Vieira leads in San Antonio after first day

SAN ANTONIO - On the final ride of the night, Fabiano Vieira posted the highest score with 90 points on Delco (Jeff Robinson Bucking Bulls) to take the lead on Friday after the first day of action in the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series Bass Pro Shops Chute Out presented by Cooper Tires at the AT&T Center.

Round 3 and the Built Ford Tough Championship Round begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets begin at $10 and are on sale at the AT&T Center box office, www.Ticketmaster.com, and by telephone at (800) 745-3000.

Vieira also finished first in Round 1 with 88.25 points on Bad Moon (Circle T Ranch & Rodeo), and has 178.25 points. 2004 PBR World Champion Mike Lee is in second place with 175.5 points, and Austin Meier is in third place with 170.75 points. Vieira, Lee, and Meier were the only riders to ride two bulls.

2009 PBR World Champion Kody Lostroh is in fourth place with 87.5 points, and defending PBR World Champion Silvano Alves is in fifth place with 87.25 points.

The championship round on Saturday will feature the top two bucking bulls in the world, Asteroid and Bushwacker. It will be the 10th time in the last two seasons that Asteroid and Bushwacker, who are the top two contenders for PBR World Champion Bull, have competed head-to-head. The two were in Tulsa last weekend, and finished with the highest bull scores of the weekend. Defending World Champion Bull Bushwacker won the Pabst Blue Ribbon Bull Award for being the high-marked bull of the event, earning 46.25 points out of a possible 50 points. Asteroid, who was the runner-up for World Champion Bull a year ago, had the second-highest score with 46 points. Bushwacker has bucked off 43 riders in a row, while Asteroid has a streak of 16 consecutive buckoffs, including 11 in 2012.

Saturday will be the last chance for fans in Texas to watch two-time PBR World Champion Chris Shivers, who announced in February that he would retire at the end of the season. The 33-year-old won the PBR World Championship in 2000 and 2003, and ranks third in career earnings with more than $3.9 million.

Competing for more than $125,000 in prize money, each of the Top 35 riders in the world will ride in Round 3 on Saturday. Following Round 3, the riders with the 10 highest cumulative scores will advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round where each will compete with one more bull. The overall event winner will be the rider with the highest combined score from all four rounds, earning $30,000 for first place.

The BFTS is having one of the tightest title races in history with less than 1,200 points separating the Top 3 riders in the world. Valdiron de Oliveira has been the world's top-ranked rider following each of the past seven BFTS events, and 11 times after the first 19 events. Oliveira, who has not been ranked lower than second all season, leads second-ranked L.J. Jenkins by 959.50 points, and Alves, who is ranked third, by 1,155 points.

The first 20 events of the season have produced 17 different winners with the only multiple winners being J.B. Mauney (three wins) and Alves (two wins). Mauney posted his three victories in the first 12 events of the season, before breaking his hand.

Bass Pro Shops at 17907 W IH-10 in San Antonio will host PBR Fun Day on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Family-friendly activities include bull roping, and a mechanical bull. PBR entertainer extraordinaire Flint Rasmussen will host his "Outside The Barrel" show from 11-11:45 a.m. PBR riders will sign autographs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. PBR in-arena announcer and experienced angler Clint Adkins will host a fishing seminar at 1 p.m., while Brandon Bates, an announcer for the PBR who is also the host and executive producer of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's "Team Elk" on the Outdoor Channel, will host a hunting seminar at 1:30 p.m.

NBC Sports Network will broadcast Round 3 and the Built Ford Tough Championship Round live in HD at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, with an encore airing at 12:30 a.m. ET on Sunday. Veteran broadcaster Craig Hummer will provide the play-by-play. Color commentary will be provided by two-time PBR World Champion Justin McBride, and dirt-level interviews will be handled by Leah Garcia.

San Antonio is the 21st stop of the 2012 BFTS season, which opened in January with capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York. The BFTS will make 28 stops in 23 states before the Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas on Oct. 24-28, 2012. The World Finals are where the PBR World Champion will be crowned and awarded the coveted championship gold buckle and a $1 million bonus. The richest bull riding event on the planet, the World Finals has a total purse of more than $2 million.

The BFTS is televised every week on CBS, CBS Sports Network, NBC, NBC Sports Network, and YouTube. BFTS telecasts are produced for the PBR under a multi-year agreement with David Neal Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company led by 34-time Emmy® Award winner and Peabody Award winner David Neal, who serves as executive producer. 

The BFTS is having one of the tightest title races in history with less than 1,200 points separating the Top 3 riders in the world.

Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series
Bass Pro Shops Chute Out presented by Cooper Tires
AT&T Center in San Antonio
Friday's Results
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Total Points)

1. Fabiano Vieira, 88.25-90-178.25 points.
2. Mike Lee, 86.5-89-175.50 points.
3. Austin Meier, 83.25-87.5-170.75 points.
4. Kody Lostroh, 87.5-0-87.50 points.
5. Silvano Alves, 87.25-0-87.25 points.
6. Aaron Roy, 86.5-0-86.50 points.
7. Cord McCoy, 86-0-86.00 points.
L.J. Jenkins, 86-dnq-86.00 points.
9. Chance Roberts, 85.5-0-85.50 points.
Cody Johnson, 85.5-dnq-85.50 points.
11. Luke Snyder, 82.5-dnq-82.50 points.
12. Bart Miller, 79-dnq-79.00 points.
Ben Jones, 0-dnq-0 points.
Billy Robinson, 0-dnq-0 points.
Caleb Sanderson, 0-dnq-0 points.
Chad Besplug, 0-dnq-0 points.
Chase Outlaw, 0-dnq-0 points.
Chris Shivers, 0-dnq-0 points.
Cody Ford, 0-dnq-0 points.
Cody Nance, 0-dnq-0 points.
Guilherme Marchi, 0-dnq-0 points.
Harve Stewart, 0-dnq-0 points.
J. B. Mauney, 0-dnq-0 points.
Jordan Hupp, 0-dnq-0 points.
Justin Koon, 0-dnq-0 points.
Kyle Lozier, 0-dnq-0 points.
Lachlan Richardson, 0-dnq-0 points.
Marco Eguchi, 0-dnq-0 points.
Matt Triplett, 0-dnq-0 points.
Renato Nunes, 0-dnq-0 points.
Robson Palermo, 0-dnq-0 points.
Ryan Dirteater, 0-dnq-0 points.
Shane Proctor, 0-dnq-0 points.
Stormy Wing, 0-dnq-0 points.
Ty Pozzobon, 0-dnq-0 points.
Valdiron Oliveira, 0-dnq-0 points.

Follow Jack Carnefix on Twitter @JackCarnefix.