News

Palermo covers Hot Stuff for a third time, wins second round in K.C.  

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 7, 2010) - It was a foregone conclusion.

Robson Palermo was going to, and did, select Hot Stuff with the second pick in the Round 2 draft of the Built Ford Tough Invitational Saturday.
 
“He’s a really good bull,” said Palermo, who should know.
 
Palermo rode him a year ago, right here in Kansas City, for 89.5 points. Before that, there was his 92.75-point effort in Round 4 of the 2008 World Finals, en route to the event win and $250,000.
 
Palermo’s 89.75 points on Saturday night gave him his third round-win of the 2010 season, and positioned him atop the leader board with 178.75 points after two rounds.
 
“He’s a really strong bull and he turned back left into my hand,” said Palermo, who added, “I love this bull.”
 
Palermo, selected by Adriano Moraes Saturday along with Valdiron de Oliveira as the first two members of Team Brazil for the upcoming World Cup, bested 21 other riders last night at the Sprint Center.
 
Rounding out the top scorers were Jody Newberry and Ned Cross, who split second and third with 88.75 points each, followed by Mike Lee (88) and Josh Koschel (87.5).
 
For the past couple of months, Palermo has been riding with a sprained wrist and what he described as a torn ligament in his left riding hand.
 
In spite of the nagging injury, he’s managed to cover 55.2 percent of his bulls this year, which is a full 6.5 percent better than his career average of 48.7.
 
He’s managed to stay within reach of the Top 10 riders in the world, and is likely to move up from 12th in the standings with Ryan McConnel, Skeeter Kingsolver and L.J. Jenkins going 0-for-2 this weekend.
 
Ned Cross, who won the opening round on Friday night, is second in the average with 178 points, followed by last week’s event winner Jody Newberry with 174.25. Austin Meier, who along with McKennon Wimberly was named to the U.S. World Cup team yesterday, is fourth in the average. Reigning World Champion Kody Lostroh rounds out the Top 5.
 
There are 11 riders who have covered both bulls, compared to 13 who have yet to make the whistle, but with 27 of 40 riders on the leader board with at least one score, the event is far from decided.
 
“I ride one at a time,” said Palermo, who has won four previous events in his career. “We’ll see what happens.”
 
NEWS and NOTES
 
World Cup: Six of the 10 riders initially named to World Cup teams are competing in Kansas City this weekend, and have covered eight of 11 bulls through the first two rounds. Only Canada’s Aaron Roy, who missed the opening round because of travel issues, hasn’t made the whistle this weekend.
 
Of the five participating countries – Brazil, the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australia – the only one without at least one of its first two members on the BFTS is Australia, who named Jared and Pete Farley.
 
Event Center: Follow all the action from the Built Ford Tough Invitational by logging on to www.pbr.com and entering the “Event Center,” which is accessible from the tab located at the top of the main Web page. The Event Center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related Podcasts and interviews.
 
—by Keith Ryan Cartwright

PBRnow.com