By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer
Colisee gets ready for 40 bulls and 40 riders in next weekend’s PBR event

LEWISTON – After spending millions on renovations and paving its parking lot, the Colisee is trucking in dirt.

The reason: The arrival of dozens of bucking, snorting and stomping bulls.

Next Friday and Saturday nights, the Colisee is scheduled to host Professional Bull Riding, a NASCAR-like circuit of bull riders from several countries.

Both nights are expected to sell out, Colisee spokeswoman Kelly David said.

Before the second night’s show, the Colisee and leaders from the Oxford Fair plan to put on a “BBQ Bullnanza,” a free-to-the-public event aimed at folks going to the show and anyone else with an interest.

The June 10 preshow event will feature wagon rides, children’s games, hot dogs and hamburgers for sale and free rides on a mechanical bull.

It ought to have a ready-made audience.

Even before the shows were announced, e-mail-connected fans of the PBR circuit began calling the Colisee for tickets.

After all, the riders and the bulls both have their fans. The best are ranked and earn points.

The PBR Web site, www.pbrnow.com, devotes space to each, profiling top riders such as Guilherme Marchi and Mike Lee and top bulls such as Mossy Oak Mudslinger and Smokeless Wardance.

The riders and bulls who come to the Colisee will be among the beginners on the circuit, part of the Discovery Tour Series that last year visited the Civic Center in Portland.

An estimated 40 riders will compete for $12,000 in total prize money, a small purse for the tour, said Jay Daugherty, PBR’s vice president of event tours.

Fans of the tour, familiar with PBR from its TV coverage, will unlikely know the riders or the bulls who come to Lewiston.

However, they ought to know the announcer, Don Gay, an eight-time world champion rider. Gay is the patriarch of a family of rodeo riders and is known for his announcing on TV.

The biggest draw is the event itself.

Over the two nights, each of the 40 riders will get a chance to last eight seconds on a bull, with the 10 best each night getting a chance to compete again, Daugherty said.

The money they earn will help them move up through the PBR ranks to the top tour, the Built Ford Tough Tour.

For the young riders, each ride is important, Daugherty said.

And even the smaller tour brings along its share of baggage. Besides the bulls – which will likely be boarded at a local farm – trucks will bring along the steel pieces of the bucking chutes, the outdoor pens for the bulls and a convoy of RVs for the riders, bull fighters, barrel men and announcers.

The Colisee plans to be ready, David said. The dirt will be waiting.

Of course, it will be trucked away when the event is over.