HEYWOOD bull-rider, Sam Woodall, had a weekend to remember, taking out the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Australia Grand Finals event title on Saturday night in Townsville, Queensland.

All riders around Australia lock this event in the calendar at the start of the bull riding season and spend most of the year trying to get enough points to qualify for the event.

Out of 22 competitors for the title, Woodall was the only Victorian selected to compete and he did it in style, taking out the ultimate title.

“Yeah, it’s great to win this event, it’s a really special one as it’s probably the hardest bull riding event of the year to win … I didn’t expect to win at all,” Woodall said.

The 23-year-old flew up to Queensland in June this year and hasn’t been back since, as he has competed in different bull riding events including the prestigious PBR Battle of Origin when he represented New South Wales.

“For a bull rider, it (the PBR Australia Grand Finals) is the biggest event of the year in Australia … it’s the one everyone tries to qualify for all year round,” Woodall said.

“You qualify by accumulating points through the season by going to all different PBR events and doing good at them.

“The Battle of Origin series definitely helped solidify a few points towards the standings and I was able to keep my form fairly consistent for the rest of the season which was really good.

“(It) was pretty unreal to qualify again this year and actually be able to compete, as last year I missed it due to injury.”

The event is made up of the top 22 riders in Australia from the PBR season, they get on four bulls over two nights and then the top eight riders go back into the championship round with the eight toughest bulls in the country.

The first night presented Woodall with a few challenges and unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get off to the start he wanted, as he was thrown off on his first two rides leaving him off the leaderboard and with a lot of ground to make up.

Breaking Bad bucked him off in 4.63 seconds in the opening round, while Blinky Bill managed to shake him off in 4.96 seconds in round two.

“I had a few tough draws on the first night and didn’t capitalise on them, although I got thrown off, I knew I was still riding good and just had a bit of bad luck,” he said.

 “I was still full of confidence going into the second night even though I didn’t have the success I wanted in round one.”

The second night was a big one for the Heywood-raised bull rider, as he put on an electric performance delivering some huge results.

In a must-ride situation, Woodall rode Super Naturalfor 86.25 points which was the second best score round three.

He continued to climb the leaderboard in his very next outing, winning round four when he accounted for DragIron togain 85.75 points.

In career best form, it was onwards and upwards for Woodall, as he approached the championship round full of confidence.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool to ride all my bulls on the second day, I managed to draw two bulls I really liked in the first two rounds,” he said.

“In the championship round I had third pick and picked the 2019 Bucking Bull of the Year in his retiring trip.

“I had been wanting to get the opportunity to get on (Fully Locked and Loaded) for years, so it was a really cool moment for me, and I definitely couldn’t have planned it any better.”

Woodall rode the bull for the required eight seconds and pulled in a massive 90-point score, the first of his career.

“I expected the two guys that were after me to both ride their bulls and one of them to take out the win,” he said.

“The competition is as good as it gets in Australia, all the 22 competitors are all really talented and capable of winning any event on any given day.

“Prize money was a bit down this year due to COVID, but I got roughly $12,000 out of it.”

After close to half a year away from home, Woodall flew back to Victoria today and is set to compete in the Warrnambool Rodeo this weekend.

As for his future, he wants to keep challenging himself and after ticking off the national stage, he has the world stage on his bucket list.

“I’m definitely hoping to get overseas and have a good crack over in America and Canada,” he said.

“(I) will let the body heal up a bit and will make plans for what I do moving forward in that time.”