After its debut in 2024, the second annual PBR Canada Energy Dodge Dakota Buttar Invitational in Kindersley presented double the fun, and even higher stakes this past weekend with two nights of action inside the West Central Events Centre.
The Eatonia native and event namesake Buttar overcame getting bucked off Friday for a spectacular performance on Saturday — all part of a very important weekend in the PBR Canada standings as second place rider Jake Gardner moved within 1.5 points of Buttar for first place.
Not sparing any expenses for the small-town show, the PBR Canada Touring Pro Division event made its grand entrance on Friday night introducing the 24 riders set to compete for the biggest purse on the touring division calendar this season.
The first night of competition saw Tanner Eno from Coronation take first place with an impressive ride score of 88.
Maple Creek's Jared Parsonage finished second with a ride score of 86.5, and then another Saskatchewan rider, Weston Davidson from Strongfield, took an 85.5 to round out the top three as part of eight riders to complete a ride in the first round. Aaron Roy and Chanse Switzer placed fourth with ride scores of 84, Lonnie West and Tanner Skene also tying at 83.5 for spots 4-8.
The final two spots went to Jake Gardner in eighth who picked up 12 important points with his first-round score of 82, and finally ninth place Garrett Green who stayed on for a ride score of 75.
The ride everybody in the building was looking forward to, unfortunately Dakota Buttar was unable to stay on during the opening round in Kindersley, continuing a 12-year streak of never completing a ride in Kindersley as advertised headed in.
Buttar might not have had a successful Friday night as an athlete, but he did have something to point to as a teacher, as during the junior bull rider event on Friday it was none other than Fiske, Saskatchewan's own Jayce Rieger (a student of Buttar’s) taking home the event title.
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With Eno crowned the champion for night one, the gates opened up on Friday night for the first of two after parties on the dirt of Inter Pipeline Arena.
Saturday was then full of PBR fanfare in Kindersley as from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM an autograph session at Energy Dodge gave fans a chance to greet the bull riders they watched compete the night prior. After that the riders were sent their different ways to prepare for night two, rumour having that some cowboys traded in their hat for a helmet and took a few laps at the local racetrack.
As the late afternoon rolled around, riders got back in the saddle to prepare for the second evening of action. The near capacity crowd watched on as the PBR athletes took on their second rides of the weekend, but everyone's focus was on Buttar.
With his home crowd watching on, Buttar stayed true to his sport by hanging on for dear life, going horizontal at one point, to earn a ride score of 86.5 and take first place in the second round.
Five others managed to complete a ride before Buttar's hometown heroics as Gilmar Santana scored an 84.5, Jerson Arantes put up an 84, Jake Gardner and Coy Robbins tying at 82.5 to finish fourth and fifth ahead of Tanner Skene who picked up a ride score of 80.5.
Buttar's spectacular ride earned him a spot in the finals alongside the nine other riders in the championship round — Gardner, Parsonage, Roy, Santana, Eno, Switzer, Davidson, Arantes and Skene.
In dramatic fashion, the highly contested touring division event came down to only Buttar and Gardner as eight out of the ten riders making the final were bucked off.
Off the momentum of his earlier ride, Buttar rode the bull 'God Bless' of W Sunrise Contractors to the tune of an 87-ride score.
(Watch below)
That score vaulted Buttar into a championship round win after Gardner only earned a ride score of 82.5 on the back of Flying Four Bucking Bulls 'Dark Mark', as a fired up Buttar gave a post-ride interview following his second completed attempt in a row.
"(God Bless) is a bit of a handful, got him at Ponoka this year and got about 7.5 seconds, so I was pretty excited to get a matchup against him today," said Buttar, before thanking the crowd. "Thank you everybody for all the support. I appreciate it so much, you are awesome."
While Buttar stole the show during his spectacular Saturday, an aggregate score of 247 across both nights gave the Fort St. John, BC native Gardner the overall event win.
More importantly, the result brought Gardner to only within a couple points of Buttar's lead for first place in the nation.
"I really want it... I just know I have to push myself even when I don't want to, and I am just truly grateful for it."
The determined rider applauded organizers in Kindersley for putting together the two-nights of high-stakes competition.
"Thanks to Dakota, Pete, and Tiff for putting on this wonderful event, a lot of work goes into it."
In the midst of an intense race with the two-time PBR Canada champion Buttar, the gravity of the national standings is not lost on Gardner, who plans on "putting his head down and letting the cards lay where they may" this season against a friend and rival.
"Dakota is a good buddy of mine, and we are each rooting for each other each time... It's just so awesome to compete with a good friend like that," said Gardner post event, as he earned 80 points to Buttar's 50 on the weekend to move within only 1.5 points of first place.
Gardner also took home prize money of $7522.50, while Buttar walked away with $6,885.
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Fans can expect the hotly contested race at the top of the PBR Canada standings to continue into November when the PBR Canada National finals hit Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Buttar's slim lead over Gardner comes with less events and rides on the season. With 37 rides to Gardners 55, Buttar has a 59.46 ride percentage compared to Gardners 52.73 per cent, both on a current ride streak of two.
Matching the vibe in 2024, both nights of the 2025 show were by all means "magical" as the main event promoter Gebraad likes to put it.
Not only because of the action on the dirt and overall support from the stands; but from the goodness of people's hearts as a special hospital equipment donation project took off and began running to the tune of over $75,000 in donations.
Find more information on the gracious donations HERE via the Kinsmen and Kinette Club of Kindersley Facebook page and expect more on the amazing fundraising efforts that will help the local hospital get a new anesthetic machine.
Anybody who stuck around for the final announcements may have caught that they expect an even bigger and better event next year. If 2025 proves anything — from the hometown support for Dakota and the local healthcare initiative — Kindersley will be ready for the challenge.