The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Touring Pro Division action continues this weekend in Colorado, Florida, Idaho and North Dakota.

The PBR Touring Pro Division is the minor-league tour of the PBR, where both established veterans and newcomers to the professional ranks compete against some of the most famous bucking bulls. The tour gives riders the opportunity to compete in PBR-sanctioned events while earning money to qualify for the elite Built Ford Tough Series, which is comprised of the Top 40 bull riders in the world. Every five events on the BFTS, the bottom five riders (based on points) are dropped from the BFTS and the Top 5 riders (based on money earned) from the Touring Pro Division are allowed to move onto the BFTS.

The El Pinal Rodeo Grounds in Evergreen, Colo., will host an event at 7 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased from the Evergreen Rodeo Association or by telephone at (303) 697-2264. More than half of the entrants are from Colorado, including Reuben Yutzy of Alamosa, who finished first at the Touring Pro event in Perryton, Texas, on June 5, and Wild Man Wagner of Craig.

Bismarck, N.D. hosts the PBR for the 10th year in a row with the Dakota Community Bank event at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the Bismarck Civic Center. General admission tickets are $17.50 and reserved seats are $27 and $47. Tickets are on sale now at the Bismarck Civic Center box office, online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by telephone at (800) 745-3000.

Among the riders scheduled to compete are Robson Palermo (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil), who is currently ranked fifth in the elite Built Ford Tough Series standings, and Cord McCoy (Tupelo, Okla.), who teamed with his brother, Jet, to finish second on the most recent season of The Amazing Race. The event will bring some of the most renowned bulls to Bismarck, including 2009 PBR World Champion Code Blue (Walton & Wagoner/Berger & Struve), Big Tex (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) and Yellow Jacket Jr. (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Julie Rosen). The in-arena play-by-play and commentary will be provided by BFTS announcers Brandon Bates and Clint Adkins, who will be joined by Flint Rasmussen, the exclusive entertainer of the PBR, and Dickies DuraBullfighters Frank Newsom and Jesse Byrne.

The PBR heads south in Florida to Fort Myers for the PBR Enterprise Rent-A-Car Touring Pro Division presented by Seminole Casino Immokalee on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Germain Arena. Tickets begin at $10 and can be purchased at the Germain Arena box office, at FYE stores in Ft. Myers and Naples, by telephone at (800) 745-3000 and online at www.Ticketmaster.com.

The projected field has 20 riders from Florida, including Caleb Sanderson (Kissimmee, Fla.), who is ranked 25th in the elite BFTS standings, as well as 2002 PBR World Champion Ednei Caminhas (Presidente Alves, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and 2009 PBR Rookie of the Year Cody Nance (Paris, Tenn.), who finished first at the event in Ft. Pierce, Fla., last weekend. Fans in Idaho can catch exciting bull riding action on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Twin Falls County Fairgrounds when D&B Supply presents the Dickies Northwest PBR Touring Pro Division. Riders scheduled to compete include current BFTS riders Wiley Petersen (Fort Hall, Idaho), Ned Cross (Midland, Ore.) and Pistol Robinson (Burleson, Texas). Tickets are on sale now at D&B Supply in Twin Falls and the Twin Falls County Fair Office and by telephone at (208) 326-4398.

In action last weekend, Nance won the St. Lucie Battery & Cooper Tire PBR Touring Pro Division with 263.5 points and was the only competitor to ride all three bulls. The 22-year-old won the championship round with 90.5 points and the first round with 87.5 points, while sharing the top spot in the second round with 85.5 points. Danny Drown (Johnstown, Ohio) finished second with 171.5 points and Alex Jenks was third with 171 points.

Brent Atwood (Decatur, Texas) had 173 points to finish first at Elk City, Okla. on Saturday. Chance Roberts (Jewett, Ill.) was second with 169 points and Justin Granger (Tuba City, Ariz.) was third with 89 points, which was the best score in Round 1.

The winner of the 12th Annual Brent Thurman Memorial on Saturday in Bastrop, Texas was Robson Aragao (Aracaju, Sergipe Brazil) with 164 points. Ben Jones (Sunset, Texas) finished second and won Round 2 with 90.5 points while Palermo had 88.5 points to finish third in the overall and first in Round 1.

The elite BFTS is having the deepest title race in history and there have been 15 different winners through the first 20 events. The BFTS is currently on its summer break and will return on July 16–18 for the Tulsa (Okla.) Invitational Presented by Cooper Tires and brought to you locally by Troy-Bilt and Blue-Emu. There are 12 riders in the Top 20 of the BFTS standings who have won an event. The multiple-event winners for 2010 are Austin Meier with four wins and Renato Nunes and Valdiron de Oliveira with two wins apiece.

The BFTS standings lead has changed nine times and there have been six different riders at the top in the first half of the season. J.B. Mauney has been ranked first three different times while Austin Meier and Renato Nunes have each held the top spot twice.

Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Event Results:

St. Lucie Battery & Cooper Tire PBR Touring Pro Division (Ft. Pierce, Fla.)
June 11–12, 2010

1. Cody Nance (Paris, Tenn.), 263.5 points
2. Danny Drown (Johnstown, Ohio), 171.5 points
3. Alex Jenks, 171 points

Elk City PBR Touring Pro Division (Elk City, Okla.)
June 12, 2010

1. Brent Atwood (Decatur, Texas), 173 points
2. Chance Roberts (Jewett, Ill.), 169 points
3. Justin Granger (Tuba City, Ariz.), 89 points

12th Annual Brent Thurman Memorial (Bastrop, Texas)
June 12, 2010

1. Robson Aragao (Aracaju, Sergipe Brazil), 164 points
2. Ben Jones (Sunset, Texas), 90.5 points
3. Robson Palermo (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil), 88.5 points

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.

About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on VERSUS, NBC, CBS and on television networks around the world. With approximately 400 hours of primetime programming annually, the PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air. The PBR attracts nearly 2 million live event attendees each year to its marquee Built Ford Tough Series and the PBR Touring Pro Division. More than 1,200 PBR bull riders compete every year in approximately 300 PBR-sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. The PBR was nominated as 2010 Sports League of the Year at the Sports Business Journal Sports Business Awards alongside the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

For more on the PBR, please visit www.pbr.com, www.teampbr.com, www.pbr.tv, www.myspace.com/teampbr, http://twitter.com/teampbr, or www.pbr.com/worldfinals.