BISMARCK, N.D. – The Kansas City Outlaws (2-0-0) reigned supreme in Bismarck, North Dakota, winning the inaugural preseason event in the PBR Team Series – a new league of eight bull riding teams from across the country competing for a national championship. The Outlaws went 2-0 in their games on Friday and Saturday night and then relied on the first-round draft pick to put up a massive 90-point qualified ride in the one-ride-per-team bonus round.
The Outlaws had defeated the Nashville Stampede (1-1-0) on Friday night and again won their five-on-five game on Saturday by defeating the Oklahoma Freedom (1-1-0) with a 173.75-87.75 victory. In the bonus round set up to determine the two-day event’s winning team among the two undefeated teams, the Outlaws and the Carolina Cowboys (2-0-0), who had defeated the Missouri Thunder (1-1-0) earlier in the evening, Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) tallied 90.75 points on Oilfield Outlaw’s Yellow Feather (Chad Berger/Oilfield Outlaw’s Bucking Bulls), while the Cowboys’ Daylon Swearingen (Piffard, New York) was bucked off.
Kasel was named the event MVP, tallying an aggregate score of 180.25 points after riding Oilfield Outlaw’s Yellow Feather (Chad Berger/Oilfield Outlaw’s Bucking Bulls) for 90.75 points and WSM’s Nasty Wishes (WSM Auctioneers / Clay Struve / Dakota Rodeo / Chad Berger) for 89.5 points on Friday night.
The Kansas City Outlaws are based at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, where the team’s inaugural Outlaw Days homestand will be held August 5-7, 2022, the second event of the 2022 PBR Team Series season. Fans can find more information about the KC Outlaws by visiting http://www.pbr.com/teams/outlaws/.
The second and final preseason event of the PBR Team Series, the PBR Tryon Chute Out, is scheduled for Tryon, North Carolina, on June 24 (8 p.m. ET) and June 25 (7 p.m. ET), available LIVE on RidePass on Pluto TV (channel 720).
Kansas City Outlaws: 173.75 points
Oklahoma Freedom: 87.75 points
On the Oklahoma Freedom’s third out of a scoreless Game 3 tonight in Bismarck, Caden Bunch (Tahlequah, Oklahoma), the 40th pick in the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, conquered WSM’S Sun Country (WSM Auctioneers/Clay Struve/Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger) with an 87.75-point ride to put the Freedom (1-1-0) on the board at the Dakota Community & Trust PBR Bull Riding Challenge and one bull ahead of the Kansas City Outlaws. But the team coached by J.W. Hart would quickly come to life. Cole Melancon (Sour Lake, Texas) countered with an 88.5-point ride aboard familiar opponent Safety Meeting (Hruby/Kainz/Clay Struve/Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger), putting the Outlaws (2-0-0) in the lead. Melancon was slammed into the dirt after the whistle and was helped off by PBR Sports Medicine. Down by less than one point with one ride to go, Kyle McDaniel (Fort Worth, Texas) was unable to convert the Freedom (1-1-0) to victory as he was bucked off in 5.34 seconds by Stretch (Heald Pro Bulls/Clay Struve/Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger). With the Outlaws’ victory already in hand, Marcus Mast (Middlebury, Indiana) notched his second qualified ride of the weekend, matched with Dennis the Menace (Clay Struve/Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger) for 85.25 points.
“Some days it’s better to be lucky than good,” said Kansas City Outlaws’ coach J.W. Hart after the second win of the weekend.