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PBR

Triplett wins round in Billings

The Daily Inter Lake

BILLINGS — Matt Triplett took a chance and it paid off on Saturday night in Billings.

The Columbia Falls bull rider qualified a score on his second round draw bull, riding Buffalo Jump for 77.50 points, but opted to take a re-ride opportunity for a chance to move up the leaderboard. Triplett was awarded a re-ride on Friday night as well, before being quickly bucked off for no score in the first round.

Triplett drew a familiar bull for his re-ride, getting atop Red Sails In The Sunset and riding for a round-best 88.25 points. Triplett rod Red Sails last Saturday for 87.25 points on the way to an event win in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“I think he bucked a little harder tonight,” Triplett said in a post-fight interview on PBR Live.

Montana’s other bull rider, Volborg’s Jess Lockwood, closed the night one bull later with 83.50 points on Too Smooth to qualify his first ride of the weekend.

The round win earned Triplett 100 event points and $3,580 and moved the 25-year-old up to seventh in the event standings entering the final day.

Coverage of today’s final rounds begins at 1 p.m. online at live.pbr.com and at 2 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.