World Title Contenders Oliver & Lawrence Expect to be Good for Los Angeles

By: Justin Felisko

ST. LOUIS – The PBR Unleash The Beast season is now eight events in, and injuries are beginning to pile up, including some minor ones for the men battling it out in the 2022 World Championship race.

World title contenders Kyler Oliver and Stetson Lawrence spent a good portion of Saturday night watching the finale of the PBR TicketSmarter Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, from the training tables inside the PBR Sports Medicine room.

However, both riders expect to be good for the PBR Pluto TV Invitational on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

Oliver, the No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world, strained his left groin earlier in the evening when Mule Train bucked him off in 5.12 seconds.

“He just kind of stretched me,” Oliver said. “It didn’t hurt as bad when I got off, and then as I just slowed down, everything just started hurting a little more. The bull was good. He felt good, and he was smart. My hip has been bothering me too.

“I’ll be good for LA, though. Just trying to keep myself good. We’ve got a lot of bulls coming.”

Oliver says he does not need to undergo an MRI this week, and he decided not to compete in the championship round to prevent further injury with so many events coming up in a short time.

The 22-year-old understands he has some flexibility to be cautious with his injury seeing as he is only 102.5 points behind world leader Joao Ricardo Vieira.

“You can save your body sometimes,” Oliver said. “It’s good to come in feeling good instead of being hurt for three weeks, instead of just for one.”

Oliver gained one point on Vieira courtesy of his 12th-place finish inside Enterprise Center. The Utah cowboy began his weekend with 86.75 points on Mr. Winston.

Meanwhile, Lawrence did not compete on Saturday night after he sprained his right ankle following an 87.25-point ride on Ceilis Pyper in Round 1 on Friday night.

 
Lawrence had hoped he would be able to give it a go on Saturday, but a night full of ice and compression therapy with a Game Ready machine did not do the trick. The No. 4-ranked bull rider in the world’s ankle was so swollen he was pretty sure it would be close to impossible to get his foot into his cowboy boots for Round 2.

The North Dakota native also agreed with Oliver about having the luxury to take a night off and preserve his body because of his world ranking.

Lawrence, who had his foot in a walking boot, does not need to undergo X-rays, and he is confident he should be ready for Los Angeles in a few days.

“I’ve got this brace, but I don’t think nothing is broke,” Lawrence said. “It’s just really badly sprained. It’s still swollen. I took the Game Ready thing home to the hotel, and I iced it all the way through the night until early in the morning, throughout the day, and it still didn’t get any smaller. I was like, ‘Screw it. It hurts to walk on. I’m not getting on.’

“I don’t have to get on. I don’t need to. I’d rather give it a good three or four days until Los Angeles. Get two bulls rode there and frickin’ ride good, and go on from there.”

Lawrence finished St. Louis in 15th place and will head to Los Angeles 174.5 points behind Vieira in the world standings.

CAMPBELL TO BE FURTHER EVALUATED MONDAY IN DALLAS

The Team USA Eagles always seem to be struck with bad injury luck ahead of the Global Cup, which appears to be developing once again.

Team member Boudreaux Campbell, the only rider selected to the Eagles this year with prior Global Cup experience, could not finish the weekend in St. Louis because of an injury to his riding hand.

Campbell first injured his hand during his 2-for-2 victory last weekend at the Pendleton Whisky Tour’s Bluff City Classic. Campbell won the event with his 89.5-point ride on Hollywood but injured his hand in the process. The hand appeared to be doing better during the week, but the injury flared up when he attempted to ride at the PRCA rodeo in Jackson, Mississippi.

The 2020 PBR World Finals event winner tried to gut through the injury Friday night in St. Louis to no avail, losing his bull rope at 2.52 seconds attempting to ride Gangster Bones.

Campbell said he will now get X-rays of his hand and potentially an MRI to determine the extent of his injury to see what his next steps will be. He is not ruling out the possibility of still being able to ride for Team USA.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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