CAROLINA COWBOYS DOMINATE AUSTIN GAMBLERS, FINISH 2-1 AT GAMBLER DAYS
Cowboys Remain Third in PBR Teams Standings as Five Riders Record a Qualified Ride
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Carolina Cowboys (9-5) recorded a fourth straight 2-1 weekend to remain third in the PBR Teams standings and inch a game closer to the Nashville Stampede (10-4) while at Gambler Days in Austin, Texas.
Five different riders earned a qualified ride as the squad covered a third of their bulls, going 5-for-15 in the capital of Texas.
Friday night in Moody Center, Carolina needed just one ride to edge the New York Mavericks (3-11) 88.7-88. Adriano Salgado’s (Batatais, São Paulo, Brazil) 88.7-point ride aboard The Heat in the third frame gave Carolina the advantage that stood. New York’s Marco Rizzo (Quitman, Ga.) bested El Chapo in the fifth for 88 points, coming up just shy of Salgado’s score.
Saturday night was the lone blemish for the Cowboys in Austin, falling to the Kansas City Outlaws (6-8) 268.55-0. In a game that had four rides for the Outlaws, Carolina was unable to convert against a rank set of bulls.
On Sunday, Carolina turned things around, scoring on their first four bulls to dominate the host Austin Gamblers (6-8) 346.85-175.65 in the final matchup of the event. Carolina’s Thiago Salgado (Naviraí, Brazil) opened the game with 90.8 points on Baylor’s Bandit in the first, followed by Guilherme Valleiras (Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil) covering Pale Face for 87.25 points in the second. Clay Guiton (Cherryville, N.C.), the 2025 PBR Teams Championship MVP, earned his first ride of the season after a tough start following an injury in February with an 87.45-point ride on Outlaw in the third. Keyshawn Whitehorse (McCracken Spring, Utah) put up the fourth score for Carolina with 81.35 points on Ransom.
The Cowboys return to action at Thunder Days at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena Sept. 4-6 in Ridgedale, Mo., where they will face the Arizona Ridge Riders (8-6, Sept. 4), Florida Freedom (7-7, Sept. 5) and Oklahoma Wildcatters (5-9, Sept. 6).
The Cowboys will host their annual homestand, PBR Cowboy Days, on Sept. 18-20 at First Horizon Coliseum.
The bull riding action for the 2026 PBR Team Series’ Cowboy Days at First Horizon Coliseum begins at 7:45 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 18, 7:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 19, and 12:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 20.
For more information on Carolina Cowboys, and for updates on the upcoming PBR Cowboy Days, visit https://pbr.com/teams/carolina-cowboys, Carolina Cowboys on Facebook, @carolinacowboyspbr on Instagram, or @CARCowboysPBR on Twitter. Go behind the scenes for the Carolina Cowboys’ championship season with exclusive long form video content on the Carolina Cowboys’ YouTube channel @CarolinaCowboys.
Box Scores
Game 1 – Austin, Texas — Aug. 21, 2026
Carolina Cowboys 1-for-5 | 88.7 pts
Thiago Salgado BO Outlaw (4.17); Guilherme Valleiras BO Margin of Error (3.92); Adriano Salgado 88.7 (The Heat); Jess Lockwood BO All Magic (4.93); Clay Guiton subbed in for Keyshawn Whitehorse, BO Wicked Intentions (2.03)
New York Mavericks 1-for-5 | 88 pts
Mauricio Gulla Moreira BO Mayor of Hogeye (3.52); Manoelito de Souza Junior BO Washita Red (1.40); Leonardo Castro BO Andy Frisella’s Cupcake (1.82); Leandro Zampollo BO King Tut (2.91); Marco Rizzo 88 (El Chapo)
Game 8 – Austin, Texas — Aug. 22, 2026
Kansas City Outlaws 3-for-5 | 268.55 pts
Sandro Batista 88.35 (Purple Rain); Heitor Santos Ferreira BO Simon Says (2.68); Hayden Welsh 90.7 (Cramer); Koltin Hevalow BO Masterpiece (2.19); Cassio Dias 89.5 (Lieutenant Dan)
Carolina Cowboys 0-for-5 | 0 pts
Clay Guiton BO Rankenstein (6.87); Guilherme Valleiras BO Jameson (2.58); Keyshawn Whitehorse subbed in for Adriano Salgado, BO I’m a Hostage (3.18); Thiago Salgado BO Take Down (4.04); Derek Kolbaba BO Dinero (3.09)
Game 15 – Austin, Texas — Aug. 23, 2026
Carolina Cowboys 4-for-5 | 346.85 pts
Thiago Salgado 90.8 (Baylor’s Bandit); Guilherme Valleiras 87.25 (Pale Face); Clay Guiton 87.45 (Outlaw); Keyshawn Whitehorse 81.35 (Ransom), RR declined; Ezekiel Mitchell BO Chico (3.69)
Austin Gamblers 2-for-5 | 175.65 pts
Jose Vitor Leme 88.75 (Mayor of Hogeye); Dener Barbosa 86.9 (J Lazy S); Kaique Pacheco BO Tankums (4.28);
Vinicius Pinheiro Correa BO King Tut (4.98); Callum Miller BO Stacked Deck (7.03), RR taken, BO High Road (3.02)
About the Carolina Cowboys:
The Carolina Cowboys, 2025 PBR Teams Champions, are based at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., where the team will hold its fifth Cowboy Days homestand Sept. 18-20, 2026. The Cowboys are coached by PBR co-founder Jerome Davis and assistant coach Robson Palermo, a three-time PBR Teams Series World Champion. Under the leadership of General Manager Austin Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 Champion, the team is owned by 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Richard Childress and prominent entrepreneurs and agriculturalists Jeff and Tammie Broin. From a one-man team in 1969, Richard Childress grew Richard Childress Racing (RCR) into one of the most-respected organizations in NASCAR, with nearly 400 team members supporting full-time operations in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series. As a car owner, Childress has earned more than 200 victories in NASCAR’s top three national series, 17 championships, three Daytona 500 championships and three Brickyard 400 championships. Away from the track, Childress is a businessman, philanthropist and conservationist – he loves wine, the outdoors, supporting the military, and investing in America’s youth. Childress’ properties include the award-winning Childress Vineyards. He sits on the board of directors of Growth Energy and holds an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Northwestern Ohio. Entrepreneur and agriculturalist Broin is the founder and CEO of bioprocessing giant POET, the world’s largest biofuel producer. Broin and RCR have a longstanding partnership through NASCAR and worked together to upgrade the league to 15% bioethanol.
About PBR Teams:
PBR Teams is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five games leading to a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During the 2026 season, the league’s fifth, each of the 10 teams – Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Florida Freedom of Sunrise, FL; Kansas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; New York Mavericks of Belmont Park, NY; Oklahoma Wildcatters of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Ridgedale, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX – will host a three-day homestand. Neutral-site games in Anaheim, CA and Fort Collins, CO are part of the 2026 season as well.
PBR Teams, launched in July 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. In events staged in a tournament-style format, all teams compete in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the Protected Roster and three Reserve Roster riders. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game.
PBR is part of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a global sports and entertainment company. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, X at x.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.
Courtesy of Taylor Riemersma
Manager, Public Relations, PBR
taylor.riemersma@pbr.com