The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) announced that the top three bull riders in the Navajo Nation – Guytin Tsosie (Burnham, N.M.), Josh Snyder (Church Rock, N.M.) and Spud Jones (Tohatchi, N.M.) – have been invited to compete in the Built Ford Tough Series Sandia Resort & Casino presents the Ty Murray Invitational on Mar. 26-28 at the world-famous “Pit”.
Jones competed in the event a year ago and won $1,430 after riding his first two bulls and qualifying for the Built Ford Tough Championship Round where he rode Voodoo Child (Robinson/Beutler/McNeely) for 4.3 seconds before being bucked off.
Tickets cost $15-80 and are available at UNM ticket outlets and Albertson’s stores in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe, as well as by telephone at (877) 664-8661, or online at www.unmtickets.com. Event dates are Friday, March 26, at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 27, at 6 p.m. and Sunday, March 28, at 2 p.m.
In addition to the Navajo Nation riders, fans will be able to watch local superstars Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, N.M.) and L.J. Jenkins (Texico, N.M.), who won the Glendale Invitational in Arizona on Mar. 13-14 after becoming only the second person ever to successfully ride Voodoo Child, scoring 94 points in the Built Ford Tough Championship Round. The field is also expected to include the top-ranked rider in the world J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) and the third-ranked rider Austin Meier (Kinta, Okla.).
The Sandia Resort & Casino presents the Ty Murray Invitational will consist of four rounds of competition, with the first three rounds featuring the world’s best bull riders matched against the PBR’s top bulls. The scores from the three rides will be combined, and the Top 15 riders will advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round following intermission on Sunday afternoon, where they will compete with one more bull. In the end, the rider with the highest total scores on four bulls will be declared the winner.
The PBR is the premiere bull riding organization in the world with the best riders from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Canada. One of the fastest-growing sports in the country, PBR events air weekly on VERSUS, NBC, CBS, and FOX. For more information on the Professional Bull Riders, please visit www.pbr.com or contact Sara Broun at (719) 242 2800 or sbroun@pbrnow.com or Jack Carnefix at (719) 242 2800 or jcarnefix@pbrnow.com.
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About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, VERSUS and a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 400 hours of primetime programming annually, the PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over one and one half million live event attendees each year with its multi-tiered event structure which includes the marquee Built Ford Tough Series and Touring Pro Division. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., and has over 1,200 bull riders compete in more than 300 PBR-sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.
For more on the PBR, please visit www.pbr.com, www.teampbr.com, www.pbr.tv, www.myspace.com/teampbr, http://twitter.com/teampbr, www.facebook.com/TeamPBR, or www.pbr.com/worldfinals.