Game Notes – Lethbridge

LETTING LOOSE IN LETHBRIDGE – This weekend, for the fifth consecutive season, PBR Canada’s elite Cup Series, presented by Wrangler, will buck into Lethbridge, Alberta. The PBR South Country Co-op Showdown, presented by VisitLethbridge.com, the second elite tour event of the season, will be held at ENMAX Centre on March 3-4. The Lethbridge event will begin Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4 at 7 p.m. MST.

Related: Click here for the complete Lethbridge Game Notes.

THIS WEEKEND’S FORMAT – The PBR South Country Co-op Showdown, presented by VisitLethbridge.com, will feature three rounds of bull riding and is a Tier 2 Velocity Global event. Each rider will get on one bull in Round 1 on Friday and Round 2 on Saturday. The 10 bull riders with the best combined scores will then advance to the championship round on Saturday, where they will attempt one final bull in an effort to be crowned the event champion. This weekend, one rider will have the chance to earn 54 national points in the main event, in addition to ride score points. Following Friday night’s Round 1, the Top 5 riders from the opening round will attempt five of the event’s top bulls. Featuring both a separate purse, and national points, $2,500 will be available, with the winner set to collect 15 national points.

5/5 BUCKING BATTLE – In 2023, at all two-day PBR Canada Cup events, the opening night of competition will feature a 5/5 Bucking Battle. Pitting the Top 5 riders from the event’s opening round against the five best bucking bulls at the event, the special round will feature both a separate purse, and national points. The national points will be awarded as: 1^st – 15; 2^nd – 8; and 3^rd – 7. The money will payout as: 1^st - $1,250; 2^nd - $750; and 3^rd – $500. The bulls slated to buck in the 5/5 Bucking Battle in Lethbridge are:

Catch My Drift (Two Bit Bucking Bulls/K Rose Ranch)
Sicario (Flying High Rodeo Co.)
Positively Bangin (Outlaw Buckers Rodeo Corp.)
Bar Star (X6 Ranch Bucking Cattle/Legend Rodeo Stock)
Bustin Rhymes (X6 Ranch Bucking Cattle/Legend Rodeo Stock)

PARSONAGE WINS RED DEER, SURGES TO NO. 1 – At the 2023 season-launch Cup Series event in Red Deer, Alberta, no rider was more dominant than Jared Parsonage. As one of four riders to go a perfect 2-for-2 inside Peavey Mart Centrium, Parsonage led the contingent, winning the PBR Cross Country Canada Classic and surging to the No. 1 rank in the race for the 2023 PBR Canada Championship and accompanying $50,000 bonus. As the event got underway, Parsonage was unrivaled in Round 1, delivering the top score when he covered Smoke Bomb for 86 points. With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Parsonage architected a rematch with Hard Not To Get. Parsonage had ridden the powerful animal athlete for 88.5 points en route to his event win at the 2022 PBR Canada National Finals, winning Round 3 of the season-ending event. Replicating his past success, Parsonage reached the requisite 8 for 89 points to cement the victory. Parsonage’s victory earned him 58 national points. He surged from unranked to No. 1 in the national standings, now 3.5 points ahead of No. 2 Cody Coverchuk. This weekend in Lethbridge, Parsonage will attempt Babamba in Round 1 and Bubba Gump in Round 2.

ROBBINS, GARDNER POST FIRST 90S OF 2023 – When the 2023 PBR Canada Cup Series got underway, two riders delivered monstrous 90-point rides to begin their season strong – Coy Robbins and Jake Gardner. For Robbins, his event began in Round 1 when he rode Wolf Bait for 84 points. The score avenged a buckoff from the 2021 season when the bull bested the young Albertan in 4.41 seconds during the Touring Pro Division stop in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. In the final round, Robbins then elected to go head-to-head with 2 Guns. Robbins remained in perfect time with the bull, making the 8 for a monstrous 90.5 points to win the championship round. The 90-point ride is the first of Robbins’ PBR career and his sixth consecutive score in PBR Canada competition. The 2017 PBR Canada Rookie of the Year netted 47 national points for the silver showing. He is now No. 5 in the national standings, 11 points behind No. 1 Parsonage. In Lethbridge, Robbins will look to continue his momentum atop Flick the Switch in Round 1 and Ringling Road in Round 2.

Gardner’s third-place showing garnered him 35.5 Canadian points. As one of 10 riders to deliver a score in Round 1, Gardner advanced to the final round fifth courtesy of his 82.5-point effort atop Look At This Dude. Gardner then chose a familiar opponent in two-time PBR Canada Bull of the Year Happy Camper as his final animal athlete opponent. Gardner had attempted the bull four times prior, earning a score just once. In near picture-perfect form in Red Deer, Gardner and Happy Camper danced in harmony en route to the whistle as the “Prince of the Peace Country” was scored 90.5 points, the first 90-point ride of the new season. The score is now the high-marked ride of Gardner’s career and his first 90-point score in PBR competition. The British Columbia sensation is now ranked No. 3 in Canada, within a mere 6.5 points of No. 1 Parsonage. Gardner is set to attempt Boo in Round 1 and Out of the Blue in Round 2 inside ENMAX Centre.

PAST LETHBRIDGE EVENT WINNERS – In Sept. 2022, the elite Cup Series held a unique double-header tour stop inside ENMAX Centre. Unrivaled, 2018 PBR Canada Rookie of the Year Nick Tetz went a perfect 4-for-4, winning the back-to-back events to surge from No. 8 to No. 2 in the national standings en route to claiming the season’s national title. When competition got underway for the first of two iterations of the PBR South Country Co-op Showdown, Tetz attempted Slip Slap for the third time in his career, having made the requisite 8 in both of their previous meetings. Tetz kept his success streak alive aboard the powerful bovine athlete in Lethbridge, matching the bull jump-for-jump en route to an 85-point score. Positioned second on the event leaderboard ahead of the championship round, Tetz elected to attempt Up Shift. In a decision which proved dividends, Tetz remained in perfect time with the bull, making the whistle for a victory-clinching 86 points. Tetz’ golden finish earned him a crucial 77 national points. He rose two positions in the national standings from No. 8 to No. 6, inching within 79 points of No. 1 Logan Biever. When the competition continued for the second event, Tetz returned to action amidst a wave of momentum as he readied to take on Later Gator in Round 1. Tetz punched his ticket to the championship round as the top-ranked man in the event as he reached the whistle for 86.5 points. Tetz then drafted Deep Creek as his final opponent and matched the bull jump-for-jump for an event-best 88 points to cement the golden finish. Through his unrivaled effort, Tetz earned a maximum 80 national points. He rose from No. 6 to No. 2 in the standings and inched within a then mere 28 points of the top rank. At season’s end, Tetz delivered a come-from-behind surge to overtake regular-season No. 1 Dakota Buttar, all the while holding off a hard-charging Brock Radford, to be crowned the 2022 PBR Canada Champion. This weekend inside ENMAX Centre, Tetz has drawn Sure Shot in Round 1 and Tractorlands Freakshow in Round 2.

2022 Nick Tetz
2022 Nick Tetz
2021 Zane Lambert
2020 Garrett Green
2020 Brock Radford/Ty Ellis
2020 Dakota Buttar
2019 Jared Parsonage

FAMILIAR WATERS – Round 1 of the PBR South Country Co-op Showdown, presented by VisitLethbridge.com, will feature three rematches. Those riders facing familiar opponents are:

• Brock Radford will climb atop Red Coat for the third time in his career, looking to make the whistle for the first time. The two squared off twice in 2022. Red Coat first bucked off Radford in 3.8 seconds at the Cup Series event in Grande Prairie, Alberta, only to best him a few weeks later at the elite tour stop in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 5.5 seconds.
• Dakota Buttar will look to even the score against Hanna Motors Winston Bruce. The powerful animal athlete from Skori Bucking Bulls dispatched Buttar in a close 6.72 seconds during the 2021 Touring Pro Division event in Coronation, Alberta.
• Jett Lambert will attempt Heavy on the Grind for the second time. A renewed rivalry from 2022, the bull bucked off the young gun in 3.71 seconds during the Cup Series stop in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Round 2 of the PBR South Country Co-op Showdown, presented by VisitLethbridge.com, will feature six rematches. Those riders facing familiar opponents are:

• Aaron Roy will be eager to reverse his fortunes atop Papa Spook. The bull bested the three-time Canadian Champion in 5.32 seconds at the 2023 season-launch Cup Series event in Red Deer, Alberta.
• Dakota Buttar will face his second familiar opponent in Blue North. At the 2022 Cup Series event in Red Deer, Blue North sent Buttar packing in a heart-breaking 7.04 seconds.
• Fabian Dueck will get a second chance aboard Irish Rebel. The bull emerged supreme in 2019 at the Touring Pro Division event in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, tossing Dueck in 3.13 seconds.
• Nick Tetz will attempt to bring his record against Tractorlands Freakshow to 1-1. At the 2023 Cup Series launch event in Red Deer, the bull sent Tetz to the dirt in a quick 1.4 seconds.
• Tim Lipsett has drawn a familiar opponent in Black Jack, the very bull who bucked him off in 4.67 seconds during the Touring Pro Division event in 2021 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
• Tyler Craig will face off in a rubber match against Big Easy. While their out in 2021 at the Touring Pro Division event in Marwayne, Alberta, ended in no score, Craig rode him for 86 points during the 2022 developmental event in Calgary, Alberta.

BULL PEN: RETIRING CATCH MY DRIFT – This weekend will mark the final out of 2020 PBR Canada Bull of the Year Catch My Drift’s career when he bucks in the 5/5 Bucking Battle. In addition to being crowned the top bull in Canada in 2020, Catch My Drift has been selected to buck at the World Finals twice, ridden by Chase Outlaw for 88 points in Round 4 of the 2019 World Finals, and by three-time PBR World Champion Silvano Alves for 86.25 points during Round 3 of the 2021 event. The out will be Catch My Drift’s lone appearance in Canada in 2023, having not bucked since the Cup Series event in Saskatoon in 2022. Last season, Catch My Drift bucked eight times, posting a season-best 44-point bull score twice.

POINTS SYSTEM UPDATE – During the 2023 season, the PBR is debuting a new points system making the premier series even more important for determining the next World Champion, while simplifying the points structure across all PBR tours. The biggest change is a move away from the World Standings. The 2023 World Champion will now be the rider who earns the most points only at Unleash The Beast (UTB) events, including at the 2023 PBR World Finals on May 12-21 in Fort Worth, Texas. There will be three PBR tours in the U.S. in action for the first half of 2023: PBR Unleash The Beast (November 26 – May 21); Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (Nov. 19 – May 6) and PBR Touring Pro Division (Nov. 4 - May 6). Points accumulated in non-UTB events domestically, as well as PBR’s international tours, will be tallied as Velocity Global points. Velocity Global points, which will also be used to crown the 2023 PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Champion, will be the essential currency for determining the athletes who can earn a future draw spot on the elite Unleash The Beast following the tour’s first four events.

Those with the most Velocity Global points during their four most recent Velocity Global events will join the UTB, replacing riders who had fallen to the bottom of the pack during select cuts throughout the season. The first rider cut took place after the fourth UTB event in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Dec. 17-18. Riders ranked in the No. 36-40 range in the UTB Standings will be subject to being cut. During each cut, the open positions will first be filled with those riders having injury exemptions, followed by the Premier Series Qualifier List, based on Velocity Global points. Following the first cut, these riders assumed the place of the demoted riders in the sport’s top series to make up the 40-rider field heading into Albany, New York on Dec. 29-30. Riders ranked No. 1-35 on the UTB will remain on the PBR’s elite tour. Following the initial cut, subsequent cuts will be held every two weeks. The second cut will drop the bottom six riders from UTB, the third cut will drop the bottom seven riders, and the fourth and remaining cuts will remove the bottom eight riders from UTB.

The only non-Unleash The Beast event that will not award Velocity Global points are National Finals held abroad, which will only award national points, not Velocity Global points. In 2023, national points at international events will be awarded on the same scale as the Velocity Global points. The point system at each event is tiered based on added money in USD, and other factors determined by the PBR. Each event, depending on the tier, will get points in accordance with the tables below.

• Tier 1 Events – $20,000 or more USD in added money.
• Tier 2 Events – $10,000 - $19,999 USD in added money.
• Tier 3 Events – $9,999 USD or less in added money.

Additionally, riders at all events will now receive bonus points via their ride score. A rider who scores 70-79.75 points will earn 7 bonus points, 80-89.75 8 bonus points and 90-99.75 9 bonus points.

	Tier 1 Events			TIER 2 EVENTS		TIER 3 EVENTS
Place	Round	1- and 2-Day AVG	3-Day AVG	Round	AVG	Round	AVG
1	20	80	100	8	30	4	15
2	10	50	63	5	20	3	8
3	9	36	45	4	10	2	7
4	8	21	27	3	7	1	4
5	7	17	23	2	5	1	3
6	6	12	18	1	4	1	2
7	5	6	12	1	3	1	1
8	4	5	8	1	2	1	1
9	3	4	5	1	1	1	1
10	2	2	3	1	1	1	1
11	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
12
13
14
15

 

NEXT UP – The 2023 PBR Canada Sup Series, presented by Wrangler, will next travel to Brandon, Manitoba, and Westoba Place at Keystone Centre for the PBR Mazergroup Chute Out on Saturday, May 27. Action will get underway nightly at 7 p.m. CST.   

PROVIDING PROTECTION – The bullfighters on hand for this weekend’s event in Red Deer, Alberta, are Tanner Byrne, Ty Prescott and Brett Monea.

 

LETHBRIDGE COMPETITORS BY COUNTRY

Australia (2) – Cody Fraser, Jake Maher

Canada (21) – William Barrows, Dakota Buttar, Tyler Craig, Weston Davidson, Jake Gardner, Wyatt Gleeson, Nick Goncalves, Garrett Green, Chad Hartman, Jett Lambert, Tim Lipsett, Keaton Martz, Micheal Ostashek, Jared Parsonage, Brock Radford, Coy Robbins, Aaron Roy, Grady Smeltzer, Nick Tetz, Stefan Tonita, Cole Young.

Nicaragua (1) – Osman Alvarez

Paraguay (1) – Fabian Dueck

BREAKDOWN BY PROVINCE –

Alberta – William Barrows, Tyler Craig, Wyatt Gleeson, Garrett Green, Jett Lambert, Keaton Martz, Micheal Ostashek, Brock Radford, Coy Robbins, Grady Smeltzer, Nick Tetz, Cole Young; British Columbia – Jake Gardner; Ontario – Nick Goncalves; Saskatchewan – Dakota Buttar, Weston Davidson, Chad Hartman, Tim Lipsett, Jared Parsonage, Aaron Roy, Stefan Tonita.