After failing to defend their home dirt at the inaugural event in Edmonton, Team Canada will debut two exciting Global Cup rookies in a bid to take the Australian horn of the PBR Global Cup Trophy. Despite having the home field advantage with a team of 14 riders, they were only able to manage a 10-for-32 record against the bulls with the team finishing 3rd in the overall standings. The Canadian team looks a good mix of young guns and veterans with 4 of their 7 riders currently ranked inside the Top 50 on the PBR World Standings.
Team Canada will once again be coached by three-time PBR Canada Champion Aaron Roy (Yellow Grass, SK), who was apart of the Canadian team that finished second in the PBR World Cup event on the Gold Coast in 2007. Roy is a five-time Glen Keeley Award winner as the top Canadian in PBR competition and has qualified for the PBR Finals no less than 7 times. Despite missing the 2017 season after breaking his femur at the 2016 PBR World Finals, the 30-year-old has returned to regular riding on the PBR Canada tour and has ridden 46% of his bulls for the year and recording five top 10 finishes from the nine events he has entered.
Dakota Buttar (Kindersley, SK) – World Ranking: 13th. Buttar has been riding well on the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast tour in 2018 going 15-45 for the year recording top 5 results in events at Oklahoma City, Glendale and Columbus. The 25-year-old will head to Sydney hoping for a bit more luck after being forced to withdraw from the PBR Global Cup in Edmonton following Round 1. Buttar had completed his 84.25 point ride on Big Shot (Skori Bucking Bulls) when he suffered three fractures in his left foot stepping off the bull after the 8-second whistle. The two-time PBR World Finals qualifier and 2017 Glen Keeley Memorial Award will be looking to bounce back following a string of uncharacteristic buck offs in PBR Canada events over the last few weeks.
Brock Radford (Dewinton, AB) – World Ranking: 30th. The 2017 PBR Canada Championship Runner-Up is in the midst of a great 2018 season. Radford has produced winning performances to take home buckles from the PBR Canada Monster Energy Tour event at Alberta and the PBR Touring Pro Division at Ivins, Utah during the first half of the season. The 22-year-old qualified for the PBR Global Cup in Edmonton via the Team Canada Qualifiers where he went 2-for-2 to earn a place in the team. He then went 1-for-2 in the main event covering Gangster Can Do (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve) in Round 3 for 82.75 points. Radford looks to be in good form heading into the Sydney event after finishing 2nd in PBR Canada’s Iron Cowboy last weekend.
Tanner Byrne (Prince Albert, SK) – World Ranking: 21st. At the halfway point of the 2018 PBR Season, the 25-year-old Canadian finds himself firmly entrenched in the Top 35 of the PBR World Standings thanks largely to a big win at the St. Louis Invitational on the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast tour in February where he covered Bad Beagle (Jared Allen PBT/Phenom Genetics) in the championship round for 88.0 points. After a rough 2017 season, 2018 did not start off well for Byrne, who went 1-for-4 in the PBR Global Cup at Edmonton and 1-for-5 here in Australia before bouncing back with his win at St. Louis and a strong 6th placing in Anaheim on the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast tour. Byrne has added another event win to his record a fortnight ago taking out the PBR Canada Touring Pro event in Nipawin, SK.
Zane Lambert (Ponoka, AB) – World Ranking: 91st. The 12-year PBR Veteran will be looking for another solid result at the PBR Global Cup in Sydney after a 2-for-4 performance in Edmonton. Lambert has been riding very well in Canada over the last few years and last year took home the 2017 PBR Canada Championship and Finals Event Title. This was the 31-year-old’s second PBR Canada Championship after taking home the title in 2013. Lambert is no stranger to Australia producing excellent results whenever he makes the trip over the Pacific. Since 2009, he has ridden 14 of his 15 bulls down under. So far in 2018, Lambert has ridden 50% of his bulls and looks to be one of Team Canada’s main strike weapons coming off a Top 5 results in Halifax, NS on PBR Canada’s Monster Energy Cup on Saturday night.
Lonnie West (Cadogan, AB) – World Ranking: 49th. Following his 1-for-3 event in Edmonton at the inaugural Global Cup event, West wasted no time getting his first event win of the 2018 PBR Season going 2-for-2 in New Town, ND. to break through for his first win on the Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour. The 22-year-old has ridden 40% of his bulls this year and made his 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast tour in Billings, MT back in April where he finished 8th in the event. West has been riding well in the last month leading up to the PBR Global Cup in Sydney with strong runner-up finishes in the recent PBR Canada Monster Energy Cup event in Ottawa, ON and also in Halifax, NS this past weekend.
Jared Parsonage (Maple Creek, SK) – World Ranking: 69th. Parsonage has been riding very consistently this year covering 66% of his bulls at PBR Canada events to sit 3rd in the PBR Canada National Standings. After a strong finish to 2017 where the 25-year-old finished off the season with a 9-for-13 record, Parsonage has stepped up another level producing winning performances at Prince Albert, SK and Teepee Creek, AB in the PBR Canada Touring Pro division. Parsonage will make his PBR Global Cup debut in Sydney.
Wacey Finkbeiner (Ponoka, AB) – World Ranking: 102nd. Riding at an impressive 42% this year, Finkbeiner has recorded five top 10 finishes on the PBR Canada tours from just 9 events in 2018. The 25-year-old is currently ranked 8th on the PBR Canada National Standings with his best result coming at Prince Albert, SK where he finished 6th on the first night of competition and 2nd on the final night, covering 3 of his 4 bulls for the weekend. Finkbeiner is another talented rider that will be making his PBR Global Cup debut in Sydney.
Coming up next – Team Brazil.