The last month has been productive for the Express Sports Agency bull riders, specifically Austin Meier, Travis Briscoe and Valdiron de Oliviera.

Beginning in Tampa in the last two days of January, Austin Meier has been as consistent as any rider on tour. He started a streak that would see him ride nine of ten. His streak started in Tampa and propelled him to a tie for fifth at the event. That included a round win in the second round aboard Circle T's Outta da Blue and a second in the first round aboard Flashpoint.

Meier continued his hot riding in Winston-Salem the next week. He covered each of his first two bulls, finishing as high as second in Round 2 on Skyhawk Cut-a-Rug. Entering the championship round in the lead, he needed at least 87 points on the bull Lone Star to preserve the event win. Meier did two better, scoring an 89.75 to keep the event win. The event win was his first in over four years since 2006 in Chicago.

He wasn't done yet. At the Express Classic, he covered his first two bulls of the event and that was good enough to get himself to the championship round. Although he didn't cover his final two bulls, Meier finished ninth in the event. His consistent riding moved him to fourth in the world standings.

Travis Briscoe has been a feast-or-famine rider over the last two weeks. After a seventh place finish in Tampa, he went two straight weeks with just one covered ride in each week. He was waiting for the big lights and the big stage in Dallas. Briscoe, the #9 seed in the tournament got off to a hot start, posting the highest score in each of the first two rounds. That included 88.75 on Paycheck and an 89 SmackDown. He advanced into the semi-finals by staying on Black Pearl longer than Zack Brown could stay on Crosswired. In the semi-finals, he advanced staying on Voodoo Child longer than 2008 PBR World Champion Guilherme Marchi.

In the finals, he was matched against fellow Express Sports Agency bull rider Valdiron de Oliviera. Each rider would try their hand at riding Code Blue. Travis went first, but went down just short of the four-second mark. Valdiron would stay on longer, earning the title. Briscoe would up finishing second and won over $60,000.

Valdiron de Oliviera started this four-week sequence not as consistent as he would have liked. The champion in Baltimore had just one covered ride in the two events before Oklahoma City. The Express Classic proved to be his location for getting things going the right way.

He covered two of his first three bulls on the weekend to secure a spot in the championship round. In that round, he drafted Boyd/Floyd's Spitfire. Spitfire was both good and bad to Valdiron. He was good because he scored a 92.25 and earned the championship round win. Bad for him because he injured his shoulder on the dismount.

Would his inured shoulder be an issue for the upcoming Iron Cowboy Invitational in Dallas the next weekend? De Oliviera had a week to recover and even had a bye in the first round of the event. He looked strong covering covering Little Mr. T for 88.25 in advancing to the next round. His score was the second highest of the round.

De Oliviera's Round 3 bull was as tough as they come. Teague Bucking Bulls Bones provided a challenge for de Oliviera, but he and his injured shoulder were up to the task, scoring 89.5, the highest score in the round. That moved de Oliviera into the semi-finals and a match up with Big Tex. Although he didn't cover his bull, he was able to stay on longer than McKennon Wimberly and moved to the Finals where he would face Travis Briscoe and 2009 Bull of the Year Code Blue.

Injured shoulder and all, Valdiron was able to stay on Code Blue for just under five seconds to capture the Iron Cowboy Title. De Oliviera pocketed $260,000 and moved to third in the world after that event.

He wasn't done yet. At the last event for the month, the Enterpirse Rent-a-Car Invitational in St. Louis, he rode three of his four bulls, only falling off of Spitfire in the championship round. He wound up finishing fifth in the event, but earned enough points to move to the #1 ranking on the BFTS tour.

Express Sports Agency riders now occupy three of the top four spots on the BFTS tour. After some time on the east coast, the BFTS tour slowly moves west. March 5 - 7, the tour stops in Kansas City, followed by March 13 - 14 in Glendale, Ariz.

For a complete look at the upcoming events for the Express Sports Agency bull riders, follow these links:

PBR Website


Express Sports Agency Riders