“I keep putting him in, and he’s been getting on the grizzly bears every single time. This was one of the hardest bulls we had drawn here and I knew he had a chance to get a big score. This kid is special, he really is,” Arizona Ridge Riders Head Coach Colby Yates said on the Paramount+ broadcast.

“I told Elizmar ‘You just stopped me from having a heart attack. Thank you very much for that 90-point ride.’ He got us back in the game and that’s the fight that this team has. We’ve been fighting all year long and we’ve had some struggling points, but I really feel right now that this is the push that we need to get close to the Finals and win a championship. We have a very strong team and we can come back out of nowhere at any time. We just proved that.”

Arizona native Cody Jesus (Window Rock, Arizona) added a cherry on top for the engaged audience in the bottom of the fifth, marked 88.70 points for the veteran’s first qualified ride of the season.

“It means everything. With a team like this behind me and the fans are amazing here – I’m finally home,” Jesus shared on the Paramount+ broadcast following his ride.

The No. 1 Missouri Thunder (20-8) rode one bull to escape a close 88.90-0 showdown against the (14-14) Texas Rattlers with a victory and extend their lead atop the PBR Teams standings to three games. Julio Cesar Marques (Tatuí, Brazil) matched Reserve Not Met (88.90) jump-for-jump in the bottom of the second to record the game’s only score for the Thunder before entertaining fans with a celebratory backflip. Missouri became the first team in the league to earn 20 wins this season, which represents the most victories in single-season Thunder history.

The Carolina Cowboys (17-11) and Nashville Stampede (17-11) each lost their respective games during the second night of competition, which allowed the Thunder to further distance themselves from the pack as the league’s top-ranked team.

The New York Mavericks (11-17) rode three bulls to upset the No. 3 Carolina Cowboys during Thursday’s opening game. Guilherme Valleiras (Pirassununga, Brazil) got Carolina on the board in the top of the second, scored 86.90 points on Party Down South, his fifth-straight qualified ride, but Afonso Quintino (São Luís de Montes Belos, Brazil) immediately answered with an 86.55-point strike aboard Smooth Violation to bring the Mavericks within .35 points and round out the second. Marco Rizzo (Quitman, Georgia) was marked an identical 86.55 points in the bottom of the third paired against Swisher to put New York in front by 86.20 points before Leonardo Castro (Cassilandia, Brazil) clinched the win for the Mavericks in the bottom of the fourth by going the distance on Cedar Breaks (86.95), which broke Castro’s seven-out buckoff streak. Ezekiel Mitchell (Rockdale, Texas) subbed in and survived the requisite 8 aboard Radical Reel (87.50) in the bottom of the fifth but the Cowboys came up one ride score short, dropping the 260.05-174.40 final.

The Kansas City Outlaws (12-16) rode two bulls to upset the No. 2 Nashville Stampede en route to earning the team’s third-straight victory and fifth win in their last six games. Sandro Batista (Pedra Preta, Brazil) improved to 17-for-28 on the season courtesy of his third-consecutive qualified ride by besting Lari’s Speck for 87 points during Kansas City’s first out. Gustavo Luiz da Silva (Inocência, Brazil) got the Stampede’s scoring started in the bottom of the second, marked 83.45 points on Frito Bandito to battle Nashville within 3.55 points. Silva finished the gritty out strong despite hanging off the side of the bull, albeit with his bull rope in hand. Heitor Santos Ferreira (Goiatuba, Brazil) knocked his re-ride opportunity against Mike’s Motive out of the park later in the contest, scored 89.35 points to extend Kansas City’s lead. Cranking the drama up in the bottom of the fifth, Nashville’s Riquelmi Silva (Bom Jesus do Araguaia, Brazil) went the distance atop Me More Cowboy (87.95) to tighten the final score, but the Stampede lost the game by 4.95 points, 176.35-171.40.

During the fourth game of the night, the Florida Freedom (11-17) continued Friday’s trend of upsets bybeating the No. 4 Austin Gamblers (16-12) by a mere 2.25 points, 86.35-83.10. After witnessing Paulo Eduardo Rossetto (Colorado, Brazil) buck off earlier in the night, three-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil) bested Bruised and Confused for 83.10 points to extend his lead in the PBR Teams MVP race to 92.85 points during Austin’s opening out. However, Florida’s Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil) recorded 86.35 points on Stab Wound in the bottom of the second to claim the lead for the Freedom, which would serve as the game-winning ride following a streak of six-straight buckoffs to conclude the game.

The final day of PBR Teams: Ridge Rider Days presented by Energy Transfer at Desert Diamond Arenaconcludes Saturday, Oct. 10 at 6:45 p.m. MST. All five of Saturday’s games will air on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 3:30 p.m. MST on the CW. Tickets are available to purchase at ticketmaster.com and PBR.com.