After three rounds of knock-out style competition, Cliff Richardson (Gresford, NSW) was crowned the Last Cowboy Standing at the PBR Australia Cup Series event in front of a capacity crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Cliff 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.
His win comes 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 .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 number one and number two 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 number one and number three 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 Australian’s – Lane Mellers third, Nathan Burtenshaw fourth, and rounding out the top five was Mitch Paton.
Young rookie Lane Mellers made his mark in the competition, going the distance on Game On – a bull that had never had a qualified ride. Coincidentally Game On is owned by Lane’s Uncle and Aunt Brian and Kerry King.
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,” Young said.
“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.”
