HARTS ARE ON FIRE AT 2002 BUD LIGHT CUP WORLD FINALS
Mike Lee narrows gap in 2002 PBR Rookie of the Year race

LAS VEGAS (October 24, 2002) - A brotherly battle highlighted opening-night action at the Professional Bull Riders' 2002 Bud Light Cup World Finals, which tonight kicked off its four-day, $1.5 million competition.

Cody Hart, the 1999 PBR Bud Light Cup World Champion, brought the crowd at Las Vegas' Thomas and Mack Center to its feet as move by move he matched Teague and Davis' bull Black Jack. The ride was worth 91.5 points and a Round One, $20,000 victory for the 24-year-old Texas bull rider. Hart's older brother, J.W. Hart, was right behind his brother on the leader board. The older Hart, 27, topped Terry Walls' bull Red Alert for 90 points to tie for second place with fellow Texan Cory McFadden. Each rider earned $12,500 for his efforts.

"We (Cody and J.W. Hart) were 1-2 tonight," said Cody Hart, who has battled two broken ankles sustained in 2002 regular season. "I'm just glad I came out on top, but it's just one round, one bull. There's still four more to go and anything can happen. When you have the 45 best bulls in the world and the 45 best riders, anything can happen."

Hart's Round One win marked his first ever Bud Light Cup World Finals go-round victory, yet he has qualified for every World Finals since 1996. Hart, en route to the his 1999 world title, set the record for the most regular-season event titles won in a single season when he earned six Bud Light Cup titles. He also holds the record for the most 90-point rides made in a single season with 16 rides made in 1999.

The Bud Light Cup World Finals, presented by Las Vegas and hosted by Caesars Palace, is the culminating event of the 29-city Bud Light Cup Series. Thursday's event opened with a welcome from bull riding legend Ty Murray followed by a spectacular multi-media opening ceremony. The event's four bullfighters repelled from the Thomas and Mack Center's rafters into a firework-filled arena. As the ceremony concluded, Hart and fellow bull riders got set for a 45-man showdown that featured riders from the United States, Brazil, Canada and Australia. While the Texas trio of Hart, Hart and McFadden finished on top, at least one bull rider from each country finished among the night's Top 10 finishers.

Texan Mike Lee, the event's 10th-place finisher, gained ground in the race for the 2002 Rookie of the Year title. Lee of Paradise, Texas, was the only rookie contender to make a qualified ride in Round One. He now trails Rookie of the Year leader Dan Henricks by a mere 29 points, a deficit he can overcome in the next three days of Bud Light Cup World Finals competition.

OTHER NOTES FROM THE PBR BUD LIGHT CUP WORLD FINALS:

• Brazilian Ednei Caminhas notched a fifth-place finish with an 88-point ride on Guidry Rodeo's Smokeless Bandit. Caminhas, 27, already has secured the year's prestigious Bud Light Cup World Champion title by earning enough regular-season Bud Light Cup Points to make it statistically impossible for the competition to catch him in Las Vegas. The maximum Bud Light Cup Points a rider can earn during World Finals competition is 1,500. Caminhas' winning efforts Oct. 11-12 in Columbus, Ohio, earned him enough Bud Light Cup points to create a 1,783.5-point gap between him and Ross Coleman, the No. 2-ranked rider in the Bud Light Cup Points standings prior to tonight's competition. A photo of Caminhas in front of Las Vegas' historic welcome sign can be viewed and downloaded by media at http://pbrnow.com/Media/index.htm.
  
  
• A handful of PBR riders was battered and bruised, but no major injuries were sustained during Round One competition. Chad Castillo suffered a lacerated chin, lip and broken tooth, but was treated by the HealthSouth Sportsmedicine Team and is probable for Friday night's competition, according to Dr. Tandy Freeman. Brent Vincent is riding with a broken left ankle sustained three weeks ago, while Billy Robinson is riding with a broken scapula (shoulder blade).
  
  
• The 2002 PBR Bull of the Year, Berger Bucking Bulls' Little Yellow Jacket, was among the top pen of bulls featured in Round One competition. PBR veteran Cody Custer was matched with Little Yellow Jacket, but was slammed to the ground early in the ride.