The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) elite Built Ford Tough Series bucks into Wichita for the first time ever at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 7 and at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 8 at the INTRUST Bank Arena.

Wichita joins a select list of 30 cities chosen to host the nationally televised BFTS. More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, VERSUS and on a host of foreign networks across the globe, ranking the PBR among the most prolific sports on air.

For as little as $10, fans will experience adrenaline-fueled action as the Top 40 bull riders in the world try to ride the toughest animal athletes on the planet, bathed in pyrotechnics and pumped by rock and roll. Tickets are on sale now at the INTRUST Bank Arena box office, online at www.selectaseat.com or by telephone at 316-755-SEAT (7328).

The Wichita Invitational will feature the best bull riders in the world, including Skeeter Kingsolver of McLouth, Kan., who is ranked 10th in the BFTS. The PBR is having the deepest title race in history with less than 1,000 points separating the Top 5. Six different riders have been atop the standings already in 2010.

There are less than 460 points between top-ranked Renato Nunes (Buritama, SP, Brazil) and second-ranked Austin Meier (Kinta, Okla.). Meier is the only three-time event winner this season, including a victory at Kansas City, Mo., on Mar. 5-7, while Nunes won in Fresno, Calif.

The field in Wichita will also include third-ranked Travis Briscoe (Edgewood, N.M.), fourth-ranked Ryan McConnel (Colgate, Okla.), fifth-ranked J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) and eighth-ranked Mike Lee (Decatur, Texas). The 2004 PBR World Champion Lee won last weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, while Briscoe won the event in Billings, Mont., two weeks ago. Briscoe, Lee, McConnel and Meier all represented the United States at the PBR World Cup.

In addition to Nunes, members of the 2010 PBR World Cup champion Brazil competing will be Robson Palermo (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil), Guilherme Marchi (Leme, SP, Brazil) and rookie sensation Silvano Alves (Pilar do Sul, SP, Brazil). The 2008 PBR World Champion Marchi finished first in the overall average to earn the Most Valuable Player award at the World Cup, while Nunes and Palermo finished second and third, respectively. Alves was fifth at the World Cup and began his BFTS career by riding eight bulls in a row and winning his first event, the Nampa (Idaho) Invitational.

The Wichita Invitational will feature two rounds of the best bull riders matched against the top bulls in the PBR. The scores from the two rides will be combined, and the Top 15 riders will advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round following intermission on Saturday, where they will compete with one more bull. The rider with the highest total score after the championship round will be declared the winner.

The Bad Boy Mowers fan zone, including the PBR merchandise truck and mechanical bulls, will be at the Wichita Tractor Company, 1750 South West Street from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 8. Meier, McConnel and Kingsolver will be signing autographs from 12-1:30 p.m. while Briscoe, Shane Proctor and Flint Rasmussen, the official barrel man of the PBR, will be signing from 1:30-3 p.m.

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 Jack Carnefix at (719) 242 2800 or jcarnefix@pbrnow.com or Sara Broun at (719) 242 2800 or sbroun@pbrnow.com.

Join PBR on Facebook www.facebook.com/TeamPBR and Twitter http://twitter.com/teamPBR.

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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.