After three rounds of knock-out style competition, Gresford’s Cliff Richardson was crowned the Last Cowboy Standing at the PBR Australia Cup Series event in front of a capacity crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
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Richardson fought his way through three one-on-one knockout rounds of the tough competition to be the Last Cowboy Standing after an 88 point ride on Acid Rain (Robert Bunn).
Cliff’s win last night came a week after he captained the Australian team in the PBR Global Cup competition – considered the Olympics of bull riding – against teams from Brazil, America, Canada and Mexico.
The Australian team came second to bull riding powerhouse Brazil in the competition by a narrow 0.75 of a point, and Richardson took out a highest-marked ride on the Saturday night of competition.
Richardson went 3-from-3 to take out the PBR Monster Energy Tour: Last Cowboy Standing IV title, competing against some of Australia’s best bull riders including PBR Australia No.1 and No.2 Aaron Kleier and Fraser Babbington, as well as 2016 PBR Australia champion Cody Heffernan, reigning PBR Australia champion Troy Wilkinson, and Australia’s top ranked rider on the current world standings, Nathan Burtenshaw.
The international roster of competitors included three former PBR Mexico champions – Jorge Valdiviezo, Gustavo Pedrero and Francisco Morales, as well as current PBR Canada No.1 and No.3 Brock Radford and Lonnie West.
Radford was the only international to place, coming second to Richardson with an 86 point ride on Top Country Blossom, with the other top spots taken out by fellow Australians – Lane Mellers #3, Nathan Burtenshaw #4, and rounding out the top 5 was Mitch Paton.
Young rookie Lane Mellers made his mark in the competition, going the distance on Game On – a bull that until tonight had never had a qualified ride, with the Brisbane competition Game On’s final retirement ride.
Coincidentally Game On is owned by Lane’s Uncle and Aunt Brian and Kerry King.
The bull of the night top honours was a tie on 43.5 points between Sweet Pros Palooka (Dittmann) and Brandenburg’s newly crowned Take the Gamble.
The Bull Team bonus was also a tie between Queensland bull breeders the Brandenburg’s and Dittmann’s.
PBR General Manager Glen Young said Richardson pulled out all stops to win the event.
“Cliff was a standout throughout the competition, and rode consistently well in each round. We had some of Australia’s best bulls matched up against a top notch line up of riders, and the sell-out crowd really got behind the fast paced action of the Last Cowboy Standing format,” said Young.
Heading into the PBR Monster Energy Tour: Last Cowboy Standing IV event, the Australian title race was a neck-and-neck battle between Queenslander Australian Aaron Kleier and New Zealand’s Fraser Babbington.
Richardson sits at #3 on the rankings, with very little separating the top three riders leading into the PBR Monster Energy Tour Newcastle Invitational at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on August 11.
