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AUSTIN, Texas – At the beginning of the 2023 Camping World Team Series season, many considered the Austin Gamblers to be among the league’s favorites to contend for a title, despite seeing the squad falling short of their ultimate goal last fall in Las Vegas.
Rightfully so, with the defending PBR Teams MVP Jose Vitor Leme in their closer role, the Gamblers are indeed a threat, reminding the other seven squads Friday night with another win en route to extending their record to 10-1 on the year.
Equally praised leading into year two were the Carolina Cowboys.
Recognized as arguably one of the deepest teams around, the checkered flag squad is equipped with a few World Champions of their own in Daylon Swearingen, Cooper Davis and company.
Upping the ante this past spring in Fort Worth, Texas, by executing a pair of trades to position the organization to acquire the first and second overall selections in the 2023 PBR Teams Draft, Carolina had plenty of reasons, and riders, to shoot for the stars.
But with Swearingen and No. 1 overall selection in the draft, Sage Steele Kimzey, designated to the team’s Injured Reserve, paired with a few slow starts, they hadn’t exactly lived up to expectations heading into Gambler Days.
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Bringing a 5-5 record into Moody Center Friday night in Austin, Texas, the winless 0-3 record from last weekend was in the rearview for Jerome Davis and team.
“Last week in Nashville, we kind of put that one in a jar and put a lid on it,” Davis shared.
“But we learned from it as a team and I feel like we pulled together as a team. I think it was a learning experience, so we’re just going to keep moving forward from here.”
It wasn’t just a loss in the record books, either.
Continuing to battle adversity, and injuries, Davis elected to have Josh Frost sit out the event-opener in Austin after getting banged up a bit last weekend.
“Josh got knocked around last week,” Davis shared.
“We’re trying to save our guys and I felt like the matchups we had tonight were good. I felt like we could pull a win out of here the way we lined them up and let Josh rest.”
Opting into preserving his newly welcomed talent while expressing some confidence in youngsters Flavio Zivieri and Daniel Feitosa, coach tasked his veteran in 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis to hold the fort down while giving the kids a chance to contribute as part of the starting lineup.
Setting the bar, as all leaders do, Davis quickly got to work for Carolina, posting a sound 84.75-point journey atop Empty Glass.
Seeing both Brady Oleson and Brady Fielder make the 8 for the opposing Texas Rattlers, it was now or never for Carolina’s rookies to play hero.
Answering the call, Feitosa went the distance to keep the back-and-forth battle roaring, scored 85.75 points during the second qualified ride of his young PBR Teams career.
Eventually sealing the deal a few minutes later, Zivieri found success aboard Out of Control, and is now 2-for-3 on the season after posting a flashy 88.25-point effort last weekend.
Enough to get the Cowboys back into the win column, the unproven prospects gained some respect from both Jerome and Cooper Davis, but it was just a matter of time, skip suggested.
“Those guys, they’ve got it in them. We picked those guys for a reason. They know how to ride,” Davis said of the rookies.
“Daniel was also down in Brazil when we got him and Flavio, we knew he had it in him. That guy is really riding well for us. He stepped up to the plate in Nashville and he’s done it again here tonight, so he’s making us feel a lot better about him.
Potentially welcoming Frost back to the lineup Saturday night, the Cowboys will look to improve to 2-0 during a showdown with the Arizona Ridge Riders, who haven’t been afraid to lean on its youthful core as well, with Colten Fritzlan, Vitor Losnake, Nick Tetz making waves for themselves and their Arizona squad.
“Rolling into tomorrow night, we’re going to pull Josh back onto the roster, and that’ll stouten us up a little bit, so we’ll see how we are from there,” Davis concluded.
“We got us a win tonight and we’re going to go at it again tomorrow night and see if we can’t get another one off.”