The international contingent stole the show when some of the best bull riders in the world descended on Tamworth for the annual PBR Iron Cowboy event on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In front of a packed house at AELEC, US bull rider Brady Sims was crowned The Iron Cowboy after pulling out an 83.50 point ride on Wrangler's Volatile in the third and final round.
The Holt, Missouri, cowboy had been bucked off his first two bulls (progressing to the next round by virtue of outperforming his opposing rider) but made the one that mattered most, count.
The international cowboys dominated the top spots with Brazlian Eduardo Aparecido, who won Round 1 of the PBR World Finals two weeks ago with a huge 91.25 point score, coming in at number two.
This is the Brazilian's second trip to Australia after being part of Team Brazil in the PBR Global Cup in 2018.
Rubens Barbosa, who had a sensational run in Las Vegas finishing fourth in the average and setting a new arena record with a massive 95.75 point score - the fourth highest score in PBR World Finals history - was third ahead of newly-crowned 2019 PBR National Champion Aaron Kleier.
The Clermont cowboy led the Aussie charge and posted the highest score of the night - an 88.50 on POA Palooka in the second round. Coonamble's Nathan Burtenshaw was fifth, Will Purcell sixth, Cliff Richardson seventh and 2018 world Champion Kaique Pacheco eighth.
A revered name in global bull riding, Pacheco already has a string of titles to his name and is the star of the Netflix series "Fearless".
Widely-known as the 'Iceman', the 24-year old Texan's return from injury in Australia has been much-anticipated, after he endured a tough 2019, undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left elbow after being injured at the PBR Brazil event "Americana" back in June.
READ ALSO:
The injury knocked him out of contention for a second world title this year as he committed to months of recovery post-surgery.
After covering four of his five bulls in last weekend's PBR Grand Finals, Pacheco continued his good form in the opening round scoring 82 points on the Maynes Bucking Bulls' Twisted X in what was one of the match-ups of the night.
Officially opening the 2020 Australian PBR national champion title race it was a tough night for the local hopes with Troy Wilkinson, Ethan Watts and Lachlan Slade all failing to make the eight seconds.
Wilkinson was the best performed of the trio making it through to the third round (courtesy of having the latest buck-off time compared to his opposing rider) to finish 10th overall.
The bulls got the better of the cowboys on the night with the first round seeing only five qualified rides, the second three and the third round just two.
The series now moves onto Victoria for Saturday night's Melbourne Invitational.
