PUEBLO, Colo. (July 23, 2010) - The Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Division is back to a full slate of events, with stops in Minnesota, Nebraska and Wyoming.
The action returns to Minnesota on Friday and Saturday for the Thunder on Hooves PBR Enterprise Rent-A-Car TPD at the Pennington County Fairgrounds in Thief River Falls, Minn. Bull riding begins at 7:30 p.m. each night with tickets starting at $10 and available by telephone at (218) 681-3720.
Saturday features the Star Valley Super Bull TPD event at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Afton, Wyo., and the Adams County Fair stop in Hastings, Neb. Bull riding in Afton begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are $15 for general admission and $25 for reserved and available at www.superbull2010.com.
The TPD is the minor-league tour of the PBR, where both established veterans and newcomers to the professional ranks compete against some of the most famous bucking bulls. The TPD gives riders the opportunity to compete in PBR-sanctioned events while earning money to qualify for the elite Built Ford Tough Series, which is comprised of the Top 40 bull riders in the world. Every five events on the BFTS, riders (based on points) who have slipped below the Top 30 are dropped from the BFTS and the Top 5 riders (based on money earned) from the TPD are allowed to move into the BFTS.
The BFTS travels to San Antonio for the United States Air Force Invitational at the AT&T Center from July 31-Aug. 1. Tickets begin at $10 and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or by telephone at (800) 745-3000.
The BFTS is having the deepest title race in history, and there have been 15 different winners through the first 21 events. There are 12 riders in the Top 20 of the BFTS standings who have won an event. The multiple-event winners for 2010 are second-ranked Austin Meier (Kinta, Okla.) with four wins, top-ranked Renato Nunes (Buritama, Sao Paulo, Brazil) with three wins and fourth-ranked Valdiron de Oliveira (Aparecida de Goiania, Goiás, Brazil) with two wins.
The BFTS standings lead has changed nine times and there have been six different riders at the top this season. J.B. Mauney (Mooresville, N.C.) has been ranked first three different times, while Meier and Nunes have each held the top spot twice.
For more information on the Professional Bull Riders, please visit www.pbr.com or contact Jack Carnefix at (719) 242-2800 or jcarnefix@pbr.com or Sara Broun at (719) 242-2800 or sbroun@pbr.com.
About the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR)
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on VERSUS, NBC, CBS, FOX and television networks around the world. With approximately 400 hours of prime-time programming annually, the PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air. The PBR attracts nearly two million live event attendees each year with its marquee Built Ford Tough Series and the PBR Touring Pro Division. More than 1,200 PBR bull riders compete every year in approximately 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. The PBR was nominated as 2010 Sports League of the Year at the Sports Business Journal Sports Business Awards alongside the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.
