PUEBLO, Colo. – Woooooooaaaaahhhhh (we’re halfway theeeerrrreeeeee).

Six up, six down as the PBR Camping World Team Series dives into the second half of its 2024 campaign Friday night in Springfield, Missouri. Home to the Missouri Thunder, who find themselves damn close to the heart of this year’s standings.

Bringing a No. 7 rank and 6-8 record into their Midwestern homestand, they’re one of three teams with matching slates at this point, joining the No. 6 Texas Rattlers and No. 8 New York Mavericks.

The team may have called Ridgedale, Missouri, home for its first two seasons. But it’s time to get back into the city for the third edition of PBR Teams: Thunder Days! And with the team having visited the area during their summertime training camp while spending some time in the community, Thunder Head Coach Ross Coleman knows exactly what to expect from his local supporters.

“Momentum is good and momentum is for real. The hometown feel was so cool in New York the other week and that made me think of Springfield,” Coleman shared.

“When we come to Springfield, it’s amazing to see how many fans we really have and it’s so cool to have that backing and have that crowd with you. That electricity is so much fun. I love it.”

Coleman and company will look to harness some of that electricity throughout this weekend’s three-day showcase inside Great Southern Bank Arena, where they’ll look to build on a 3-2 stint they’ve stumbled upon here lately. Having endured a slow start, just 2-4 in their first six contests, the team has mixed up their starting lineup more than most squads in 2024.

After sending their first-round selection in the 2024 PBR Teams New Rider Draft to the Carolina Cowboys in exchange for Boudreaux Campbell, they just haven’t seen the returns they were seeking quite yet. That said, Campbell has shown some flashes here and there in a season dominated by 90s.

Up to 20 on the season as the tour gets ready to splash into the home stretch, riders have been rather flashy this summer when making the 8. Bovines have been dominant, per usual, in their own right, but the cowboys have been holding down the fort just the same.

As a unit, the Thunder have provided three of the pack’s 20 epic rides, with Campbell (92.5 points aboard Big Bank), Paulo Eduardo Rossetto (90.5 points on Eyes On Me) and Briggs Madsen (90.25 points atop Black Gold) representing the Bass Pro Shop contingent’s heaviest hitters so far.

At this point last season, the tour had combined for just 13 90s at the halfway point, eventually ending the season with 29. Back in 2022, during the tour’s inaugural session, the pack managed just five 90-pointers in the first half before turning things up a bit in the second half, exiting the campaign with a combined 36 epic rides. So, by all means, this is starting to look like the summer of 90s.

If the boys can keep it up, we’ll see the record from 2022 be reset, likely at one of the regular season’s finales in Fort Worth, Texas, or Glendale, Arizona.

Unfortunately for Campbell and the Thunder, his 2-for-13 record hasn’t been as helpful as they imaged. Luckily Campbell is one of the hardest working guys on tour and has plenty of time to turn things around in hoping to lead his Missouri teammates back to Las Vegas this fall, just one year after the team made a legitimate run at the 2023 PBR Teams Championship in stunning fashion.

If that’s to happen again this season, Campbell will need Rossetto to continue his fiery 8-for-14 campaign as the team’s current qualified ride leader. Positioned No. 7 in the PBR Teams MVP race, he’s been the team’s lethal weapon, thriving overall as the team’s closer and providing some clutch performances to help Missouri battle back in the thick of things.

RELATED: Where to Watch: Thunder Days

Successful in five of his last seven attempts, the 26-year-old Brazilian is leading this team and looking good doing it.

The next closest teammate in the MVP standings, and arguably next hottest guy in the locker room, is veteran Andrew Alvidrez, who’s now 4-for-11 on the season despite beginning his 2024 slate with an unideal 0-for-6 start. A tale of two halves, himself, Alvidrez couldn’t buy a qualified ride as he struggled throughout the first few events of the season.

Encouraged to redefine his grind in the gym and via some practice reps while being kept out of the lineup for two weeks, Alvidrez wasn’t a big fan of having to sit out such meaningful events. But when he came back, he came back red-hot, now successful in four of his last five attempts.

That’s what hard work can do for a cowboy, though.

And if you know Alvidrez, which Coleman and General Manager Luke Snyder definitely do, you know he’s already one of the toughest, most dedicated guys on tour. So, it was only a matter of time before he stepped back up to the plate looking for the home run ball.

From there, it’s been a bit of a group effort for the red and yellow squad, with each of Briggs Madsen, Grayson Cole and Felipe Furlan bringing just three qualified rides each into the mid-season showcase while also serving as the team’s next-best producers thus far.

Madsen’s brother, Kade Madsen, who helped the team make its epic run last fall inside T-Mobile Arena, will be back with the team this weekend (despite being out for the rest of this and next season as he completes his religious journey). He won’t be riding, but his smile is damn contagious and anytime the Thunder family can bring some additional support into the building, they’re going to green light that opportunity.

It hasn’t been a perfect season for Missouri by any means.

Hell, historically, if you look at the first two seasons of 5-on-5 action, you’ll see they have typically been amongst the league’s basement dwellers. That doesn’t have to be the case this time around. If things play out well for the Thunder this weekend, they could find themselves ranked as high as the No. 3 spot. However, if they aren’t able to thrive in front of their hometown audience, they could see themselves fall all the way down to the No. 10 spot.

So, the pressure is on.

The question remains: Are the Missouri Thunder ready to break in their new building?

Set to host the No. 2 Kansas City Outlaws during the rivals’ latest installment of the Show Me State Showdown, Missouri will round out their hometown weekend via clashes against the New York Mavericks and No. 1 Carolina Cowboys. Any time a team draws the Top 2-ranked teams in the same weekend means they’ll have their work cut out for them. But if fans inside Great Southern Bank Arena can bring the noise and energy, we’re not counting the Thunder out of any of their Week 7 matchups!

With the Carolina Cowboys and New York Mavericks getting the opening night off, the Thunder will suit up alongside the Oklahoma Wildcatters, Nashville Stampede, Arizona Ridge Riders, Austin Gamblers, Texas Rattlers, Florida Freedom and Kansas City Outlaws in getting the show started Friday night inside Great Southern Bank Arena.

Fans can stay tuned to PBR.com and @PBR social media channels for the latest news, league updates and beyond. And be sure to catch all of this weekend’s action on Merit Street, the Merit+ App and CBS Television Network as the PBR Camping World Team Series rages on!

CAROLINA COWBOYS PACE PACK IN FIRST-HALF SLATE VIA STANDOUT EFFORT Ten teams have given their all throughout the first six games of the 12-event regular season schedule. Some have enjoyed the highs, others have been stuck in the lows. The Arizona Ridge Riders are bringing a season-long six-game losing streak (which is currently tied with the six-game skid the Texas Rattlers produced earlier this year for the longest of the season) into Great South Bank Arena, while the No. 2 Kansas City Outlaws are riding high on a five-game win streak. The Austin Gamblers managed a five-game winning streak of their own a few weeks back, but no squad has been as dominant as the Carolina Cowboys have been in 2024.

And the Cowboys aren’t just killing in any one given category, either:

Most Wins: 11 (Next best: 9 – Kansas City) Highest Aggregate Score: 3,218 (Next best: 2,499 – Kansas City) Most Money Earned: $224,900 (Next best: $222,725 – Kansas City) Highest Win Percentage: 89% (Next best: 69% – Kansas City) Most Qualified Rides: 37 (Next best: 29 – Kansas City) Ride Percentage: 57% (Next best: 45% – Kansas City) Most 90-Point Rides: 5 (Next best: 4 – Kansas City) Most Perfect Games: 2 (Next best: 0 – League's other nine teams)

They’re pretty much coming into every event, taking teams’ lunch money and getting ready for their next opportunity to win big. They’re the 5-on-5 circuit’s bullies to a T and don’t plan on changing anything as they look to become the first team to officially secure a spot at the 2024 PBR Teams Championship this fall.

The only thing the Cowboys don’t currently own rights to is the 2024 PBR Teams MVP honors. The man currently in pole position of that race is none other than Jose Vitor Leme of the Austin Gamblers. The Florida Freedom’s John Crimber sits just 120.25 points back from Leme, thus just two ride scores back from the two-time MVP. The next two names on that list, however, do hail from the checkered-flag squad, with Cooper Davis (9-for-13; 179 points behind Leme) and Sage Steele Kimzey (9-for-12; 183.75 points behind Leme) sitting in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively. So, there’s 100% a path where the blue and yellow unit could assume the individual aggregate honors by season’s end. Especially when you consider Daylon Swearingen (8-for-13; 268.25 points behind Leme) is merely three ride scores behind his fellow World Champion.

CAN THE DEFENDING CHAMPION TEXAS RATTLERS MAKE A RUN IN SECOND HALF Officially 4-1 in their last five contests, including a 2-0 showing at PBR Teams: Stampede Days quickly followed up by a nice 2-1 slate last weekend in their home state (albeit Austin), the Texas Rattlers are doing just fine this season. Tied with two other teams via matching 6-8 starts, they have plenty of chances remaining to get back to where they want to be: Atop the regular season standings. Or at least a lot closer to that spot.

Having ditched their lingering six-game losing streak back in Smashville, the team simply hasn’t looked back since. Head Coach Cody Lambert hasn’t been afraid to shake things up over the past month either. Which has been working quite well for the team, specifically for 40-year-old veteran Joao Ricardo Vieira, who’s been thriving in the closer role for Texas.

Ranked No. 10 in the PBR Teams MVP race and leading the squad with a 7-for-13 record, Australian Brady Fielder has also risen to the occasion lately after a slow start to the season. Successful in four of his last five attempts, he joins the likes of Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, Andrew Alvidrez and company as one of the hottest riders out there heading into Week 7. Just as importantly, his scores have been quality bids lately, averaging an 88.44-point score over his past two events. Qualified rides in general are huge in this league. But epic strikes, exactly what the international talent has been providing lately, are even bigger. Especially for a Rattlers squad who constantly find themselves in tight matchups.

Texas is primed to enjoy a bye game on Sunday in Springdale before getting the opening night of Week 8 off as well, set to rest up on Friday when the Outlaw Days showcase begins in Kansas City, Missouri. While it’s always nice to have night one off, providing some extra time to get right and watch the league’s teams beat each other up a bit, the team’s Sept. 6 break represents their third-from-last night off on the season. Preparing to endure seven-straight games over the course of three events, they’re going to need to survive one hell of a gauntlet here over the second half of the season.

Naturally, their homestand inside Cowtown Coliseum and Dickies Arena, PBR Teams: Rattler Days, in late September will serve as a breath of fresh air once it rolls around here next month. But the defending Champs need to stay healthy and keep up the hot streak if they hope to be sitting above the .500 mark when they return home. Losing Brady Oleson to an injury-forcing retirement last week is never a great takeaway, though the team is grateful the nasty wreck didn’t result in anything worse.

RELATED: Brady Oleson announces retirement due to injury

Thankfully they’ve combined to produce the third-highest combined team aggregate score in the first half of the season, trailing only the Carolina Cowboys and Kansas City Outlaws. So, between JRV, Brady Fielder, Marcelo Procopio Pereira, Mason Taylor, Daniel Keeping and beyond, they have a majority of their team intact from last season. They just need to turn up the intensity here in these last six weeks. And with a Texas Cup-deciding showcase against the Austin Gamblers looming, they have several reasons to be giving their all.

2024 PBR TEAMS: THUNDER DAYS MATCHUPS Friday, August 30: Oklahoma Wildcatters vs. Nashville Stampede Arizona Ridge Riders vs. Austin Gamblers Texas Rattlers vs. Florida Freedom Kansas City Outlaws vs. Missouri Thunder Saturday, August 31: Texas Rattlers vs. Arizona Ridge Riders Florida Freedom vs. Kansas City Outlaws Oklahoma Wildcatters vs. Carolina Cowboys New York Mavericks vs. Missouri Thunder Sunday, September 1: Florida Freedom vs. Austin Gamblers Kansas City Outlaws vs. Nashville Stampede New York Mavericks vs. Arizona Ridge Riders Carolina Cowboys vs. Missouri Thunder FOLLOW ALONG This weekend’s PBR Teams: Thunder Days showcase in Springfield, Missouri, is set to begin Friday, Aug. 30 at 7:45 p.m. CT as the Oklahoma Wildcatters and Nashville Stampede get the three-day showcase started inside Great Southern Bank Arena.

With competition set to continue Saturday, Aug. 31 at 7:45 p.m. CT and conclude Sunday, Sept. 1 at 1:45 p.m. CT, the sixth of ten homestand events will see the world’s best bull riders compete against each other with just seven weeks remaining until the 2024 PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, Oct. 18-20!

Fans can tune into Merit Street and the Merit+ App on Friday, Aug. 30 beginning at 8 p.m. CT to take in the four opening night games. The first three games of night two’s slate, airing on Saturday, Aug. 31, will also air on Merit Street and the Merit+ App starting at 8 p.m. CT, with PBR Now! pre-game and post-game programming surrounding Friday and Sunday’s coverage.

The Week 7 “Game of the Week,” featuring the New York Mavericks and Missouri Thunder, is set to air on CBS Television Network on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 11 a.m. CT.

Spanish broadcasts of all three days of action will also air on TUDN, with night one’s action airing on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 2 p.m. CT, Saturday’s slate airing on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 2 p.m. CST and Sunday’s showdowns airing on Monday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m. CT.

Fans can keep an eye on PBR.com and @PBR social media channels for the latest news, scores, wrecks and more! And be sure to download the Merit+ App to watch all of this season’s exclusive action!

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media