Posted by GREENSBORO, N.C. – The league No. 1 Austin Gamblers rode red-hot at the eighth PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Camping World Team Series event of the season, going a perfect 3-0 in game play to win PBR Cowboy Days, their PBR Teams-leading fourth event win of the season.
As game play got underway inside Greensboro Coliseum, Austin first took on Missouri, defeating the Thunder 174.75-88.75 courtesy of a crucial 87.5-point walk-off ride in the bottom of the fifth from two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme. The walk-off win was a league-best sixth for Leme. But the two-time PBR World Champion wasn’t done with his game-winning weekend dramatics.
As competition continued Saturday night, the Austin Gamblers finally cracked the code against the Arizona Ridge Riders who had defeated them in three prior meetings. The Gamblers concluded the 2023 series against the Ridge Riders with a win, 90-86, on another Leme game clinching ride.
While Vitor Losnake gave Arizona an early 86-point lead that remained for nearly the entire game, Leme delivered a mammoth 90-point ride in the bottom of the fifth. The 90-point score was the 76th of Leme’s career, now positioning him second all-time for most 90-point rides logged by one competitor in premier PBR competition.
Austin was one of two teams to advance to Championship Sunday with a perfect 2-0 record, joined by the Kansas City Outlaws, who beat the Oklahoma Freedom and Texas Rattlers.
On Friday, the Outlaws, began PBR Cowboy Days with a showdown against the Oklahoma Freedom, clinching the game win early after jumping to a quick lead via scores from Kyler Oliver and Koltin Hevalow, ultimately defeating Oklahoma by 101 points, 261.25-160.25. D
Kansas City then improved to a perfect 2-0 in North Carolina in defeating the Texas Rattlers by two ride scores, 252.75-87, in front of a raucous Saturday night crowd.
After a back-and-forth first frame, with Wingson Henrique da Silva delivering for the Outlaws and Joao Ricardo Vieira riding for Texas, Kansas City trailed by 3.75 points entering the second. Hevalow gave his team back the lead by 75.25 points in the top of the second, and the Outlaws never looked back.
With Texas shut out in the bottom of the second and neither team converting in the third or fourth, the game came down to the final round of outs. In the top of the frame, the Outlaws clinched the win early when closer Cassio Dias delivered a mammoth 90.5-point ride, his league-best fourth 90-point ride of the season, putting the Outlaws two bulls ahead with Texas having just one out left. Texas bucked off in the final out of the game, unable to prevent a two-ride score loss.
On Championship Sunday, the Austin Gamblers were the first to take to the dirt, squaring off against the Oklahoma Freedom. Even in leading the league, Gamblers have needed the middle of their lineup to deliver more consistently, and on Sunday they came through, with an 88-point ride from Rafael dos Santos and a mammoth 90-point ride from Ezekiel Mitchell, paired with the Freedom being blanked, going 0-for-5, Austin earned their third game win in North Carolina, 178-0.
On the spurs of their victory, the Gamblers awaited the result of the game between Kansas City and Arizona to determine if they would be competing in Extra Outs.
Kansas City, however, did not have enough in the tank. While Hevalow and Dias both converted, each concluding the weekend a perfect 3-for-3, it was not enough to top the scores of Eduardo Aparecido and Losnake for Arizona. The final scoreboard read 262.75-261.5, with Kansas City falling to Arizona by a slim 1.25 points.
Via the loss, the Austin Gamblers clinched the PBR Cowboy Days event title early, with two games still to play, as the only team to go a perfect 3-0.
The Gamblers are now 17-5 this season, furthering their hold on the No. 1 rank in the league, now five games ahead of the No. 2 Kansas City Outlaws, who are 12-10 this season.
The host Carolina Cowboys finished sixth at their second annual homestand, going 1-2.
As competition got underway, the Carolina Cowboys began their homestand in electric form, propelled to a thrilling walk-off win against the Arizona Ridge Riders courtesy of a crucial bottom-of-the-fifth score from 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis.
After being shut out through the first three frames of the game, the Carolina Cowboys trailed by 87.25 points as the fourth got underway. Arizona had jumped to an early lead in the top of the first via a qualified ride from Luciano De Castro.
Carolina, however, found their momentum when it mattered most. Seven-time PRCA champion Sage Kimzey was first to strike, delivering a mammoth 91-point ride on Mike’s Motive to give his team a slim 3.25-point lead and setting up a must-ride situation for Arizona in the top of the fifth.
While Arizona closer Keyshawn Whitehorse delivered for his team, giving Arizona back an 82.75-point lead after he rode Magic Carpet for 86 points, it would not prove enough for the might of Carolina closer Davis.
Paired with Black As Coal, Davis delivered his first walk-off win for Carolina, riding the powerful animal athlete for 87.25 points to earn Carolina the win by 4.5 points, 178.25-173.75.
The Cowboys’ momentum didn’t carry through the weekend, and they stumbled on Saturday night, falling to Oklahoma.
The Freedom jumped to an early lead as Alex Cerqueira topped The Undertaker for 87 points. With Carolina failing to convert through their first three outs, the Freedom grew their lead to 174 points in the top of the fourth when Elizmar Jeremias rode Left Eye Lopez for a matching 87 points. Caden Bunch then clinched the win for his team early, when he topped Cooter Brown for 88 points in the top of the fifth.
Carolina closer Davis prevented a shutout, riding Flashbang for 87.25 points, but it was not enough to prevent a loss. The final scoreboard read a 262-87.25 Oklahoma victory.
Keen to rebound, the Cowboys looked to conclude their PBR Camping World Team Series event with a win when they played the league’s reigning Champion Nashville Stampede on Championship Sunday.
After both teams converted in the first, with Chase Outlaw delivering for Nashville and Boudreaux Campbell riding for Carolina, the Cowboys trailed by 5.75 points entering the second. Nashville then jumped to an increased 92-point lead in the top of the second compliments of a key 86.25-point ride from Dener Barbosa. After Carolina was unable to respond in the bottom of the frame, and neither team made the whistle through the third and fourth, a crucial fifth frame was architected.
After three-time World Champion Silvano Alves was unable to clinch the win early for Nashville, Carolina needed a massive 92.25-point ride to walk off another game. Closer Kimzey made the 8 but came up 2.25 points short, marked 89.75 points aboard the previously unridden Buckeye Nation.
The 1-2 effort led Carolina to leave Greensboro Coliseum with a 10-12 record.
PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer replays of all the PBR Camping World Team Series action from Greensboro, North Carolina. Checkhttps://pluto.tv/en/live-tv/pbr-ridepass for the latest programming schedule.
The PBR Camping World Team Series will next travel to Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, for the seventh team-hosted event of the 2023 season. The event will be on Friday, September 29 at 7:45 MDT, Saturday, September 30 at 6:45 p.m. MDT and Sunday, October 1 at 1:45 p.m. MDT.
The game matchups for the opening night of competition in Glendale on September 29 are:
Kansas City Outlaws @ Carolina Cowboys
Oklahoma Freedom @ Austin Gamblers
Missouri Thunder @ Texas Rattlers
Nashville Stampede @ Arizona Ridge Riders
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