It's setting up to be another strong PBR Canada season for Eatonia's Dakota Buttar. The local bull riding athlete didn't place this past weekend at the Ripley Ruble Touring Pro Division event in Melfort, but is coming off a few strong finishes in May that helped him to the second spot on the leaderboard entering June.
Entering June, Buttar finds himself 151 points behind Jake Gardner for first place in the PBR Canada standings. Buttar has only attended eight events and has a 66 per cent ride percentage, compared to Gardner in first place who has competed in 14 events, sporting an impressive 72 in the ride percentage column to date. It's a tight race behind Buttar with Jordan Hansen only 204.5 points away from first, Cody Coverchuk down 226.17, and Coy Robbins, Nick Tetz, and Aaron Roy all within the 300–310-point range.
Buttar finished just behind Gardner at the PBR Brandon Chute Out event the weekend of May 23. Buttar took home first during the opening round of action with an 84.5 ride score, and then a share of the lead in Round 3 being one of three riders to earn an 88-ride score. The impressive showing wasn't enough for Buttar as Gardner edged him out by one point in the ride score column to take the event win.
Other action for Buttar in May included a third place showing at PBR Dauphin a night before Brandon. Before that was the Rose City Invitational in Camrose on May 10 where Buttar went pointless, and the Koye Larson Memorial Cup in Brooks a day earlier where Buttar took a sixth-place finish.
Next up on the PBR Canada cup series schedule is a trip out east for the PBR London Classic this weekend, and the PBR Ottawa Classic next weekend. On the Touring Pro Division side, the Cluny Charity PBR goes June 26 in Cluny, followed by the Wild West PBR in Ponoka on June 28.