Las Vegas Weekly

April 15, 2010 · 11:36 AM

Photos: Angelica Bridges just misses out on bull-riding victory

By Robin Leach

Angelica Bridges and Ryan McConnel ride the mechanical bull at the PBR-sponsored Bull Riding Media Showdown at the Fremont Street Experience on April 14, 2010.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Gorgeous redhead Angelica Bridges of Fantasy at the Luxor thought she had a secret stunt to assure victory when she participated in yesterday’s mechanical bull-riding competition downtown on Fremont Street. She came close but was just inched out!

The singer and former Baywatch actress did stay on for a full 7 seconds thanks to watching John Travolta’s Urban Cowboy, including the mechanical bull-riding scene repeatedly. It nearly paid dividends, but she needed just a few tenths of a second more to stave off our Las Vegas Sun colleague photographer Justin Bowen.

Even with Team USA PBR bull rider Ryan McConnel of Colgate, Okla., giving her some of his secrets, she couldn’t quite take down the competition. Our Senior Editor Johnny Katsilometes also competed, but Justin won the $1,000 prize to be donated to charity.

It’s all part of the excitement surrounding the cowboys coming back to town for this weekend’s PBR 2010 World Cup. Competition gets underway tomorrow and runs through Sunday. Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue captured all the excitement yesterday for this photo gallery, and he’ll be on duty this weekend at the Thomas & Mack Center.

This will be the first year the World Cup event has been held in America, and our home country cowboys will battle riders from as far away as Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Canada. Brazil won the first World Cup in Australia in 2007, and Team USA won in Mexico in 2008 and last year in Brazil. PBR experts say the duel in the dirt this year here will come down to USA vs. Brazil.

Vegas DeLuxe will have all the dramatic photo action from the arena Saturday and Sunday, with the final crowned champions Monday. The events are expected to pack in nearly 20,000 fans a night, and the Strip should be jammed with about 50,000 cowboy visitors.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Angelica Bridges rides a mechanical bull at the PBR-sponsored Bull Riding Media Showdown at the Fremont Street Experience on April 14, 2010.

John recently interviewed Oklahoma’s Austin Meier, who is riding for Team USA. J.W. Hart is the Team USA captain, although he will not be riding. Adriano Moraes is the Brazil captain, with longtime Las Vegas veteran and 2008 PBR series champion Guilherme Marchi the favorite rider. The winning country splits $100,000 in prize money in the five-man teams.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

Share This