Professional bull riders try to hang on in Fort Smith

 

story and photos by Ruby Dean
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About 6,000 cowgirls and cowboys of all ages came out Saturday night (April 17) to Harper Stadium in Fort Smith to watch the 40 professional bull riders compete to see who could hang on for 8 seconds. Eight seconds may seem like a short time, but when riding a bull it seems like an eternity.

The PBR’s Touring Pro Division is the new 2010 minor-league tour of the PBR, replacing the Challenger, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Discovery Tours. As with the previous minor-league tours, it offers up-and-coming bull riders and riders not competing on the elite Built Ford Tough Series the opportunity to compete in PBR-sanctioned events while earning money to qualify them for the BFTS and the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals.

The new Touring Pro Division is split into three regions: the Western Region, the Central Region and the Eastern Region. Once the season begins, the world’s Top 40 bull riders have five BFTS events to secure their positions on that elite tour. After the fifth event, the bottom five riders (based on points) are dropped from the BFTS. The Top 5 Touring Pro Division riders (based on money earned) are then allowed to move into those five positions.

Oklahoma native Cord McCoy hopes to join the Built Ford Tough Series. He has not had an easy ride. In 2004, he was kicked in the head by a horse which fractured his skull when he was in a bronc riding competition. Six months after that injury, he was back to competing, but this time he would only ride bulls. Cord is listed as 74th on the PBR Web site.

Cord is not only a bull rider, he and his brother, Jet, were participants on the reality show "Amazing Race" which ended in December, but is still now airing on CBS with the McCoy brothers still in competition. They are fan favorites on the show as was evident by the line of fans wanting autographs at last night’s event.  It was not the first time the two had worked together. They used to rodeo together. Who won the Amazing Race?  Cord’s not telling.

Cord gets to go home for a few days before going back out on the road to Clovis, Calif., where he will compete next weekend.  Cord is doing what he loves, "being a cowboy."

Following are the winners of the championship round at the Fort Smith PBR.
1. Kasey Hayes (Liberal, Kan.): $3,379
2. (tie) Wagner Luciano (Brazil): $2,481
2. (tie) Dustin Hall (Springfield, Mo.): $2,481
3. Travis Sellars (Milburn, Okla.): $1,184