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Tom Donoghue/DonoghuePhotography.com
Day 2 of the 2012 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals was won by Chris Shivers and included appearances by Professional Bull Riders CEO Jim Haworth, left, and UFC President Dana White, right, at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012.
Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 | 2:28 p.m.
2012 PBR World Finals Day 2
It was shuffle up and deal at Round 2 of the 2012 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals on Thursday night, and a new hand was dealt the rough-and-tough bull riders. All eyes were on the two former champions, 2010’s Valdiron de Oliveira and 2011’s Silvano Alves, as they duked it out to stay in the lead.
The only problem was that Luke Snyder moved into first place on the monster bull Riding Ragin’, thrilling 11,554 cheering fans at the Thomas & Mack Center. Once again contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was ringside to capture all the exciting action for today’s photo gallery.
In the crowd Thursday night watching his first PBR was UFC President Dana White. He agreed that the bull riders are the toughest men on Earth, particularly after Eduardo Aparecido of Brazil managed to ride Pancho for the full 8 seconds after breaking his jaw in the chute before starting!
Rider Austin Meier was another story of immense courage: He overcame pain in his groin and hip to ride Mud Swap successfully but injured his right ankle in the process. Despite the triple set of injuries, he plans to be back at it tonight.
Despite the shakeup and the leader-board changes, attention was focused on two-time world champion Chris Shivers, who won the round and a $25,000 payday. It’s the last time fans will watch Chris in action; he won in 2000 and 2003 and is retiring after this Las Vegas trip.
Meantime, here’s how the cards played out with the shakeups: Defending champion Silvano Alves, still looking to be the first back-to-back champ, increased his lead over challenger Valdiron de Oliveira, who won in 2010. Only 221 points separate the two riders.
Luke, Rookie of the Year in 2001, nailed the night with a top score of 177 points, 2 points ahead of Robson Palermo, who won the event title in 2008 and 2011. The overall champion is the rider with the most Built Ford Tough Series points during the regular season and these world finals. The rider with the highest total score from all six rounds here wins the finals event title.
The Top 35 bull riders in the world are competing in six rounds of competition. The scores from the first five rounds determine the Final 15 who go into the final Round 6 to be televised live by NBC on Sunday.
The world finals field includes six PBR world champions: Silvano Alves, Guilherme Marchi (2008), Renato Nunes (2010), Kody Lostroh (2009), Mike Lee (2004) and Chris Shivers. Round 3 begins at 6 p.m. today and Round 4 at 6 p.m. Saturday. Round 5 and the Built Ford Tough championship round kick off at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
Be sure to check back for our continuing daily reports and photo galleries.
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.
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