Gresford bull riding brothers Cliff and Lachlan Richardson have fallen just short of their quest to win national titles on opposite sides of the world on the weekend.
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Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they were unable to bring home the coveted champion buckle but they certainly finished among the top contenders in the competition both here in Australia and in Canada.
Lachlan Richardson has been riding in Canada this year achieving a career high 19 Canadian events in 2018.
He had a chance at the weekend to become the first Australian born competitor to win the PBR Canadian championship.
Lachlan headed into the finals atop the PBR Canada standings, ahead of No. 2 Cody Coverchuk.
However, Coverchuk went onto to claim his first Canadian title with Richardson taking out third place – to become one the best placed Australians ever in the competition.
Coverchuk, Richardson and Brock Radford went into a championship decider.
Unfortunately, in the championship round, a 2.11-second buckoff by Richardson narrowed the race to a two-man showdown between Coverchuk and Radford.
Much to the delight of his home province crowd in Saskatoon, Coverchuk got the money and coveted belt-buckle.
Lachlan, who is No. 10 in the PBR Australia standings, could have returned home to compete at the 2018 PBR Australia Finals, but opted to chase the PBR Canada championship instead.
“It is easier for me to be up there than to be in Australia to win an Australian title. That is the next best one at the moment,” Lachlan said.
“I have always done well up there. They are just cool bulls. I like the people. It is like home. I just hang out with good friends and ride bulls. There is a bunch of them in a row when there isn’t many on in the states.”
Back home in Townsville for the Australian finals, his bother Cliff finished second, a career-best year-end finish, behind Queenslander Aaron Kleier with Singleton’s Cody Heffernan coming fourth.
Despite having the best scoring ride at Townsville, Cliff couldn’t make up the necessary ground on No.1 ranked Australian Kleier.