Renato Nunes rides Chicken On A Chain for 95.75 points and the event win during the championship round of the St. Louis PBR. Photo: Andy Watson

Fans who attended the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Invitational three day event held in St. Louis, Missouri were treated to a historic ride on Sunday, when Renato Nunes of Brazil rode Robinson/Tedesco/Larry the Cable Guy’s Chicken on a Chain to a 95.75 score claiming not only the event win, but the highest score of the season as well. Nunes was given a score by the judges of 49.75 just three quarters of a point below a perfect score of 50 points. Chicken on a Chain also obtained high marks from the judges, earning a bull score of 47 for his efforts.

Nunes spoke with Leah Garcia after the event and told her "I picked the best bull in the world today," said Nunes. "He's a good bull. I always pick a big bull for a big score. This is the best prize in the world." As with all three day events, the bull riders get to pick their bulls for the second and Championship rounds now, a change in the rules that has proven to be quite successful for the riders.

Only three men were able to ride all four of their bulls this weekend, all of whom were Brazilians, giving them a clean sweep of the event. Robson Palermo took second place in the overall event and Guilherme Marchi stepped into third place overall with his ride.  

Rounds one, two and three were all won by Zack Brown, who made some absolutely incredible rides. John & Lacey Berger/Andy Hawkes' Road Daddy rocketed him to the top with a score of 90.25 points in the first round. In the second round, he was able to top Berger Bucking Bulls' Bad Medicine for a second score of 90.25 points. In the third round, he rode John & Lacey Berger's North Dakota Kid for 88 points. This gave him the event lead going into the Championship Round. Unfortunately he was unable to stay aboard #10 Bucking Bulls' Cat Man Do and ended the event in fourth place overall.

By virtue of his first and second round victories, Brown was eligible to ride for the Enterprise Rent-A-Car “Ride with the Best” bonus on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, he was able to ride Berger Bucking Bulls’ Bad Medicine for the $5000 bonus and on Sunday, he topped John & Lacey Berger’s North Dakota Kid for another $5000 in bonus money. Although he did not win the event as he had hoped, he did put more than $25,000 in his bank account for the weekend, making this a very good weekend indeed!

Notable by his absence was Adriano Moraes, who as it turns out, was suffering from a bad back and forced to stay home for this event. Suffice it to say, he was sorely missed. Also still absent is Wiley Petersen, who at this point remains out with a left clavicle fracture sustained in Worcester. He has started physical therapy and reportedly may return as early as mid-March for the Portland Invitational. Tony Mendes is also out with a knee sprain sustained at the Challenger event in Oklahoma City. There is no estimate of when he will be able to return. Paulo Crimber landed on his head on Saturday night when he was thrown from the bull Eddie Munster and was unable to complete the event. He will have X-rays and a CT scan Monday and at this point is questionable for Baltimore.

On a sad note, we lost a wonderful animal athlete last week when Werewolf Snuff passed away at the age of eight. Our condolences go out to Cotton Rosser and Julio Moreno of Flying U/Moreno Bucking Bulls on his loss.

Right now Travis Briscoe is still in the number one position in the world standings, with the so very consistent Guilherme Marchi behind him by 161.5 point. (Marchi is riding 80% of his bulls!). Kody Lostroh is in the third position 334.75 points behind the leader with Paulo Crimber and Robson Palermo taking fourth and fifth respectively. As we’ve been saying all along, these Brazilian riders are really excellent and now we have three in the top five!

Until next time….

Linda Peterson