REGINA —The PBR Canada Cup series held its inaugural event in Regina on Wednesday, and the fans in attendance truly got a world championship performance.
That came from Daylon Swearingen, the current PBR world champion out of Piffard, New York, who wound up on top at the end of the night at the PBR Regina Classic at Brandt Centre.
Still, Swearingen's ride to the top in Regina could hardly be described as a smooth one.
Things got off to a slow start in Round One, as Swearingen was unable to leave the gate with Look At This Dude, and was awarded a re-ride. Swearingen then rode the bull Mogely to 85.5 points. That score was good enough to put him into the championship round.
In the championship round, Swearingen had seemingly an almost perfect ride on Happy Camper for 89.5 points. But there were some tense moments as the ride was reviewed by officials. Finally officials gave the thumbs up, signifying the ride was official.
That gave Swearingen the lead with 175 points in the event over Jared Parsonage of Maple Creek, who stood second with 170.5 points following a strong ride on Langham Kid for 87.5 points. But there was still one rider to go.
Australian bull rider Callum Miller from Warwick, Queensland had 88 points going into the final round. A similar performance would have been enough for the Australian to win the event.
Unfortunately for him, his ride, Finning Lil Shorty, got the better of him and he was bucked off after 5.74 seconds, failing to make it to the eight seconds mark, giving Swearingen the win.
Miller had to settle for a fifth-place finish at 88 points. Tied for third behind Swearingen and Parsonage was Logan Biever and Brock Redford, who tied at 164 points. Those four were the only riders to stay on both their bulls for the full eight seconds.
Swearingen's win catapulted him to 77 points and sixth in the overall PBR Canada standings. Parsonage picks up 58 event points.
As for the leaders in the cup standings coming into Regina, it was not a good night. Lonnie West of Cadogan, Alta. remains first overall, but was tossed off his bull a little over three seconds into the first round. Blake Smith remains behind him in second, making no ground after he was bucked off twice in the Regina event.
Next up on the PBR Canada Cup is a stop in Kelowna. B.C. on July 20.
