TUCSON, Ariz. – 2018 PBR Rookie of the Year Keyshawn Whitehorse still has not forgotten the taste in his mouth following the inaugural PBR Team Series Championship three weeks ago.
Whitehorse and his Arizona Ridge Riders teammates lost to the Nashville Stampede 264-182.75 in the championship game inside T-Mobile Arena.
“I was pissed,” said Whitehorse, who knew if he rode Whiplash that could have been the difference. “They told us not to worry about it and that our team did good, and yeah we did, but I don’t like losing and I don’t like losing like that, especially. It’s like, you’re about to have a taste of the cake and they take it away or they ate it all before you got to it. You bask in the loss, you bask in the trials like that, take it in and use that for energy, fuel and focus.”
Whitehorse channeled that passion at this weekend’s Unleash The Beast season-opener, going 3-for-3 (264 points) at the Monster Energy Invitational in Tucson, Arizona, for a third-place finish behind event winner Brady Oleson (3-for-3, 268.5) and runner-up Thiago Salgado (3-for-3, 266.75).
Whitehorse received a huge ovation from the Arizona fanbase, as did fellow Arizona Ridge Riders Vitor Losnake and Eduardo Aparecido, as the Grand Canyon State continues to embrace its first-ever professional bull riding team.
Losnake went 2-for-3 for an eighth-place finish.
“It’s huge having myself, Vitor and Eduardo here to be able to ride and perform, so hopefully we gain some spectators and grow a bigger fanbase,” Whitehorse said. “I think a lot of these people will go to Glendale later on this year for the Team Series, so hopefully they recognize us and have even more of a reason to come and cheer louder.”
Whitehorse capped his emphatic showing at Tucson Arena with a 91-point ride on Kid Knapper in the championship round Sunday after riding Witch Trial for 87.75 points in Round 1 and Big Pokey in Round 2 for 85.25 points.
The 25-year-old will head into next weekend’s PBR St. Louis Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, ranked third in the Unleash The Beast standings and 62.5 points behind Oleson.
Whitehorse was one of the surprising riders who went undrafted during the PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, in May before ultimately signing with Arizona as a free agent in July.
The five-time PBR World Finals qualifier went 5-for-18 for Arizona during the PBR Team Series, including a 90-point ride against Cold Creek in the postseason.
“Main thing is that Colby gave me the confidence even more so, because he is all about energy and stuff like that and he believes in me a lot and what not,” Whitehorse said. “On top of that, Paulo is just always telling you to trust yourself, so that’s kind of the basis of it. There’s no fundamental training or anything like that. When you make it pro, you have a lot of the fundamentals down, it’s just all about how consistent you can be in your hand and keeping that collective.
“I love Arizona. It just feels like a family with them. I feel like the only difference on another team where I have some of my buddies I grew up with, but other than that, I like the coaches, I like the staff, I love everything about it. I mean … we look good in black.”
Arizona is also close to home for Whitehorse.
Whitehorse made the seven-hour drive to this weekend’s season-opener with his dad, Norbert, from McCracken Spring, Utah, and he considers bull ridings in Arizona kind of like home games. Arizona also has a large Native American population, and they always embrace Whitehorse, who is from the Navajo Nation.
“Absolutely, on the reservation and Native Americans in general all around the country love bull riding and love the Western sports,” Whitehorse concluded. “I’m just happy that I don’t live too far from here, so the fanbase comes from all parts around here. This fanbase is ecstatic, they’re really into it. They know a good bull ride when they see one and they dang sure let you know that they’re proud of you.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media