PUEBLO, Colo. – If there’s one thing New York City is known for, it’s its diversity. People from all walks of life, all ages, all religions, all colors, share the Big Apple and make it one of the greatest cities in the world.
So New York is bound to embrace its new bull riding team, the New York Mavericks, which is currently comprised almost entirely of a band of Brazilians.
In such a multicultural location, they fit right in.
“I need to really get going on my Portuguese so I can get better at it because we have one English-speaking rider, and the rest don’t,” said Mavericks head coach Kody Lostroh with a good-natured laugh.
That one English-speaking rider is Braidy Randolph, formerly of the Texas Rattlers, who the Mavericks selected with their third pick in the expansion draft.
The rest of the roster? Vitor Losnake (formerly of the Arizona Ridge Riders), Leonardo Castro (Kansas City Outlaws), Leandro Zampollo, Ederson Santos and Romario Leite.
“That’s why we have Ednei (Caminhas), though,” Lostroh said of his assistant coach. “Ednei’s obviously a great example, a great coach, an awesome bull rider. That’s why we’re a good team.
“I feel good about the expansion draft. We got some good talent. A lot of young talent – I was kind of hoping to get an older veteran to focus everything around for that leadership. Didn’t quite get that, but regardless, I’m happy with the talent that’s in the young group of guys we’ve got here.”
After 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco – controversially left unprotected by the Nashville Stampede – was off the board in the expansion draft, New York had picks No. 2 and 3.
Its first overall selection was Losnake, who was 18-for-46 (39%) in two seasons with the Arizona Ridge Riders.
“Left-handed bull riders, good left-handed bull riders, are a little bit hard to come by these days,” Lostroh said. “So, looking into the draft, I wanted to make sure we had a good lefty right off that bat to make sure we had somebody like that. And Vitor has shown moments of absolute greatness, and I think with experience and time, he’s going to be a real contender.”
Losnake finished the 2024 Unleash The Beast season ranked No. 24 in the UTB World Championship standings, seven spots behind new teammate Leonardo Castro, who the Mavericks selected with pick No. 3.
Castro was an impressive 7-for-14 (50%) for the Kansas City Outlaws in 2023 and finished the UTB season ranked No. 17 despite competing in just 12 regular-season events, thanks to a win at the Major in Sacramento. However, he pulled out of the 2024 PBR World Finals following Eliminations due to injury.
“Leonardo Castro has been consistently making the short round at all these events,” Lostroh said. “And unfortunately, he hurt his neck, so that was kind of a bummer. There’s always good and bad at every event, it seems like.”
Lostroh got some good and bad at Eliminations with Losnake as well.
“Vitor Losnake rode Flyin Wired the other night at Cowtown, and they got him for slapping that bull, but it was a great ride,” Lostroh said. “He just made a mistake and touched him, but he was going to be 93, 94 points on that bull. That was great to see.”
Then there’s Randolph, who went 9-for-23 (39%) with Texas last season and took most of the UTB season off to heal from injury and be ready for Teams.
The second half of New York’s roster is where it gets interesting. The squad has three interesting Brazilian talents in Zampollo, Santos, and Leite.
Zampollo is 23 and got his first premier series action under his belt at the 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Ride For Redemption, going 0-for-2. At 30 years old, Leite has competed exclusively in PBR Brazil and PBR Australia. And Santos is a 36-year-old veteran who saw his first UTB action in 2024 – going 4-for-8 and placing eighth and ninth – and was leading the Velocity Global standings until he was derailed by a late knee injury.
“The Brazilian guys we chose that hadn’t really been household names at all, it was twofold,” Lostroh said. “One, based on some videos we’ve seen, and they’re kind of up-and-coming. They’ve just gotten over here. They’re just getting used to the American bulls. And another one that Ednei really was high on – I don’t know a whole lot about the guy, but that’s part of Ednei’s job, is to find those talents that I don’t know about. He was real high on Romerio Leite. It’s kind of like Cassio Dias, right? He was kind of an unknown when the Outlaws brought him on, and now he’s kicking everybody’s butt. So that’s kind of what everybody’s more or less looking for, is a diamond in the rough.”
The Mavericks will round out their roster at the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series Draft on May 29 in Nashville, Tennessee (7 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV). They have the No. 3 overall pick, as well as the first pick in Round 2 (No. 11 overall).
“Just looking for the best guy I can get at No. 3,” Lostroh said with a laugh. “There’s going to be differences of opinion on who that is, but there’s a lot of young guys with a whole lot of talent. So I’m just looking for someone who really likes doing what he does and has got the grit to stick it out. Because it’s a rough sport, especially at this level. You’re going to fail, you’re going to get beat up, and you’re going to get broken. The mental and physical toll it takes on you isn’t for everybody, so I’m trying to find that guy that can handle and can contribute to the team.”
Lostroh, Caminhas, and co. have a training camp lined up for their squad after the draft to start building camaraderie. While Lostroh was at a combine recently, scouting for new talent, Caminhas took a group of guys to New York for a Mavericks and Monster Energy event.
“They had a great time getting to know each other,” Lostroh said. “They communicate a whole lot more than I do in the group chat, I’ll tell you that much. The translation from Portuguese to English is sometimes not perfect, but yeah, it’s good dynamics.
“That team dynamic, it means a lot, and we need to have it rolling before the first event.”
Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media
