Eldred’s three 90 point plus rides win him back to back buckles on the Road to Cheyenne

HOBBS, N.M. - Jan. 24, 2016 - PRLog -- The only sure thing about luck is that it will change, but Brennon Eldred’s did not when he rode Black Betty for the fourth time in his career to win the Hobbs Tuff Hedeman Championship Bull Riding, at the Lea County Events Center for the second consecutive year.

“Winning here tonight is just awesome, even sweeter than the first time, there is just something about this place, the feeling here, the crowd here is insane, they want us to ride just as much as we do...that helps us more than people think,” said Eldred after accepting his $10,000 check, a pair of Fenoglio logo boots, an American Hat Co felt cowboy hat, and a custom HyO silver trophy buckle.

Eldred was one of two cowboys to ride three bulls and finished with 274.50 total points, but it was his 93 point rematch ride on Mike Rawson’s 846 Black Betty that paid off and sent the crowd home with a smile after the bull turned in a spectacular performance leaping higher and higher with each buck.

“It was my fourth time on Betty including riding him last year in Cheyenne and I didn’t pick him last week because I worried my luck would change on him, and in the final four I got bucked off of Painkiller, so this week I went back to him and was able to make the whistle and get the win,” continued the Sulphur, Oklahoma cowboy.

15 bull riders, including three rookies, heard the whistle in round one with Eldred taking an early lead with 90.5 points on Silent 7’s 110 What A Burger, a bull that came from his hometown.

“I saw him every morning when I would go ride my bike, but never drew him till tonight. He is really a great bull right there to the right, he started stepping ahead and tried to buck me off, just a great bull and I survived.”

Making his CBR debut, NFR qualifier Kody DeShon of Helena, Mont., was on Eldred’s heels with a 90 point ride on Elite Bucking Bulls 059 Boomer. Rookie Kobie Radley and the reigning CBR World Champion Cody Teel clocked in third and fourth in the round at 89 points followed by 2-time PRCA World Champion, Sage Kimzey with an 88.5.  Corey Maier and Houston rookie Demond Haynes turned in a pair of 88’s just ahead of NFR qualifiers Aaron Pass and Chandler Bownds with 87.5 points apiece. Vastbinder, Jonathan Brown and Jeffrey Ramagos all earned 87’s to advance in the three round tournament style competition of the Road to Cheyenne events.

With the bulls catching a higher gear in the 12 man semifinal round, Vastbinder and Eldred tied the round win with 91 points on 050 Gold Buckle and JQH’s Wicked Ways. Eldred, who took a page out of Kimzey’s book, slid his rope back and hustled to survive what he called 25T Wicked Ways bag of tricks. 6 additional riders would score but Teel’s 89 and Corey Maier’s 89.5 would be the magic numbers to move them to the final four Shoot Out round in the three round tournament style competition.

Maier would come down first on Rawson’s Sleeping Deacon followed by Eli Vastbinder on Yellow Hair, who lost the tiebreaker to Cody Teel for positioning in the final round.  Teel selected an unknown bull from Jeff Harris, Ur Lucky Day, and was the first qualified ride in the Shoot Out round putting all the pressure on Eldred to beat his 89 points.

Eldred, completing his third 90 point plus ride of the night, hit the jackpot on his good friend Black Betty and scored 93 points to win the “winner take all” shoot out round and be declared the Hobbs Tuff Hedeman CBR Champion for the second time in two years.

Mike White and Elite Bucking Bulls took home the CBR Bull Team Challenge trophy from Hobbs with a combination score of 287.67, clearing the field of twelve teams by 3 points. The legendary bull rider from DeKalb, Texas, now on the other side of the chutes, said two of his bulls were at the top of their game to secure the win.

“Our first bull, White lightening, lost a little gas towards the end, but the second bull, Boomer, was really good for Kody DeShon and he rode him for 90 points, then as luck would have it I drew Deshon again with Karaoke and he just really fired tonight, that bull was definitely at the top of his game when he bucked of Kody at 5 seconds.”

The CBR World Standings remained the same after tonight’s performance with Cody Rostockyj still in the driver’s seat followed by World Champions Sage Kimzey and Cody Teel, but Brennon Eldred moved into the No. 4 position with Chandler Bownds now at No. 5.

The televised national CBR tour continues next week just a little further west as the riders and bulls compete in Rio Rancho, New Mexico for the eighth stop on the 2016 On the Road to Cheyenne tour where each stop is worth valuable points for both the bulls and the riders in their quest to qualify for the CBR World Finals held in July at Cheyenne Frontiers Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Round by Round scoring available on CBRBULL.COM

Shoot Out Round Results

1, Brennon Eldred 93 points on Black Betty (Rawson), $10, 862.50. 2, Cody Teel, 89 on Ur Lucky Day (Harris) 8,612.50.

Average Results

1, Eldred, 274.5 points on 3. 2, C. Teel, 267 on 3. 3, Eli Vastbinder, 178 on 2. 4, Corey Maier 177.5 on 2. 5, Demond Haynes 174 on 2.

Bull Team Results

1, Elite Bucking Bulls, 287.67, $20,000. 2, CPR/Cude, 284.70, $12,000. 3, Winston/Melton, 282.32, $8,000. 4, Harris/Rafter B/Rockin C, 282, $5,000.