Las Vegas Weekly

November 7, 2008 · 10:49 AM

Brazilian leads bull riding championships after fourth round; McBride falls to 34th place

By Robin Leach

PBR leader Guilherme Marchi bucks out some stock.

Photo: PBR

Brazilian rider Guilherme Marchi looks certain now after last night’s fourth round of the Professional Bull Riding Championships to win it all on Sunday. It should give him a nice $4 million payday, and then he retires.

The 26-year-old cowboy has just three days of rank bull challenges ahead of him, but he sits atop the leader board even though last night he came in 7th, scoring 89.25 on Outa Da Blue. J.B. Mauney, who is in second place overall right behind Guilherme, won last night’s fourth round with 93.75.

Our former UNLV student, Justin McBride, who is also retiring after Sunday’s closing day at Thomas & Mack, failed to score last night and is now 34th on the overall leader board -- so his dream to win on his way out looks over.

Bull riding is one of the toughest sports on dirt, as this extraordinary photo of Colby Yates proves! Guilherme knows what that’s like because he’s finished second overall for the past three consecutive years. Now only three riders can possibly catch him: J.B. Mauney, Kody Lostroh and fellow Brazilian Valdiron de Oliveira.

Some 45 riders keep bucking through Sunday, and then it comes down to just 15 for the bonus million-dollar round. If Guilherme wins it all, he would become the fifth Brazilian to be crowned in its 15-year history. Round 5 heads out of the corral tonight, Round 6 tomorrow, and then the final Round 7 on Sunday.

Vegas DeLuxe will have the winners and the prize amounts here early Monday.

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