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SYDNEY CONFIRMED AS NEW HOST FOR BULL RIDING NATIONAL FINALS

05/24/2011

SYDNEY CONFIRMED AS NEW HOST FOR BULL RIDING NATIONAL FINALS
also bucking in Brisbane, Newcastle and TownsvilleJune 18 BRISBANE Entertainment Centre
June 25 TOWNSVILLE Entertainment Centre
July 2 NEWCASTLE Entertainment Centre
July 9 SYDNEY Acer Arena

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

More than six million dollars worth of cowboys will take part in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Australian Cup Series’ National Finals now confirmed for Sydney’s Acer Arena on Saturday July 9.

Originally scheduled for Melbourne, the move to Sydney, confirmed today, was made possible due to the date becoming available at Acer Arena and a revision of production schedules to make it work.

“We always wanted the National Finals to happen in Sydney,” said USA-based PBR Chief Global Events Officer, Dave Cordovano. “The July 9 date opening up at Acer was a great opportunity and the local production team put in numerous hours across the weekend to change schedules and make the move possible.

“We’re thrilled that today we can confirm Sydney will be the home of the 2011 PBR Australian Cup National Finals, the best of bull riding competition in Australia.”

The Sydney Invitational, originally planned to start the Cup Series on June 4, will no longer take place. All tickets purchased to this bull ride remain valid for the new Sydney-hosted July 9 National Finals.

Important in the PBR Australian competition, Melbourne’s previously programmed July 9 bull ride is to be rescheduled for later in the year and a new date will be announced soon.

The 2011 PBR Australian Cup Series, a four-stop competition tour, all on Saturday nights, now kicks off at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on June 18, continues at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on June 25, the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on July 2 and wraps up with the National Finals at Sydney’s Acer Arena on July 9.

Each PBR Australia Cup Series is an individual Invitational with its own purse and winner, and all points earned go toward becoming the PBR Australian Champion!

The 2011 PBR Australian Cup Series is NOT a rodeo … it’s 100% bull riding action from go to whoa! Each of the Saturday night spur-starters in Brisbane, Townsville, Newcastle and the National Finals in Sydney, will be two rounds (all 22 riders ride once each round) plus a final of the top eight qualifiers.

Three hours of dangerous drama on dirt, 22 bull riders, 52 buck outs and a night you’ll never forget. Taking on a tonne of beast is one mean feat but when it’s done by the best in the world, on the country’s most malicious, it’s one helluva thing to watch.

Entréeing the ‘visualanomic’ main, gorgeous Aussie country music star-on-the-rise, Nashville-based, Shea Fisher, returns exclusively for the Cup Series and performs live at all four events.

If big bulls, brave riders and entertainment weren’t enough, each PBR Cup Series is decked out like a concert event: pyrotechnics, flamboyant lighting, video screens and a chest-thumping sound system.

The world’s best bull riders: 14 Australian defenders (some back on home soil for the first time this year from international competition) and eight international champions from the USA, Canada and Mexico, will battle it out for $200,000 prize money and the Australian Championship title!

Reigning defender, 26 year old, Kyogle-born, first-ever, two-time consecutive Australian Champion, Dave Kennedy, is determined to bag a hat-trick three years running!

Currently ranked #35 in the world, Kennedy returns for the 2011 PBR Australian Cup Series fixed on winning the buckle for the third time, as well as the possibility of earning a spot at the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas this October 22-26.

Points earned in Australia count toward the world standings and entry into the PBR World Finals where a $US1 million cash bonus is paid to the winner.

Putting a chink in Kennedy’s armour could be Aussie compatriot, 32 year old, Newcastle-born, Ben Jones.

Jones is at the top of his game in the US and has both the Australian and World Championship titles firmly in his sights.

“I want to be Australian Champion, I want to be World Champion, that’s all there is to it,” charges an unrelenting Jones.

And, the “dancing cowboy”, as he’s known, is a real chance to pull off the history making double.

Tearing it up among the world’s Top 10, Jones is riding like he can slay dragons. He’s the most likely successor Australia has had since Troy Dunn last took out the World Champion title in 1998 and is probably Kennedy’s biggest threat to this year’s Australian championship.

“Champion million dollar cowboys! That’s what we want,” said the Aussie bull riding World Champion and PBR Australia President, Troy Dunn.

“We want the sport to be as big and respected here as it is in the US.

“We want the prize money to keep getting richer.

“Now that we’re holding the National Finals in Australia’s biggest city, and our other events in city arenas where people from all walks can come see what we’re about, it helps us keep growing the sport,” he finished.

This year’s 2011 PBR Australian Cup Series includes Dunn’s signature event, the Troy Dunn Invitational in Townsville, as well as the Brendon Clark-named Invitational in Newcastle.

Clark is a 30 year old Morpeth-born Australian bull rider who, before the 2007 advent of the PBR in Australia, packed up and moved to the US to pursue his career.

He is a great ambassador and impassioned campaigner for the sport in Australia.

Clark has struggled for form this season and is currently sidelined from US competition.

To put him back in contention, Clark returns for 2011 PBR Australian Cup Series, looking for some high scoring rides and to take out his namesake event which he hasn’t won since its 2007 debut.

From Brisbane to Sydney with Townsville and Newcastle in between, cowboy-up for the ride of your life people and don’t miss your chance to check in on some of the best dust-stirring, dirt-kicking live action you’ll ever see.

2011 PBR AUSTRALIAN CUP SERIES:

Saturday June 18
BRISBANE Invitational
BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au

Saturday June 25
TROY DUNN Invitational
TOWNSVILLE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: www.tecc.net.au

Saturday July 2
BRENDON CLARK Invitational
NEWCASTLE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au

Saturday July 9
NATIONAL FINALS
ACER ARENA, Sydney
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au