in the world standings and earned the honor being the PBR’s top rookie.

And his fourth-place status is another marked improvement from 2008, when he finished 13th in his first full season back after a brief retirement following a near-death wreck in Billings, Mont., during the 2005 season.

Brown has just one piece of advice for himself.

“Stay on,” he said. “That’s what it always takes.

“It’s pretty basic, real simple. Stay on your bulls and let the judges do their job. You do your job, somebody else does their job and in the end you either wind up winning or you end up placing or you get thrown off, so you just can’t let any of it get you down too far.”

Added Lambert: “He has the right idea.”

Because he’s entering 3,557.75 points behind Kody Lostroh, a lot would have to happen for Brown to win the world title. But he does arrive in Vegas as one of the favorites to win the event average, which would more than double his season earnings of $222,083.04.

To do that, he might want to think about sitting back down with Lambert.

“I can’t control what the judges are going to mark the bulls,” Brown said, “and I’m definitely going to have to do a little bit of homework as far as finding out what bulls are going to get me the points that I need, so it’s going to be an interesting – very interesting – Finals.”

NEWS and NOTES

The buck stops here: Disappointing news out of Texas this weekend involves Apollo. The bull, who was purchased earlier this year by the King family for more than $250,000, hurt his back at an amateur bull riding event located near Carthage, Texas. Apollo was one of 11 bulls that would have been competing for the title of PBR World Champion Bull. Instead, the King family, who are from outside of Amarillo, hope he recovers and can resume his promising career. It is still too soon to know if he’ll ever buck again.

Finals coverage: Log on to www.pbr.tv, the official online network of the PBR and your one source for exclusive PBR video online. During the Finals you can get a total recap of each round of competition with a highlight show and clips of the best action. Fans can also catch the bull drafts, performance openings plus the best of Flint Rasmussen both in the arena and with his very own Outside the Barrel show.

Every morning fans are encouraged to listen to The Final Word with Ty Murray, a special Podcast in which he breaks down the key issues and talking points from each day of competition. Additionally, Cody Lambert will be providing his point of view after each draw and draft in Las Vegas by way of his own Podcast, Behind the Chutes with Cody Lambert.

Fans are also encouraged to log on to www.pbrnow.com throughout each day for up-to-the-minute information from Finals along with the all new Event Center, which provides real-time information at your fingertips. The live features include ride-by-ride scores plus an event tracker with real-time updates of the round and event leader board. Also keep up to date with the action through live blogs and various rider interviews.

Road to Vegas: All roads are leading to Las Vegas! At this time of the season, the PBR is all about the World Finals, which is Oct. 30 through Nov. 8. Call  for ticket information or log onto www.unlvtickets.com to order your tickets for what will be one of the tightest finishes for the world title.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright