OKLAHOMA CITY – 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis was stuck on the sidelines during the first half of the PBR Team Series season, recovering from left shoulder surgery and wondering what Jekyll and Hyde Carolina Cowboys team would show up that weekend.
There would be times when Carolina would look unstoppable, and the next night, the team would go 0-for-5.
Carolina, though, started to heat up with four straight wins just before Davis made his season debut last weekend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The team has now won seven of its last eight games to take over sole possession of first place in the league.
The Cowboys (11-7, Freedom Fest 1-0) are red hot and got a huge win Friday night at Freedom Fest in Oklahoma City by taking down the Arizona Ridge Riders (10-7, Freedom Fest 0-1) 177.25-86.75 in a matchup between two of the top three teams in the PBR.
“When you have stiff competition, you’ve got to step up to the plate,” Davis said. “You don’t expect those guys to falter, and we’ve got to expect the same out of ourselves.”
Davis answered the bell for his team with an 89.5-point ride on Malaki to put Carolina in the lead after Alisson de Souza had ridden Nature Boy for 86.75 points to briefly put Arizona on top to begin the game.
Davis is a perfect 4-for-4 since returning to competition from his two left shoulder surgeries this winter.
“That bull right there, there was a little bit more to him than anything I got on last week,” said Davis. “He wasn’t very smooth, but I decided to feel him out and see what he was doing and ride him jump for jump.”
Carolina has won all three of its matchups against Arizona this season and is also 2-1 against No. 2 Austin (10-7).
They have a one-game lead in the standings heading into their matchup Saturday night against the Kansas City Outlaws (7-10, Freedom Fest 0-1).
“When we’re playing certain teams, we go in there overconfident sometimes, and their record’s not very good when we play them, and you have to treat every game like it’s the same, like you’re the underdog fighting to get to the top,” Davis said.
Carolina coach Jerome Davis knew it was only a matter of time before the Cowboys started to heat up and win consistently.
“We knew it was coming, and I felt like if we could keep everybody pretty healthy and bring Cooper on, the sparks would fly, and they have,” Davis said. “The confidence I have in the team, the confidence when I match our guys with the bulls – I’m very blessed to have the team we have. It’s not hard to do what I’m doing. If you put guys like this knocking them down on the bulls, I know how to do it and know where their confidence level is. I talk to them. We communicate well. This team has a bond, our resilience, everybody. There’s not negativity there. It’s just good camaraderie. Everybody is feeding off of each other and freaking having a good time. That’s what it’s about.”
The bull power was stout all night long, with only 11 qualified rides in 40 outs, but one of those rides came from Davis’s teammate Wingson Henrique da Silva.
Davis has been high on Silva all year long, even going as far as saying he thinks Silva could be a PBR World Champion contender in the future. Davis was extremely proud to see Silva get a ride aboard Juice (87.75 points) to help push Carolina to victory because he knows how hard Silva has been working to increase his 27.27% riding percentage.
“You know that he’s got it in him, and whenever a guy goes and struggles, especially when he first gets here, it can kind of be a deal-breaker,” Davis said. “And he did the right thing, went to some Challengers and stayed on the grind at home, and it’s showing.”
Davis has made sure to remind Silva that he too struggled when he first debuted on the PBR’s elite level, bucking off 16 straight bulls.
“We text back and forth on the translator app,” Davis said. “I told him I think he’s going to be a World Champion. He’s got the talent, the work ethic, and the only thing separating him and Jose (Vitor Leme) is experience. I bucked off 16 in a row the first time I got here, so I know what it feels like.
“I believe in him. He’s going to be great.”
SATURDAY NIGHT GAME SCHEDULE
Kansas City Outlaws (7-10, Freedom Fest 0-1) @ Carolina Cowboys (11-6, Freedom Fest 1-0)
Arizona Ridge Riders (10-7, Freedom Fest 0-1) @ Missouri Thunder (9-8, Freedom Fest 1-0)
Nashville Stampede (4-13, Freedom Fest 0-1) @ Austin Gamblers (10-7, Freedom Fest 0-1)
Texas Rattlers (6-11, Freedom Fest 1-0) @ Oklahoma Freedom (9-8, Freedom Fest 1-0)
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media