I'm glad I was wrong about this.
Two weeks ago, I expressed doubts that Kody Lostroh would win the Professional Bull Riders 2009 world title because I was not so sure his health would hold up during the World Finals. During the latter part the season, he appeared to have been slowed by elbow and shoulder injuries.
Throughout most of the year, I said Lostroh would clinch the 2009 Built Ford Tough Series title. But when the World Finals neared, I had my doubts because he was having some difficulties during the final stretch of the regular season because of nagging injuries.
"The problem with Lostroh is he just hasn't really been running full throttle during the past month," I wrote two weeks ago. "He just keeps hitting the ground in a way that aggravates his left shoulder, which he uses to hold on."
Well, Lostroh is riding like he has a new left elbow (his riding arm) and a mended shoulder. He's stayed on his first five bulls at the World Finals and continues to lead the world title race.
After winning Round Five on Friday night, Lostroh is on top of the world with 13610.75 points, 732.50 ahead of second-ranked J.B. Mauney.
"The doubters have been doubting me all year," Lostroh said. "They've been telling me how weak I am and how those other guys are going to beat me. But I tell them how strong God is and how He's going to get me through it and show them something cool."
Lostroh said his winning is a result of exercising Christian faith.
"It's all God who has got me through," Lostroh said. "It's His deal."
Lostroh exudes confidence. So, if I were picking the next World Champion today, I would have to switch back to Lostroh.
Two weeks ago, I said Guilherme Marchi would win the world title. I was very, very wrong.
The defending World Champion has bucked off his first five bulls, a collapse that's shocked the bull riding world. Going into tonight's sixth round, he's no longer a world title contender.
It's a huge surprise because Marchi had gotten on a big roll at the end of the season. It appeared he finally had shifted out of cruise control and was on pace to take the lead. Marchi entered the Las Vegas championships ranked second in the world title race, only 294.5 behind Lostroh.
"Now, all Marchi has to do is become really, really aggressive for a couple of weekends and he's the first cowboy snare back-to-back PBR world titles," I said in an Oct. 24 blog .
But that hasn't happened. It's become a two-man race between Lostroh and Mauney.
"If you're a fan of bull riding, (Lostroh and Mauney) are the two guys to look at right now," said seven time world all-around champion Ty Murray. "They're handling every aspect of the game perfectly. They are handling every thought process of how you approach the competition and how you approach going after a World Championship.
"It's like a match of who's going to blink first and it doesn't look like either one of them is going to blink."
Like most studious followers of the sport, Murray first predicted it would be a three-man race between Marchi, Lostroh and Mauney at the beginning of the World Finals.
"Coming into this, I said it would not surprise me if any of the three would win," Murray said. "But Guilerme got here and he got in a slump. We know he's talented because there's never been anybody who has been as consistent. But it's not happening here for him for whatever that reason is. But with Kody and J.B., we're watching successful bull riders at their best."
It's the most exciting race that I've watched in 16 years of monitoring the World Finals. Bull riding fans have never witnessed two riders going head-to-head with such intensity from start to finish of an eight-round World Finals.
Even if one of the two riders bucks off tonight during Round 6, the race still is going to be decided on the last day of the World Finals. But I still have to give Lostroh the slight edge.
However, I have to say Mauney so far has overcome his problem of inconsistency. He's stayed on every bull and leads the average race.
He's thriving on making better choices in the draft. For example, after winning the first round (which was done by random draw), Mauney chose the strong spinning bull, Troubadour in the draft. He had first pick and could have chosen any bull in the pen for Round Two.
But he didn't go with a bull like Code Blue, who has yet to be ridden. He chose a very tough bull with a smoother, more predictable bucking pattern. Even though Troubadour is very hard to ride, he's cowboy friendly because he's a bull that's much easier to get in rhythm with during the ride. Plus, he's a bull that Mauney had conquered before. He was familiar territory.
In the past, Mauney might have picked a bull such as Code Blue. He used to go after the bull that everyone was talking about, and would sometimes end up getting bucked off. Now, he's both riding the bulls that he is pitted against in the random draw and then using his top picks in the draft to his advantage.
But in spite of Mauney's success, I'm betting the ranch on Lostroh to win the world.
Can Lostroh go to the 2009 winner's circle after being ranked No. 1 for most of the season? Will Mauney continue to be more consistent and win his first world title?
What do you think? Where am I right? Where am I wrong?
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