Saturday, November 08, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS WORLD FINALS: Hart remains bullish

Rider wins second round despite opening-night injury

By JEFF WOLF
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Cory Melton hangs on for an 88.5-point ride Friday night in the second round of the PBR World Finals at the Thomas & Mack Center. Cody Hart won the round with 92 points. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Cody Hart says nothing will stop him from competing in the world's biggest bull riding event.

Not even if X-rays this morning determine that he does have a partially collapsed lung.

Not even if Dr. Tandy Freeman, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in treating rodeo athletes, tells him not to.

"I'm getting on," Hart said. "I am my own man and I decide what I'm going to do."

His insistence on riding in tonight's third round of the Professional Bull Riders World Finals wasn't fueled solely by adrenalin. Hart earned $22,000 by winning Friday night's round with a 92-point ride aboard Vegas Nights in front of a near-sellout crowd of 16,200 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Hart, the 1999 PBR world champion, was one of only 12 riders to last the required eight seconds in the round.

That, after being listed as doubtful to perform Friday night. In the opening round, Hart -- a right-handed rider -- said the bull jerked to the left, twisting the rider's upper body as if "wringing out a rag."

It didn't seem to affect Hart's ride on the bull owned by Shad Smith.

"The bull jumped and kicked in the air," said Hart, 25, of Gainesville, Texas. "I just tried my heart out."

And he's "99 percent" certain he'll keep doing that.

"(The doctors') biggest concern was that it would get worse if I landed hard," Hart said. "Tonight I hit the (metal) chutes, and I feel the same as I did before I nodded. I'm getting on."

Another rider who scored was series points leader Chris Shivers.

His 89.5-point ride on Painted Desert tied for sixth in the round. That was good for 45 bonus points, giving Shivers a 665-point lead over second-place Justin McBride in the championship race, which pays a $1 million bonus.

In the Finals average standings, Cory Melton scored an 88.5 to take the lead with 278 points, which includes 20 bonus points for placing ninth in the second round. He was one of only six riders to complete his eight-second rides.

The bulls were pitching a shutout after 10 riders, until rookie Brendon Clark broke the streak with a 91.5 on Hammer.

Greg Porter and Rob Bell matched Clark's score to tie for second; each earned $10,833.

But none of them needed it more than Clark, who flew his parents from their home in Australia to see him compete in his first PBR Finals.

Clark said it was the first time Brian and Betty Clark had left Australia or flown on an airplane.

"That meant everything to me," Clark said of his performing well in front of his family. He was bucked off in the first round.

"It means everything to have my family here. If I was going to be part of the PBR Finals, then they were going to be part of it too."