Coach Wiley Petersen with Team USA Wolves. (PBR photo)
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Professional Bull Riders (PBR) announced August 22 a Native American team will debut at the PBR Global Cup February 9 and 10, 2019 in Arlington, Texas and Shoshone-Bannock tribal member Wiley Petersen is coach of Team Wolves.
Wiley has so far selected Stetson Lawrence (Chippewa/Sioux, Williston, N.D.) and Ryan Dirteater (Cherokee, Hulbert, Okla.) for his team. The first two riders are the coaches pick with the remainder of the roster selection process to be announced at a future date according to a PBR press release.
The PBR Global Cup is the only nation-to-nation international bull riding competition. It will be held at AT&T Stadium featuring a $750,000 purse. A new competitive element is added for the competition where the home team, which has an advantage by fielding more riders whose qualified ride scores contributed to the overall team aggregate will now be split into two teams of seven bull riders.
As host country, the U.S. added Team Wolves comprised exclusively of Native riders, along with Team Eagles coached by Justin McBride. McBride coached the Eagles to a win in Edmonton, Canada at the first Global Cup and fourth place in Australia. McBride picked Cooper Davis, Buna, Texas and Cody Nance, Paris, Tenn. for his first two picks. Both U.S. teams of seven riders and one alternate will be comprised exclusively of coach’s picks.
Other teams include:
Team Australia: Coach Troy Dunn (Bloomsbury, Queensland) selected Lachlan Richardson (Gresford, New South Wales) and Nathan Burtenshaw (Coonamble, New South Wales).
Team Brazil: Coach Renato Nunes (Buritama, Brazil) selected Kaique Pacheco (Itatiba, Brazil) and Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil).
Team Canada: Coach Aaron Roy (Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan) selected Dakota Buttar (Kindersley, Saskatchewan) and Tanner Byrne (Prince Albert, Saskatchewan).
Team Mexico: Coach Gerardo Venegas (Juarez, Mexico) selected Juan Carlos Contreras (Huichapan, Mexico) and Jorge Valdiviezo (La Mision, Mexico).
Tickets for the WinStar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA go on sale August 23 at SeatGeek.com, PBR.comor by calling PBRDirect at 800-732-1727.