BISMARCK, N.D. – Colten Fritzlan has spent the last two weeks scouring social media, YouTube and RidePass on Pluto TV trying to find video clips from past Chad Berger PBR events in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Fritzlan had never competed at Berger’s annual event before, but he could remember through the years all the marquee moments Berger has organized. In particular, Fritzlan made sure to watch back all eight 90-point rides from Berger’s team challenge event three years ago, and he saw just how valuable team chemistry could be for a group of bull riders.
The 2020 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo event winner got his first taste of a PBR team competition this weekend at the Dakota Community Bank & Trust PBR Team Series Preseason Event, and the first-round draft pick is already sensing how tight knit of a group the Missouri Thunder will be.
The Thunder (3-for-5) defeated the Arizona Ridge Riders on Friday night 261-83.75 on Friday night live on RidePass on Pluto TV.
“Shoot, we are big brothers now,” Fritzlan said. “It goes to show how close we are becoming. This makes us win and it gives us more confidence. They got us on the ground, and they got lucky that time, but hey that is part of it. You never lose. You either win or you learn.”
Winning and learning are the two biggest messages Thunder coaches Ross Coleman and Luke Snyder are stressing to their riders this weekend in Bismarck and next weekend at the final preseason event in Tryon, North Carolina.
The PBR Team Series Competition is not only new for fans, but also for the riders and the coaches battling it out on the dirt.
The idea of five riders competing for a team against another team of five riders is a pretty easy concept to understand. The team with the best aggregate score in a game will be your game winner. The event winner is the team with the best record at the end of the weekend.
However, the nuances of a team gelling, helping each other on the back of the bucking chutes, traveling together as a unit, creating a daily schedule and various other things outside of the bucking chutes is a learning process.
The opportunity to educate themselves on PBR Teams is something Coleman wanted his top riders to experience even if the preseason does not count toward final PBR Team Series Championship standings, and the majority of his starting lineup for the season-opener in Cheyenne, Wyoming (July 25-26), is competing in Bismarck.
It is a different approach compared to some other teams who have sent their younger, and less experienced riders, to Bismarck.
“We want to win every time we nod our head, regardless, if this is just the preseason,” Coleman said. “The preseason is good. I am so glad we are here with most of my top guys. We want to get a feel for this new game. It is good to be riding and getting into our top game before the regular season.”
“I love everything about these guys. They are really good athletes, but more important thery are really good cowboys and good people.”
The Thunder got rides from Clayton Sellars (89 points on Melanie’s Dream), Fritzlan (86.5 points on Stretch) and Leandro Machado (85.5 points on Black Snake).
Missouri will take on the Carolina Cowboys (1-0) Saturday night in Bismarck in a battle of 1-0 teams. The game winner will be in the driver’s seat at winning the overall event.
Saturday, June 18 (8:30 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV)
Arizona Ridge Riders (0-1) vs. Texas Rattlers (0-1)
Carolina Cowboys (1-0) vs. Missouri Thunder (1-0)
Kansas City Outlaws (1-0) vs. Oklahoma Freedom (1-0)
Austin Gamblers (0-1) vs. Nashville Stampede (0-1)
The overall event-winning team in Bismarck will be the team with the best overall win-loss record. In the event of a tie in the event standings, a team’s bonus points from the Bonus Round will be the first tiebreaker. If there is still a tie, the second tiebreaker will be the team’s total aggregate score from its two games. The next and final tiebreaker will be combined buckoff time from a team’s games.
Based on Saturday’s game schedule, the winners of the Carolina vs. Missouri and Kansas City vs. Oklahoma games will compete for the Bismarck overall event title in the Bonus Round, as the winners of each game will be 2-0.
Fritzlan is competing at his first event since spraining his right AC joint at the Unleash The Beast regular-season finale on May 1.
It was a close call for Fritzlan because if he needed surgery, it likely would have led to him falling out of the first round of the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter.
Instead, Fritzlan is healthy and ready to lead the Thunder to victory, and help them be a force at their host event – Thunder Days – on Sept. 23-25.
“My shoulder feels good,” Fritzlan concluded. “I went to Dr. Tandy (Freeman) last week and he gave me the green light. This was my first bull back in a month and a half. I thought it was going to be a little more sore than it was, but when you are riding them right nothing works.
“We will keep punching them in the face and collecting tickets.”
STARTING LINEUPS FOR MISSOURI VS. CAROLINA
Missouri Thunder:
Leandro Machado (Nova Esperanca, Brazil) vs. Off Campus
Clayton Sellars (Fruitland Park, Florida) vs. Gambini
Andrew Alvidrez (Seminole, Texas) vs. WSM’s Taco Cat
Jesse Petri (Dublin, Texas) vs. Lil Hott
Callum Miller (Warwick, Queensland, Australia) vs. Space Force
Carolina Cowboys:
Daylon Swearingen (Piffard, New York) vs. Bubba G
Junior Patrik Souza (Sonora, Brazil) vs. Dagger
Lane Nobles (West, Texas) vs. Skeeter Peter
Wingson Henrique da Silva (Navirai, Brazil) vs. WSM’s Unstoppable
Mason Taylor (Maypearl, Texas) vs. Surprise Package
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media