Led by four-time PRCA world champion bareback rider Bobby Mote, the Free Riders roster was assembled via the WCRA’s Rodeo Corpus Christi
FORT WORTH, Texas (May 13, 2024) – With less than a week remaining before the inauguralKid Rock’s Rock N Rodeothis Friday, May 17, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the 16-athlete roster for the Free Riders was today announced.
Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeois a reimaginedrodeo produced by PBR in partnership with Kid Rock. Six teams, each led by a legendary rodeo head coach, will compete head-to-head in bracket-style competition for a $1 million purse.Within the new $1-million team-formatted rodeo,Kid Rock will perform live in concert.
The Free Riders, under the leadership of four-time PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) world champion bareback riderBobby Mote,was the lone team formed independent of the Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo Draft held this past March. The Free Riders were fielded based on the WCRA’s (World Champion Rodeo Alliance) Major rodeo in Corpus Christi, Texas, Rodeo Corpus Christi, which concluded on May 11. The Top 2 athletes in each discipline not already drafted to one of the other five teams earned a chance to ride for the Free Riders.
The talent-packed 16-athlete roster holds three World Championships, four National Finals Rodeo (NFR) aggregate wins, and 35 NFR qualifications, and has amassed more than $8.7 million in career earnings.
The Free Riders roster is as follows:
- Bareback Riding:Nick Pelke(Mondovi, Wisconsin) andRC Landingham(Hat Creek, California)
- Barrel Racing:Bayleigh Choate(Fort Worth, Texas) andMakenzie Mayes(Winnsboro, Texas)
- Breakaway Roping:Kiely Walz(Ainsworth, Nebraska) andMarybeth Beam(Poetry, Texas)
- Saddle Bronc Riding:Cash Wilson(Wall, South Dakota) andCole Elshere(Faith, South Dakota)
- Steer Wrestling:Cody Doescher(Webbers Falls, Oklahoma) andLevi Rudd(Chelsea, Oklahoma)
- Team Roping:Luke Brown(Header | Rock Hill South Carolina)/Jade Corkill(Heeler | Fallon, Nevada) andJake Smith(Header | Broken Bow, Oklahoma)/Douglas Rich(Heeler | Herrick, Illinois)
- Tie Down Roping:Jarvis Demery(Beggs, Oklahoma) andQuade Hiatt(Canyon, Texas).
Choate (barrel racing), Wilson (saddle bronc riding) Brown/Corkill (team roping) and Demery (tie down roping) are all ready to compete at the landmark $1 million Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo fresh off being crowned Rodeo Corpus Christi event winners.
For Fort Worth’s own Choate, the 20-year-old delivered a lightning fast 14.358-second run in the barrel racing to punch her ticket to the team-formatted rodeo inside the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. In the saddle bronc riding inside American Bank Center Arena, Wilson dominated, delivering an 87.5-point ride to beat out the second-place finisher by four points. Brown and Corkill lit up the scoreboard in the team roping, logging a 6.00-second run to win with ease, running a full 4.17 seconds faster than the runner-up. Demery rounded out the winning contingent at Rodeo Corpus Christi, logging a 7.52-second run to claim victory by a margin of 4.482 seconds.
Other headline riders on the Free Riders roster include RC Landingham, the first and only victor of the $1 million Triple Crown of Rodeo bonus, earned in 2022. In winning the bonus, he became just the fourth athlete in Western sports history to become an overnight millionaire. Prior to Rodeo Corpus Christi, where he finished third, Landingham had been sidelined by injury.
The Free Riders will also boast an accomplished team roping duo in Brown and Corkill. Brown is a three-time NFR aggregate winner and 12-time qualifier as a header to the year-end event, while Corkill is a three-time World Champion heeler, one-time NFR aggregate winner and 13-time qualifier.
The experienced pair, along with winning Rodeo Corpus Christi together, also roped together at the 2008 National Finals Rodeo, placing in seven of the 10 rounds.
In addition to the Free Riders team, two substitutes were announced for the other five competing teams.
On the Convoy,Dean Thompson(Altamont, Utah) replacesTim O’Connell(Zwingle, Iowa) in the bareback riding, while on the Jokers,Joey Williams(Volborg, Montana) will substituteJordi Edens(Gatesville, Texas) in the breakaway roping.
Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeowill begin on Friday, May 17 at 7:45 p.m. CT inside AT&T Stadium. When the dust settles on the historic event, the famed venue will then host the PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship on Saturday, May 18 at 7:45 p.m. CT and Sunday, May 19 at 1:45 p.m. CT, when the 2024 PBR World Champion will be crowned, earning the accompanying $1 million bonus and coveted gold buckle.
Tickets for bothKid Rock’s Rock N RodeoandPBR World Finals – Championshipcan be purchased online at ATTStadium.com, SeatGeek.com, KidRockNRodeo.com and PBR.com/WorldFinals, or by phone at 1-800-732-1727.
About PBR (Professional Bull Riders):
PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 800 bull riders compete in more than 200 events annually across the televised PBR Unleash The Beast tour (UTB), which features the top bull riders in the world; the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (PWVT); the PBR Touring Pro Division (TPD); and the PBR’s international circuits in Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. In 2022, the organization launched PBR Teams—eight teams of the world’s best bull riders competing for a new championship—as well as the PBR Challenger Series with more than 60 annual events nationwide. The organization’s digital assets include PBR RidePass on Pluto TV, which is home to Western sports.PBR is a subsidiary of Endeavor, a globalsports and entertainment company.For more information, visitPBR.com, or follow on Facebook atFacebook.com/PBR, Twitter atTwitter.com/PBR, and YouTube atYouTube.com/PBR.
About Kid Rock:
Kid Rock is a multi-platinum award-winning American rock ‘n roll icon. His music has been characterized as a melting pot of musical genres; from rap-rock in the ‘90s with singles “Bawitdaba” and “Cowboy,” to the multi-chart hit “Picture,” a collaboration with Sheryl Crow, to the global smash hit, “All Summer Long,” charted at No. 1 in eight countries across Europe and Australia. Rock has sold nearly 30 million records worldwide and has earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working acts in rock n’ roll, blowing the roofs off arenas and stadiums on countless cross-country tours and treks around the globe. Kid Rock holds the Michigan record for most tickets sold with 150,000 for a run of ten consecutive sold-out shows, and he set the Little Caesars Arena attendance record in his hometown of Detroit with 86,893 attendees in six sold-out shows. Kid Rock is also a passionate supporter of those who serve in the US Armed Forces, in addition to many other charitable causes through his Kid Rock Foundation. His newest album, Bad Reputation, was released through his own Top Dog Records label. The album features crowd favorites, “Don’t Tell Me How To Live,” “We The People,” and “My Kind of Country,” a song he co-wrote with Eric Church and Adam Hood.
About AT&T Stadium:
AT&T Stadium is the largest, most technologically advanced entertainment venue in the world. Designed by HKS and built by Manhattan Construction, the $1.2 billion stadium features two monumental arches, the world’s largest HDTV video board cluster, an expansive retractable roof and the largest retractable end zone doors in the world. Features of the stadium include seating for 80,000 and expandability for up to 100,000, over 300 luxury suites, club seating on multiple levels and the Dallas Cowboys Pro Shop, open to the public year-round. Outside the stadium, the Miller Lite® House is a branded destination that boasts a 70-yard Cowboys turf field featuring field games, four video boards and over 60 television screens, two fantasy football screen walls and over 87,000 outdoor square-footage for event day experiences. The space also features two beer gardens and a walk-in beer cooler. The stadium is also home to a world-class collection of contemporary art, made up of over 92 works of art by 62 established and emerging artists displayed on the walls and in the grand public spaces of the venue. In addition to being the home of the Dallas Cowboys since opening in 2009, the stadium has hosted Super Bowl XLV, the 2010 NBA All Star Game, the annual Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, the 2014 NCAA Men’s Final Four, the 2015 inaugural College Football Playoff Championship Game, the 2015 50th Anniversary Academy of Country Music Awards show and WrestleMania 32 & 38. The venue has also played host to high school and college football, concerts, championship fights, international soccer matches and other special events. For more information, go toattstadium.com.
