Rattler Roundup: Sunrise 2024
Rattler Roundup - Duluth, MN
The second round of the 2024 Camping World Team Series went down in Duluth, Georgia over the weekend. Facing off against the Florida Freedom, Arizona Ridge Riders, and Nashville Stampede, your Ariat Texas Rattlers ended the weekend with one win and two losses, bumping our overall ranking down a notch from 6th to 7th overall. It wasn’t quite the weekend we wanted, but there were still some definite highlights:
Night 1 was the Rattlers’ most dynamic, with qualified rides from Brady Oleson (86.75, I’ll Make Ya Famous) and Marcelo Procopio Perez (87.5, Black 6) leading the way to victory over the Florida Freedom. Oleson’s matchup against I’ll Make Ya Famous was his first qualified ride of the 2024 Teams Series season. “It’s good to just do my job,” he told Matt West post-ride, with a characteristic grin on his face. “I know they’ve got faith in me, so it feels good to come through for them.”
Night 2 brought some solid rides from João Ricardo Vieira (82.75, Bootstrap Bill) and Brady Fielder (89.25, Big Chili), but even with Fielder’s stunning nearly-ninety-point-performance, the Rattlers did not bring in quite enough points to offset the Arizona Ridge Riders. Day 3 was also a little rocky in spite of best efforts, and the boys fell in a shutout loss to the Nashville Stampede.
There was still something to celebrate on Sunday, though, as João Ricardo Vieira celebrated his 40th birthday. General Manager Chad Blankenship led the team in singing Happy Birthday in the locker room as he presented João with a cake. JRV is the oldest athlete currently riding in the PBR – and we all know what they say about respecting your elders. Lucky for us, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down anytime soon.
On the bright side, all those qualified rides from Friday and Saturday racked up some big bucks for the Chevron $800 for 8 tally – $3200 to be precise. Combined with the $1600 secured during Wildcatter Days in Oklahoma City, the Rattlers have already racked up $4800 for Permian Basin youth charities in the first two stops of the 2024 season alone. In case you missed it, this incredible partnership is going to be making some big waves this year. You can read more about all the good Chevron and the Rattlers are contributing to here.
Speaking of bright sides, we’re hitting the road again this weekend, heading for the Sunshine State to take on Freedom Days in Sunrise, Florida. Following a bye on Friday night, the Ariat Texas Rattlers will face off against the Austin Gamblers and the Kansas City Outlaws. Saturday night’s matchup with the Gamblers marks the kickoff of the Texas Cup rivalry series. The Rattlers and Gamblers will match up three times throughout the regular season, with this weekend’s game being the first time we’ve squared off since last year’s championship game in Las Vegas. Talk about some Texas-sized tension… You can catch it all, all season long, live or on-demand with Merit Plus.