PUEBLO, Colo. – To put it frankly, it has not been a good season for the Arizona Ridge Riders.

Ranked No. 10 in the PBR Camping World Team Series standings, they’re a surprising team to see at the bottom of the barrel, given their past consistency. They made it to the final day of the PBR Teams Championship in both 2022 and 2023, finishing second and third, respectively, and ended both prior regular seasons in the No. 5 position.

Maybe not blowing the world away, but solidly middle of the pack.

Not the case in 2024, which has seen the Ridge Riders languishing at the bottom of the standings with a 6-10 record.

After starting the season 2-0 at Wildcatters Days in Oklahoma City, the Ridge Riders went 2-3 in Duluth, Georgia, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, before going an ugly 0-6 at the following three events.

But Arizona’s season may be turning around after their performance at Thunder Days in Springfield, Missouri, this past weekend.

The Ridge Riders went 2-1 in Missouri – teams aren’t competing for event wins anymore, but it would’ve been good for a second-place finish behind only the Florida Freedom. The boys in black went a combined 8-for-15 for a 53.3% riding percentage, winning both their game and the shootout round on the final day of competition to walk out as the day’s winner.

Arizona dropped its first game of Thunder Days to the Austin Gamblers, 244.25-175.25, but even that game had some good juju. Eduardo Aparecido notched the 400^th qualified ride of his premier series career with 88.5 points on Dark Thoughts.

“I’m blessed for this, 400 bull rides now,” Aparecido said. “Thank you to my team for believing in me every day, my coach. I’m happy and blessed for this moment.”

The Ridge Riders rebounded the following night to defeat the Texas Rattlers, 261-172.75, for their first win in seven tries.

On the dirt afterward, head coach Colby Yates exhaled in relief.

“Okay, finally. We can still win something,” he joked to Merit Street’s Matt West. “Man, that feels great right there. Everything was clicking. We talked about this the last couple weeks – we need to get the energy back here, and not all my guys are energetic, but they’ve got to act like that when they get back there because it goes a long way. And it just goes to show you: no matter what the problems coming your way, as long as you have a positive outlook, you can get past all of them. I was really proud of these guys today, for sure.”

On Sunday, they beat the New York Mavericks, 243.75-0, before winning the shootout round thanks to Lucas Fideles Souza riding Preachers Kid. It was for just 73.5 points, but sometimes, simply making the whistle is all that matters.

“Hey, that’s two (in a row),” Yates told West from the back of the chutes. “We just keep our head down. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but these guys are – man. We have a great team. We have had (a great team) all year long. They’ve just got to believe in themselves, and it’s starting to show, so I’m proud of them.”

Yates is right: the Ridge Riders have been far better than their record suggests. Their season-long aggregate score of 2,655 is fourth-best in the league, behind only the top three teams in the league – the No. 1 Carolina Cowboys, No. 2 Kansas City Outlaws and No. 3 Florida Freedom.

Two Ridge Riders went a perfect 3-for-3 in Springfield: Aparecido and Luciano De Castro, who, since a 1-for-7 start to the season, has gone 5-for-8.

“Man, I am very impressed with Luciano,” Yates said. “He didn’t start off how I wanted him to this season, but he’s finally finding the secret recipe and the secret sauce that we know Luciano has and is capable of. So I think, if he just keeps his head down and keeps working and keeps fighting, we’re going to get there, man.”

The Ridge Riders head to Outlaw Days this weekend in Kansas City, Missouri, looking to finally climb the standings. They’re just half a game behind the No. 9 Oklahoma Wildcatters (6-9-1) and No. 8 Missouri Thunder (7-10), and one game out of the No. 5 spot as the No. 5 Texas Rattlers, No. 6 Nashville Stampede and No. 7 New York Mavericks are all tied at 7-9.

In Kansas City, the Ridge Riders will first take on the Thunder on Friday before facing off against the Cowboys on Saturday. Tune in all weekend on Merit Street, Merit+ and CBS.

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/