Highlighted by the Sixth Annual Ross Coleman Invitational, the Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Division travels this week to California, Colorado, Kansas and Oregon.
Hosted by veteran rider Ross Coleman, the TPD event at the Molalla Buckeroo Grounds features some of the top riders from the elite Built Ford Tough Series as well as Flint Rasmussen, who is the exclusive entertainer of the PBR. The event raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and has been honored as the Oregon Festival and Events Association Sporting Event of the Year. Bull riding begins at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the gate. Tickets are available at www.rosscoleman.com or by telephone at (503) 759-2855.
The TPD 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 TPD gives riders the opportunity to compete in PBR-sanctioned events while earning money to qualify for the BFTS, which is comprised of the Top 40 bull riders in the world. Every five events on the BFTS, riders (based on points) who have slipped below the Top 30 are dropped from the BFTS and the Top 5 riders (based on money earned) from the TPD are allowed to move into the BFTS.
TPD action begins Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Goodland, Kan. with the West Plains Chute-Out at the Sherman County Fairgrounds. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 10 years old and are available at http://goodlandcal.net/tickets/PBR.
Thursday has the TPD visiting the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Rifle, Colo. at 7 p.m. and the Fiesta Stock Horse Show & Rodeo at the Earl Warren Showground in Santa Barbara, Calif. at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the only pro bull riding event in Santa Barbara County are available at www.SBFiestaRodeo.com or by telephone at (800) 681-0747 and (805) 687-0747. The action continues in California on Saturday at 8 p.m. when the TPD visits the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
The PBR will surpass $100 million in prize money when the BFTS visits Nashville on Aug. 14-15 for the Jack Daniels Invitational at the Bridgestone Arena. Bull riding begins at 7:50 p.m. on Aug. 14 and at 2 p.m. on Aug. 15. Tickets begin at $10 and can be purchased at www.Ticketmaster.com or by telephone at (800) 732-1727.
The BFTS is having the deepest title race in history, and there have been 16 different winners through the first 22 events. There are 11 riders in the Top 20 of the BFTS standings who have won an event. The multiple-event winners for 2010 are second-ranked Austin Meier (Kinta, Okla.) with four wins, top-ranked Renato Nunes (Buritama, Sao Paulo, Brazil) with three wins and third-ranked Valdiron de Oliveira (Aparecida de Goiania, Goiás, Brazil) with two wins.
The BFTS standings lead has changed nine times and there have been six different riders at the top this season. J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) has been ranked first three different times, while Meier and Nunes have each held the top spot twice.
For more information on the Professional Bull Riders, please visit www.pbr.com or contact Jack Carnefix at (719) 242-2800 or jcarnefix@pbr.com or Sara Broun at (719) 242-2800 or sbroun@pbr.com.
Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Division Event Results:
Weatherford Battle of the Bulls
July 30-31 at Weatherford, Texas
- Justin Koon, Grapevine, Ark., 169.5 points
- McKennon Wimberley, Cool, Texas, 87.5 points
- (tie) Cord McCoy, Tupelo, Okla., 86.5 points
(tie) James White, Houston, 86.5 points - Mark Lopes, Sutter Creek, Calif., 86 points
Jesse Andrus/Mike Hillman Memorial
July 30-31 at Roswell, N.M.
- Scottie Knapp (Albuquerque, N.M.), 172 points
- Tony Mendes (Pueblo, Colo.), 164 points
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.
