Those few words, said by Merritt’s Ty Pozzobon for a full-page feature story on him in the Vancouver Province newspaper last Thursday, proved to be more than a little prophetic on the weekend.
The rapidly-rising bull riding star held on for 7.38 seconds of a required 8-second ride in the finals of the Cloverdale Rodeo on Monday, and just missed out on possibly the biggest pay cheque of his rodeo career. Clayton Foltyn, from Texas, was the only cowboy in the eight-man final to go the distance, and took home a cool $50,000 for his troubles.
Pozzobon earned his spot in the finals in Cloverdale thanks to two great rides in the preliminary rounds. Friday night, he tamed a bull named Nitro Circus with a score of 81.5, while Saturday afternoon the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s 2010 Rookie of the Year scored 86 on a piece of beef called Grand Slam. The two successful rides earned him $2,300.
Pozzobon was one of only three British Columbians in the star-studded Cloverdale field. He was the only homegrown in the ever-dangerous bull riding event, and the youngest male competitor in the entire rodeo.
“He definitely had everyone on their feet,” event spokesperson Laura Ballance was quoted as saying in the Province newspaper’s follow-up article on Tuesday of this week. “He represented B.C. and Canada well.”
Cloverdale wasn’t Pozzobon’s only port-of-call on the weekend. He also touched down in Luxton, on Vancouver Island, where he scored a 77, good for sixth place. He was scheduled to be at the Falkland Rodeo, too, but his bull had to be ‘turned out’ on Monday so that he could compete in the finals at Cloverdale.
Pozzobon had little time to savor or reflect on his weekend wins and losses as he was off Monday night to Vernon to attend the wedding of a fellow rodeo competitor.
“Only cowboys get married on a Tuesday,” said Pozzobon’s mum, Leanne, laughingly when asked for the whereabouts of her much-traveled son.
Pozzobon’s rise in the world of professional bull riding has been meteoric. A rookie one year ago on the Canadian pro scene, he is now ranked in the top 40 in the world, and is competing on the elite Professional Bull Riders’ Built Ford Tough Tour, a series of gigs that has him jet-setting around North America, and in his own words, “being treated like a rock star.”
Pozzobon’s whirlwind schedule sees him competing in Alberta and Oregon this coming weekend before flying to Montreal for the PBR Canada’s Rock’n’ Bulls Touring Pro stop on June 4.
