West Rides to Career First Velocity Tour Win in New Town

PUEBLO, Colo. – Lonnie West (Cadogan, Alberta) won the first Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour (RVT) event of his first career Saturday night, taking the buckle in New Town, North Dakota at the Four Bears Casino and Lodge.

In just the second RVT event of his career, West rode 3-out-of-4 bulls during the two-day event to take the victory along with 80 points towards the PBR world standings and a paycheck of $9,009.89.

West rode Undertaker (Berger Bucking Bulls) for 87.5 points, Like Mike (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls) for 85.5 points and Machinery Auctioneer’s Crazy Horse (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Machinery Auctioneers) for 88 points.

Finishing in a tie for second place was Brady Oleson (Blackfoot, Idaho) and Jesse Tillman (Olathe, Kansas). Each one also rode three of their four bulls during the two-day event to finish with 40 points each. Oleson won $8,350.63 while Tillman took home $6,537.66.

Oleson covered both his bulls on Friday with 84 points on Rebound (Berger Bucking Bulls) and 86.5 points on Dennis The Menace (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Machinery Auctioneers) and then picked up 89 points on Machinery Auctioneer’s Heffner (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Machinery Auctioneers) during the championship round on Saturday.

Tillman covered White Lightning (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls) for 87.5 points on Friday but rode two on Saturday including the highest score of the weekend, 90.5 points aboard Dennis The Menace (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Machinery Auctioneers) in the championship round. He also tallied 81.5 points on Fist City (Dakota Rodeo / Chad Berger / J.R. Scott).

Finishing in fourth place with 20 world points and $1,977.78 was Joseph McConnel (Bloomfield, New Mexico). He rode Americana (Dakota Rodeo - Chad Berger/Hruby/Kainz) for 84.5 points on Friday and then picked up 85 points on Dove Tree (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls) on Saturday.

Derek Kolbaba (Walla Walla, Washington), the No. 2 ranked bull rider in the world, finished in fifth place after going 8 aboard Stand Up (Dakota Rodeo / Chad Berger / Clay Struve) for 89.5 points on Saturday night.

He earned 15 points towards the world standings along with $2,505.19.

Canadians Logan Biever (Claresholm, Alberta), Tanner Byrne (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) and Fabian Dueck (Irricana, Alberta) also logged qualified rides at the North Dakota event.

Biever rode Legacy (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls) for 86.5 points, tying for eighth overall, while Byrne made the 8 aboard Stars & Stripes (Dakota Rodeo / Chad Berger / Clay Struve) for 85.5 points to tie for twelfth and Dueck was 83.5 points on Flying Moccasin (Berger Bucking Bulls) to tie for nineteenth.

The next stop on the Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour will be in Huntington, West Virginia on December 1-2 at the Sandy Superstore Arena.

The 2018 Velocity Tour will culminate with the Velocity Tour Finals at South Point Arena in Las Vegas in 2018, leading into the PBR’s Built Ford Tough World Finals at T-Mobile Arena.