For a bull rider who has been on the sidelines for the past two months with a serious hip injury, Chase Outlaw made quite an auspicious return to the toughest sport on dirt.

The diminutive cowboy from Hamburg, Arkansas was the only one to cover both his bulls in winning his second consecutive Ty Pozzobon Invitational in Merritt on Saturday, in front of a capacity crowd of over 3,000.

Sitting in fifth place after the long go, Outlaw rode Vern Franklin’s bull Team Paige to the day’s highest score, a 91, in the short go to claim first place and prize money totaling over $6,000.

Ironically, Team Paige was the lone bull to get the better of Outlaw at last year’s inaugural Ty Pozzobon Invitational.

The always-entertaining Outlaw was understandably delighted with his win.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” he said in an interview with Ted Stovin of Everything Cowboy. “To not get on a bull for two months and come back and crack ’em like this — it fires me up pretty good. Gets that hair standing up on the back of my neck.”

Outlaw was tickled pink about winning again in Merritt at his good buddy Ty’s very own bull riding event.

“To be the only person to have this belt buckle. You never know, maybe next year, I’ll get a third one. Maybe start me a collage of Pozzobon belt buckles,” he joked.

Outlaw’s two great rides (he scored 85.5 on Devil’s Double in the long go) highlighted a great night of action that saw an outstanding lineup of bulls definitely get the better of a field of 30 world-class cowboys from four countries vying for the $15,000-plus in prize money.

Only nine of the 30 bull riders made it to the eight-second horn in the long go. Leading the way was Harve Stewart from Stephenville, Texas who rode Franklin Rodeo’s Super Too to 89 points, the second highest score of the night.

The big screen above the action may have had his name spelled wrong, but there was no mistaking Chase Outlaw’s 91-point ride on the Vern Franklin bull called Team Paige. The Hamburg, Arkansas cowboy was the only rider to successfully cover two bulls. It earned him his second successive title at the Ty Pozzobon Invitational PBR bull riding event. Over 3,000 people packed the Nicola Valley Rodeo Grounds to watch 30 of the best bull riders in the world from four different countries. Ian Webster/Herald

The big screen above the action may have had his name spelled wrong, but there was no mistaking Chase Outlaw’s 91-point ride on the Vern Franklin bull called Team Paige. The Hamburg, Arkansas cowboy was the only rider to successfully cover two bulls. It earned him his second successive title at the Ty Pozzobon Invitational PBR bull riding event. Over 3,000 people packed the Nicola Valley Rodeo Grounds to watch 30 of the best bull riders in the world from four different countries. Ian Webster/Herald

In second-place after the long go was Kiwi Adam Jamison with an 87 on Wild Hogg’s 2 Dark to C. Rounding out the top three placings after the preliminary round were Aussie Josh Birks and Tyler Pankewitz from Ponoka, Alberta, tied with 86.5 points apiece.

Hometown favourite Ty Pozzobon had bad luck at his own Invitational. His first bull, Going Steady, fouled him right at the gate, necessitating a re-ride. Things didn’t go much better on his second bull, as Pozzobon was tossed with about two seconds to go in his ride.

The bulls continued to rule in the championship round as Outlaw was the lone rider to go the full eight seconds and register a score — thus becoming the champion for the second year in a row.

“Looks like I came back at just right the time,” said Outlaw, who currently sits 29th in the world on the Built Ford Tough circuit.

It was a bit of a miracle that this year’s Ty Pozzobon Invitational even took place as a torrential downpour on Tuesday night rendered the local rodeo arena unusable.

“It was just complete mud, a swamp,” said Luke Pozzobon, Ty’s dad. “I talked to my buddy, Grant Fosbery, and we very quickly made a decision about what had to be done and set to work. I started making phone calls and very quickly things came together.”

Ninety per cent of the existing water-logged sand in the arena was pushed off to the sides, and 14 dump-truck loads of fresh sand were hauled in to take its place.

“We had a scraper and loaders and trucks goin’ at it,” said Pozzobon. “In about six hours, we had it pretty much done.”

The second Ty Pozzobon Invitational ended on an equally exciting note, as one of the bulls made a dash for freedom and found his way into the hay fields of the former Collett Ranch.

“He jumped the pen behind the announcer’s booth to start with,” said Pozzobon, “and actually landed on the crane truck while they were lifting the big screen out. He jumped off that, ran up the hill and broke through the eight-foot wire-mesh fence.

“We had a couple of riders go after him, but they weren’t able to corral him, so finally we took a horse trailer down to the ranch and kind of worked him into it. That bull is known for that. He’s a bit of an escape artist.”

Principal organizer of the first two highly-successful Ty Pozzobon Invitationals — Ty’s mom, Leanne — said neither event would have been possible had it not been for the tremendous help of her dedicated committee, and the incredible support of the community at large — the organizations, businesses and individuals who helped out in so many ways.

“We so appreciate everything that we received from everyone,” she said.

The memorable day came to a fitting end with a sold-out after-party, hosted by the Merritt Centennials hockey club, at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.