YORKTON - With the PBR Canada National Finals set for Nov. 11-12 in Edmonton, Saskatchewan’s Cody Coverchuk will be looking to make history.
The Meadow Lake cowboy is the two-time PBR Canada champion, winning the last two finals, and hopes to become the first rider to win three straight titles.
As it stands only Yellow Grass, Sask. cowboy Aaron Roy has won three titles.
Coverchuk certainly appears to be headed to Edmonton on a roll, after being the only rider to get scores on all four bulls he rode at the Touring Pro Division’s Mazergroup PBR held in Yorkton as part of the Grain Millers Harvest Showdown over the weekend.
In Round 1, Coverchuk was unrivaled, topping the field when he conquered Pure Feeling (Vold Rodeo) for 84.5 points.
Coverchuk then took on Stutter Step (Vold Rodeo) in Round 2. Continuing his momentum, he made the eight second whistle for 84 points to remain atop the leader board.
Saturday night Coverchuk remained as hot as a branding iron topping two more bulls including Farva in round three and Patches O’Houlihan in the fourth round of the event finishing with an aggregate score of 333.5 easily topping the Yorkton field.
Coverchuk told Yorkton This Week it felt good to find some momentum, especially since “a week before in Saskatoon I fell off both my bulls.”
So can a bull rider carry momentum from one event to the next?
“Right now I want to say yes,” he said, adding he certainly hopes “I can take the momentum going into Edmonton.”
But bull riding is fickle, he added. One weekend you might cover four bulls and be on the top of things, “and the next day fall off after one jump,” he said.
“It’s the nature of the sport.”
So Coverchuk will enjoy the Yorkton performance for a day, or two, then focus on Edmonton, where he will take his usual straight forward approach.
“I just try and ride each and every bull,” he said, adding he doesn’t get too concerned on which bull he draws, noting you have to ride whatever they put under you.
When it comes to the upcoming finals it won’t matter which bull a rider draws as every one taken to the finals is going to be a critter a rider can score well on, if they make the whistle, added Coverchuk.
“They’ll bring the best 50 bulls in Canada . . . The bull power will be second to none,” he said.
For the most part the Yorkton event attracted young riders, many just learning what it’s like to ride in the PBR, meaning Coverchuk and Roy were the veterans at the event.
“When I went in the dressing room there were a bunch of kids I didn’t really know,” said Coverchuk, who added they recognized him, and they had questions aplenty.
“I try to give the kids as much advice as I can,” he said, adding he still remembers “being a wide-eyed 18-year-old,” who was excited to get any help he could from a veteran rider.
But, in the days ahead it will be all work toward that third title, which would be unprecedented.
Coverchuk tries to play it cool in the interview.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” he said, but there is an edge of nervous excitement in the voice.
But, he did add Yorkton was a confidence builder so close to the big weekend, especially noting “three of the bulls went away from my hand this weekend,” and he still rode them.
“Obviously I want to do that in Edmonton, but I’ll just take it one bull at a time.”
Coverchuk said bulls don’t always follow a script, so you have to ride in the moment.
“You can’t make too many game plans. A bull can do something really different than they did before,” he said.
So Coverchuk has a straight forward approach for Edmonton.
“They guys there are going to be the very best in Canada so I just want to roll in there and let it all hang out on every single bull,” he said.
