The 27-year-old came to Pueblo this weekend with the intention of going 4-for-4 and returning home to Tyler, Texas, ranked second or third. He won the U.S. Air Force Invitational and did all he could do in moving closer to his goal.
Palermo was ranked fifth in the world coming into the event, and left in third.
He was the only rider to cover all four bulls and the only one to cover in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round en route to winning his fourth Built Ford Tough Series event of the year.
Afterward, he acknowledged the injuries he's had in recent years have held him back from contending. Now that he's healthy, "I want to prove to myself I can do that."
Palermo, who has twice finished fifth in the world standings, has had four Top 10 finishes in the past four weeks. Three of those have been first or second.
Only twice this year has he gone two events in a row without making the final round. He's qualified for it in 10 of the 16 events he's competed in.
He's also the only rider in the Top 10 to have missed more than one event. Palermo missed out on the opening event in New York because of a family emergency, and missed back-to-back events after suffering broken ribs, but returned in Chicago and won for the second time.
"I feel good," he said, "and I'm going to ride one bull at a time."
Palermo said he's as healthy as he's been all year, and that feels better about himself every time he has an opportunity to talk with nine-time World Champion Ty Murray.
Murray was in Pueblo this weekend and was adamant that Palermo is the best bull rider in the world.
"One day I'm going to win the world," said Palermo, who intends to stay home during the break and continue working out with his personal trainer. "I'm going to try this year. ... I'm going to prove myself."
NEWS & NOTES
Bold choice: Once he knew he would be in the bottom half of the championship round, Dustin Elliott lobbied his fellow riders to leave Bushwacker for him. He might be the first rider to ever say, "I've never had a chance to pick him before."
Most riders pick around the No. 1 contender for World Champion Bull.
Elliott rode him for 6.57 seconds. Afterward he said a rider is usually upset with himself for not making the whistle, but in this case he did everything right, and was simply beat by a great bull. Bushwacker was marked 47 points to beat out I'm a Gangster for high-marked bull of the event. Gangster was marked 46.25 points.
This was the first event in which the owners of the high-marked bull were awarded a commemorative set of spurs along with a vest and a ton of feed.
Unfortunate distraction: Over the past few weeks, Valdiron de Oliveira has seen his once seemingly insurmountable lead atop the world standings dwindle to just 386 points. He's made just one championship round in the past four weeks, and twice in that time he's gone 0-for-the-weekend, including the two days in Pueblo.
What even his closest friends didn't know until last weekend was that he had been competing with a heavy heart after his father underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Oliveira, who had been planning to spend much of the break in Brazil competing at several of the Brahma Super Bull events, said he's going home sooner than expected, and will focus only on caring for his ailing father, who was hospitalized last week because of complications.
The No. 1 rider in the world admitted that he has not been focused on riding his bulls and winning the way he had earlier in the season when he won three BFTS events. Still, at the time of the break, the leader in the standings has gone on to win the world title the past four years.
Father knows best: Saturday morning, Ryan McConnel admitted that he nearly cried while talking to his father, "because I miss him so much."
Last week, Douglas McConnel , who is in his fourth year of suffering from the West Nile virus, underwent hip replacement surgery in Albuquerque, N.M., and was hoping to make the trip from Farmington, N.M., to Pueblo, but wasn't released from a rehab facility in time. Instead, the two talked by phone, and father gave son some words of advice: "Quit thinking so much."
McConnel, who is ranked 10th in the world, has bucked off at 7 seconds or more half a dozen times this year. McConnel said, "I need to finish." The elder McConnel also told his son to "just dance," which is exactly what he did in Round 3 when he covered Little Snake for 88.25 points to finish second in the round.
Injury updates: According to an email from Dr. Tandy Freeman , " Travis Briscoe sustained a fracture dislocation of his right ankle when he thrown from his bull in the championship round in Pueblo. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He will require surgery and will be out for at least 6 weeks."
Colby Yates won the third round with an 89.25-point effort on Iron Horse, which was enough to earn the final spot in the championship round. However, he opted out because of a neck injury sustained when he landed on his head during the dismount.
Yates said he had fractured his neck in the past, and that Freeman advised him not to compete. He will undergo further observation later this week. Freeman told him he would "be OK as long as I don't do anything stupid. ... And I don't really have anything stupid planned for this week."
He was replaced in the final round by J.B. Mauney .
Australian rider David Kennedy missed the second day of competition because of a right shoulder (free arm) dislocation sustained during the first round. Freeman and his staff were unable get the shoulder back into place, and Kennedy was transported to a local hospital. He was a spectator for Saturday's final two rounds.
By a finger: Last week, Sean Willingham sprained the little finger on his right riding hand in the opening round of the event in Duluth, Ga. "It's a bad sprain," he said, "about the worst you can get." In fact, he's been told it could take up to six months to fully heal.
The first time he got on afterward, he taped the small finger and ring finger together, and lost his rope almost as quickly as he left the chute. This week he said he had a better grip on his rope without taping the two fingers together. He went 1-for-2 in Pueblo, but said he felt better holding on with four fingers than he did with three.
After bucking off Pure Smoke in 3.8 seconds, he said he "just got beat by a good bull" and that it had nothing to do with the injury.
Duty calls: For the second straight year, Pueblo police officer Brandi Halvorsen sang the National Anthem on the opening night of her hometown PBR event. This year was less eventful than last, when she found herself in a foot pursuit after a routine traffic stop on her way to the Colorado State Fair Events Center. Looking back, Halvorsen laughed when remembering that she had called for backup once she caught the fleeing suspect, so that she could get to the venue on time. "I was out of breath when I got here," she recalled.
-by Keith Ryan Cartwright
Behind the chutes: Pueblo
Source: http://www.goteamsgo.com/forum/rodeo/148652-behind-the-chutes-pueblo.html
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