Sport
29 November, 2021
PBR title eludes Mareeba’s Shephard
A PBR Australia Championship title still eludes Mareeba local Kurt Shephard after he fell short in the finals over the weekend in Townsville.
Despite not taking home the top spot after the finals, Kurt is confident and pleased with his overall performance throughout the season.
Shephard rounded out the top five on the event leaderboard on Friday night, riding I'm a Thug for 85.25 points in round one, but was no match for Cattle King Boogers Beach in round two, bested in 3.44 seconds
Heading into Saturday night’s competition, Shephard was third in the race for the Australian Championship, trailing number one Aaron Kleier by 241.83 points.
However, despite his performance, when the final bull bucked on Saturday night, Kurt Shephard was no match for Victorian local, Sam Woodall, who took home the title of Monster Energy PBR Australia Grand Finals event winner after producing a 90-point score.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said.
“It feels good to be staying on the ones I am getting on, that’s for sure.”
Kurt has been one of the nation’s most consistent riders and has finished the season inside the top 10 five times in his career, including a career-best No. 3 finish last year.
Adding to the impressive nature of his consistency, Shephard has recorded a Top-10 finish in all but one of his PBR events this year and started the bid for the grand finals in the number three position.
The weekend’s events also saw number one Aaron Kleier make history as he took out his fourth consecutive PBR Australia Championship at the Monster Energy PBR Australia Grand Finals.
The Clermont local has now tied with David Kennedy for most Australian national titles won by one rider and has made league history by being the first to do so consecutively, an achievement never attained before by any rider in PBR’s international divisions.
