Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour set for weekend stop at Spokane Arena
When Scottie Knapp was 3 years old, he started riding on the backs of sheep.
Gradually, the cowboy worked his way up to junior bulls, then bigger bulls, and now all the way up to the Triple-A of bull riding, which is what brings him to Spokane this weekend.
“Really, there ain’t nothing I’ve ever done like it, as far as the mental prep for it and the physical aspect,” the 29-year-old Knapp said while driving north through Utah on Wednesday. “When you just rode a bucking sucker, you feel like a dragon slayer.
“You gotta be wild at heart.”
Knapp is one of 40 riders who is slated to participate in the Spokane Classic, which starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Spokane Arena.
The Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, a step below the Professional Bull Riders’ “Unleash the Beast” main tour, is making its eighth stop of the year and marks the first PBR-related event in Spokane in five years. “Unleash the Beast” features the top 35 bull riders in the PBR.
This weekend’s event is one of a number of double-ups on this year’s PWVT tour, such as its popularity has been. There is another event in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday. The PWVT started in 2014 as an expansion tour for the PBR.
“What people want to see is that ‘man versus beast’ battle,” said Easton Colvin, public relations manager for the tour. “Can you best this animal that weighs 10 times more than you do for 8 seconds?”
The transformation of the Arena from a hockey rink to a bull riding venue will start Friday morning, when about 1.5 million pounds of dirt will be trucked in.
Saturday’s event will consist of a long round of 40 riders followed by a short round of the top 15. The winner of the event gets an automatic invitation to the Iron Cowboy PBR event Feb. 7 and 8 in Los Angeles. The tour champion automatically qualifies for the PBR World Finals later this year in Las Vegas.
Previous stops for the PWVT this month included: Portland; Baltimore; Denver; Reno, Nevada; Jacksonville, Florida; and Oakland, California.
Knapp, who makes his home in New Mexico, said he has been to Spokane for a few events before as recently as 2015.
In a given year, Knapp estimated he rides between 100 and 200 bulls, depending on his health and how many times he advances to the short round. If he can stay on for 30% of those rides, he figures he can make a living.
“If you don’t eat, sleep and breathe it, you probably shouldn’t be doing it,” Knapp said.
Tickets start at $17 and can be purchased at spokanearena.com.
“There’s gonna be a lot of bright lights, a lot of loud music, some of the best bull riders in the world,” Knapp said. “It’s gonna be a good show.”