Power Rankings: February Briscoe leads the way; Kingsolver and Koschel quietly creep up

PUEBLO, Colo. (February 5, 2010) - The world standings represent how well each individual bull rider has performed over the course of an entire Built Ford Tough Series.

But it’s not always an accurate indicator of how well someone is riding right now, at the present time, which is where the new unofficial Power Rankings come into play.

There is no tried and true formula in figuring it out. It’s a subjective look at the top riders in the world. So too are the rankings of NCAA football, basketball and every other college sport—and that includes the coaches poll, the AP poll, the BCS and every other poll or power ranking available online or in print.

The power rankings for the PBR will updated the first Friday of every month. The number in parenthesis indicates each rider’s previous power ranking from the month before.

1. Travis Briscoe (Unranked): Right now he’s covering 75 percent of his bulls, he’s ranked No. 1 in the world standings and he’s the only rider in the Top 10 who has four consecutive Top 10 finishes at the past four Built Ford Tough events. We’ve seen this from him in years past only to watch him fall in the standings, which why some refer to him as Mr. January. Is this the year he’s crowned Mr. October? Or even February, March, April or May for that matter?

2. J.B. Mauney (3): In spite of a bum knee, he celebrated his birthday by becoming the first rider to cover Code Blue. A week later he won the Cooper Tires matchup against Kody Lostroh and took the event title in Sacramento, Calif. He’s notched three Top 10 finishes since the last power rankings came out.

3. Shane Proctor (Unranked): If you don’t know who Shane Proctor is by now, or why he’s among the Top 5 in the power rankings, then you haven’t been paying attention. Four Top 10 finishes in the past month – with only one little stumble in Anaheim, Calif. – have elevated him to fourth in the world standings. He won in New York City and nearly did it again last week in Tampa, Fla. The name is Proctor, Shane Proctor.

4. Valdiron de Oliveira (4): There’s always one name you can figure will be mentioned in the power rankings: Oliveira. It hasn’t been a spectacular month for the Brazilian – he won in Baltimore and finished third in Anaheim – but it’s the fact that, like Briscoe, he’s riding at 75 percent and simply gets the job done week-in and week-out.

5. Skeeter Kingsolver (Unranked): It’s been said that something happened to Skeeter while he was in New York City. Something happened all right—he’s qualified for the past four consecutive short rounds, finished second in Anaheim, and has planted himself in the Top 10 in the world. So what if he didn’t win Rookie of the Year? He has a gold buckle in mind. The 20-year-old has ridden seven of his past 10 bulls.

Falling out: It’s been a tough month for Guilherme Marchi (wrist), Kody Lostroh (elbow), Robson Palermo (missed the bull draft for Round 2 in NYC) and Ryan McConnel (hasn’t made an appearance in the short go since Baltimore).

Ones to watch: Josh Koschel (shhh—he’s quietly ranked fifth in the world standings, but no one seems to have figured that out yet) and Wiley Petersen (credited Adriano Moraes for his win in Tampa).

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright

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