OKLAHOMA CITY – The Arizona Ridge Riders are looking like the Little Engine That Could.
Though No. 6 in the PBR Camping World Team Series standings with a 5-9 record, they have just one less qualified ride (16) than the No. 2 Oklahoma Freedom (17).
And at Freedom Fest at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, they upset the No. 1 Austin Gamblers for the second time this season, 174.25-84.
Both of the Gamblers’ two losses this season, in fact, have come at the hand of the Ridge Riders.
“I don’t know if there’s a rhyme or reason to it,” Chase Dougherty said. “I’m really good friends with everybody on the Gamblers, and there’s definitely a rivalry because it’s pretty apparent that everybody thinks they’re the best team in the league. But they’re just bull riders like the rest of us. We’re kind of out to prove that they’re not.”
The Ridge Riders are here to play.
2022 PBR Canada Champion Nick Tetz opened the scoring for Arizona with 87.25 points on Outlaw. Just two riders later, Dougherty chipped in with 87 points on Show Me.
Two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme put the only points on the board for the Gamblers, riding Pearl Pistol for 84 points.
“I had a great ride,” Dougherty said. “Had a really good bull from Cooper and Scruggs. I actually knew the bull. Not super well, but my real good buddy Jesse Petri had already been on him, and he sent me the video. He rode him a couple weeks ago in Amarillo. He sent me a video, and as soon as I saw the video, I was like, oh, dead meat. He’s just a great bull, man. He’s a hard bull to mess up, and I’m glad I wasn’t the guy to mess him up.”
The qualified ride was Dougherty’s second of the 2023 PBR Teams season in seven outs. It came at an opportune time as he tries to earn his spot in the starting roster.
“It felt good,” he said. “To be honest – it’s nothing against anybody, really. It’s just our team’s been really salty all year long, and I know our record doesn’t show it, but we’ve been riding good, and it’s been really hard to make it on the starting squad. So I just haven’t gotten as many opportunities as I thought I was going to get, but we’ve got the train on the tracks now, so we should be good to go.”
It took four events for the Ridge Riders to finally notch a win this season. But once they did, it was like a switch flipped. They went 2-1 at Stampede Days in Nashville and repeated that performance at Gambler Days in Austin.
Dougherty ascribes the slow start to the slow build of team chemistry.
“Last year, we had really good chemistry by the end of the year,” he said. “All of our guys got along really well. This year, we brought in a bunch of new guys, and getting that chemistry back took a little bit of time. I think that’s what’s kind of been the slow start for us these last two years, is just figuring out that chemistry, what works for each other and building off of that.”
While the wins were slow to come for Arizona in the first half of the year, Dougherty hasn’t been frustrated or too concerned with what’s happening in the standings.
“It might be for some people, and I’m sure it is for (team manager) Colby (Yates), but man, that’s just part of the game,” Dougherty said. “You’re going to win some; you’re going to lose some. As long as we’re putting out the effort that I think we need to put out, I’m going to be more than happy with our team’s performance, whether we win or lose. And our guys, the last handful of games, have definitely been laying it on the line.”
The Ridge Riders will look to continue their momentum against the No. 3 Kansas City Outlaws (8-6, 0-1 Freedom Fest) when action in Oklahoma City continues on Saturday (8:45 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV).
The Ridge Riders finished the 2022 season in second place at the PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas, and Dougherty believes this year’s squad has the potential to go on an even stronger second-half run.
“Oh, it’s going to be similar to last year,” Dougherty said. “Last year, we had a slow start, and then we just kicked ass the rest of the year. It’s going to be very similar this year, but I feel like we’re going to finish probably a little bit stronger than we did last year.”
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
