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Jenkins takes a risk, reaps the reward

GLENDALE, Ariz. (March 15, 2010) - Some shook their heads in disbelief. Others wondered aloud: “Why?”

Why would L.J. Jenkins pick Voodoo Child – a bull who had only been ridden once in 34 outs on the Built Ford Tough Series – when there were 10 other bulls to choose from? Why would he choose a bull who had bucked him off two weeks earlier in just 4.5 seconds?

“Everybody’s been wondering why keep picking him,” Jenkins said after riding Voodoo Child for 94 points to win the Glendale Invitational, “but I knew something that everybody else didn’t. I knew I could ride the bull.

“Even if it took me 10 times, I was going to keep picking him, and now that I know how to ride him, I’ll just keep picking him anyway.”

There was another person inside the Jobing.com Arena who had just as much faith as Jenkins himself: Justin McBride, who happens to be the only other rider to earn a qualified score on Voodoo Child.

“I’ve made it pretty well known on the broadcast and different places that I thought L.J. was one of the few guys that could ride the bull,” McBride said. “L.J. understands the mechanics of bull riding well enough that on a bull like Voodoo Child, he’s supposed to be able to ride him.”

Voodoo’s known to take one strong jump out of the chute, then immediately start spinning, but he’s up-and-down the whole time, and never flattens out or weakens.

“You gotta ride him like a jump kicker more than anything, because he moves ahead so much,” Jenkins explained, “and stay loose. It took me two tries to figure all that out, but I got it figured out.”

“That’s what you’re looking for,” McBride added. “That’s what you learn to ride on, right there.”

The win has been a long time coming for Jenkins, who last won a BFTS event in 2008 when he finished first in Albuquerque.

It’s the sixth time in 12 events that Jenkins has qualified for the short go in 2010, and he’s now covered four of the six bulls he’s chosen there.

His 66-percent average in what some affectionately refer to as the money round – Jenkins won a total of $28,643.40 this weekend – is 16 percent higher than his season average of 50 percent, which is up just over 4 percent from his career average of 45.9 percent.

The win catapulted Jenkins into the Top 10 in the world. He’s now within 1,457.25 points of leader J.B. Mauney, and less than 500 points from breaking into the Top 5.

With No. 2 rider Valdiron de Oliveira out with an injury, Mauney failed to capitalize, going 1-for-2 and gaining just 83 points on his closest rival. World No. 3 Austin Meier wasn’t able to gain any ground at all. After winning last week in Kansas City, Meier came down early on both bulls in Glendale as the Top 4 remained virtually unchanged.

But it was Jenkins who used the highest marked ride of his career to leapfrog four other riders in the average and win the event.

“It felt awesome,” Jenkins said. “I had never been 94 in my life. This is sure going to go down as my best ride ever.”

It took nearly every one of those points for the New Mexico native to beat out Aaron Roy, who finished a half-point behind in second place. Roy came into the final round first in the average and selected RMEF Bugle with the first pick.

“I picked one I thought I could ride,” said Roy. “It just turns out I needed to be a little more points.

“Coming into the short round in first, you gotta pick one you know you can ride. I’m happy with the pick that I had. But, yeah, L.J. was better rider today on Voodoo.”

Rounding out the Top 5 in Glendale were Dustin Elliott, Guilherme Marchi and Renato Nunes, whose exclusion from the World Cup seemed to be the big story the entire weekend.

Next week, the BFTS will be in Fresno, Calif., for the Table Mountain Casino Invitational. The two-day event takes place Friday and Saturday night at the Save Mart Center.

NEWS and NOTES

Medical update: One day after winning the opening round in Glendale, Kody Lostroh dislocated his left riding shoulder. According to Dr. Tandy Freeman, Lostroh has had some problems with the shoulder in the past, “but it’s never been completely out.”

The reigning champ will be examined more thoroughly this week. Freeman said if X-rays show there isn’t a fracture, Lostroh will have to choose between non-operative treatment or go with surgery.

“I can’t tell you which way he’s leaning right now,” said Freeman, in an interview posted at the PBR.COM Live Event Center for the Glendale event. “We’ve talked about what his options are, and he’s going to have to see how he feels and what he wants to try and do.

“The earliest he could possibly be back within reason – and sometimes reason doesn’t fit in to when these guys come back –  but the earliest he could be back within reason would be a couple of weeks, and quite honestly, anything before four to six weeks is probably pushing it.

“If he has surgery he’s out for six months. Quite honestly, that might be an option that he takes, depending on whether he wants to do something with his elbow during that time or not. He’s got some decisions to make, but there’s more information that we have to be able to gather first.”

As surprised as anyone: “It surprised me because Renato is No. 6 right now,” said Guilherme Marchi, when asked Sunday morning about Adriano Moraes’ decision by to leave Nunes off of this year’s World Cup roster.

Marchi, the 2008 World Champion and longtime anchor of the Brazilian team, added that “Renato is a good guy” and that he hopes “Adriano changes his mind.”

The complete team rosters were announced Saturday night; however, the captains have the discretion to change the roster until a week out from the event. Moraes, who had to replace Valdiron de Oliveira because of an injury to his shoulder, will go with Marchi and Robson Palermo along with three relative unknows — Fabiano Vieira, Silvano Alves and Edimundo Gomes.

“(Moraes is) the coach,” said Marchi, who was outwardly saddened by the entire turn of events. “He picks who he wants to pick. He picks what works for him, but in my position I would pick Renato.”

Marchi said he’s unsure what happened between Moaraes and Nunes, and indicated the two are friends and talk regularly on the phone. To lighten the mood, Marchi ended the conversation by joking, “I hope Brazil kicks United States butt this year.”

A name for himself: Midway through his first full season on the BFTS, Voodoo Child was simply known among the top riders in the world as “the spotted bull.” After L.J. Jenkins rode him Sunday afternoon for 94 points, Justin McBride recalled the Sunday afternoon in 2008 that he rode him.

McBride and Mike White had back-to-back picks going into the short round in Tulsa, Okla., when White asked the two-time Champion which bull he was thinking about selecting. McBride said he was going with “either the big red bull or the spotted bull.”

The red bull was Troubadour, and the spotted bull, Voodoo Child.

According to McBride, White didn’t want anything to with Voodoo Child. “I said, ‘Well, then you get on the red bull and I’ll get on the spotted bull,’” he recalled. “I really didn’t care.”

McBride rode Voodoo Child for 94.5 points and the event win, while White rode Troubadour for 95.75 points. Some have since said they thought White’s ride may have been the greatest ever. The 2008 event in Tulsa is among the best in PBR history, and that particular short round is among the greatest rounds of all time.

“It goes down, to me, as one of the best of a handful of events that I got to witness,” McBride said.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright, PBR.com
Watch event highlights on pbr.tv.Watch Jenkins’ 94 point ride on Voodoo Child
Hear the Podcast HereListen to LJ Jenkins speak exclusively to Keith Ryan Cartwright following his ride on Voodoo Child.