By Casey Albert
CHICAGO – In front of a sold-out Saturday night crowd in Chicago, Illinois, Cassio Dias’ (Sao F. de Sales, Brazil) dominant rookie season continued as the reserved Brazilian went a perfect 3-for-3 to win his PBR (Professional Bull Riders) best third Unleash The Beast event of the season at Tractor Supply Co. PBR Chicago, reclaiming the No. 1 rank in the feverish battle for the 2024 World Championship.
Dias, who rides for the Kansas City Outlaws in the separate PBR Teams league, travelled to Illinois ranked No. 2, trailing then No. 1 Austin Richardson (Dallas, Texas) by 28 points.
Eager to reclaim the top spot in the standings, Dias was quick to strike in Round 1, delivering the fourth-best score as he teamed with IHOP (Next Level Bucking Bulls) for an 87-point score. He then remained perfect in Round 2 when he reached the requisite 8 with ease aboard Grey Fox (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell) for 86.75 points.
The back-to-back scores propelled Dias to second in the event ahead of the championship round. In the final round’s bull draft, Dias used his second selection to architect a first-time showdown with Do Dat Eddie (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell).
After settling in atop the chutes, Dias nodded with confidence delivering a textbook ride as the capacity crowd erupted in raucous cheer. Awarded an event-best 89 points, the score proved enough to cement Dias his PBR-best third Unleash The Beast victory of the season.
In addition to a check for $48,906, Dias earned a crucial 136 Unleash The Beast points. He overtook Richardson, who did not compete on Championship Saturday due to injury, for the No. 1 rank in the 2024 PBR World Championship race, now 108 points out front.
The Arizona Ridge Riders’ Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil) was second, earning 92.5 Unleash The Beast points.
After converting aboard Rooster (Jenkins Cattle Co.) for 85.5 points in Round 1, Aparecido went the distance atop Reinstate Hank (Phenom Genetics/Dragonetics/Sankey/Basham) for 85.25 points in Round 2.
The veteran contender then punctuated his outing in the Windy City with an 85.5-point ride on American You (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell) in the championship round.
Seeking his first gold buckle this May, Aparecido surged from No. 8 to No. 3 in the standings. He is now within 345 points of No. 1 Dias.
Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil) parlayed his own 3-for-3 showing into a third-place finish.
The Florida Freedom rider bested Rank Frank (Jenkins Cattle Co.) for 84.5 points in Round 1 and Rooster for 82.5 points in Round 2 to punch his ticket to the championship round seventh on the event leaderboard.
Cerqueira elected to go head-to-head with Roc Wit It (K-C Bucking Bulls/JoZ Bucking Bulls), a decision which proved dividends. Remaining in perfect time with the high-flying bovine athlete, Cerqueira made the whistle with ease, marked an event-best 89 points.
The bronze showing netted Cerqueira 76.5 Unleash The Beast points. He catapulted from No. 30 to No. 15 in the standings.
As the final rider to be flawless inside Allstate Arena, the reining PBR Teams Champion Texas Rattlers’ Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia) was fourth, garnering 56.5 Unleash The Beast points.
Fielder rode Crime Time (C Check Bucking Bulls) for 85 points in Round 1, Big Show (Robinson Bucking Bulls) for 84 points in Round 2 and Night Hawk (Logan Clancey/Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger) for 82.75 points in the championship round.
The surging Australian rose from No. 9 to No. 4 in the race for the 2024 PBR World Championship. He is now within 385.17 points of No. 1 Dias.
Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was the Austin Gamblers’ Cort McFadden (Novice, Texas).
Fresh off his mid-week event win in Denver, Colorado, McFadden led the Tractor Supply Co. PBR Chicago leaderboard entering the final round compliments of an 86.75-point ride on Nightmare (Universal Pro Rodeo) in Round 1 and a Round 2-best 87.25-point ride on Sly (K-C Bucking Bulls/RD Cattle).
McFadden, however, stumbled in the championship round, upended by Polar Express (Sterk Bucking Bulls) in 5.26 seconds to be denied his first Unleash The Beast victory.
Taking home 59 Unleash The Beast points, McFadden rose from unranked to No. 30 in the standings.
In the bull pen, Red Demon (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell) bucked supreme, crowned the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event. Bucking in the championship round, the powerful animal athlete tossed the Carolina Cowboys’ Boudreaux Campbell (Crockett, Texas) in a swift 3.73 seconds.
The PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the Express Ranches PBR Tulsa, presented by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Tulsa. The event is on Friday, January 19, at 7:45 p.m. CT and Saturday, January 20, at 6:45 p.m. CT.
Elsewhere in the PBR, the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour held events in both Charleston, West Virginia, and Spokane, Washington.
In Charleston, West Virginia, Marco Rizzo (Quitman, Georgia) dominated the competition, winning his career first event at PBR Charleston, going 2-for-3. He first converted in Round 1 when he tied for the second-best score courtesy of an 85.5-point ride on Blue Suede Shoes (Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls). He then surged to the top of the event leaderboard when he covered Bossed Up (Blake Sharp) for 86 points. While he was bucked off by First Class(Dave Martin/Mike Miller Bucking Bulls) in a close 6.7 seconds in the final round, his opening two scores were enough to clinch the win. He left West Virginia with a critical 113.5 Velocity Global points.
The Velocity Tour event in Spokane is still in progress.
The PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour next travels to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Reno, Nevada, on Jan. 19-20.
The Tractor Supply Co. PBR Grand Rapids at Van Andel Arena gets underway on Friday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. CST and concludes on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. CST. PBR Reno at the Reno Events Center begins on Friday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. PST and will come to a climactic conclusion on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. PST.
PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast and Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour event. PBR RidePass is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv. Click here for on-demand PBR programming.
PBR Unleash The Beast
Tractor Supply Co. PBR Chicago
Allstate Arena – Chicago, Illinois
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
- Cassio Dias, 87-86.75-89-262.75-136 Points.
- Eduardo Aparecido, 85.5-85.25-85.5-256.25-92.5 Points.
- Alex Cerqueira, 84.5-82.5-89-256.00-76.5 Points.
- Brady Fielder, 85-84-82.75-251.75-56.5 Points.
- Cort McFadden, 86.75-87.25-0-174.00-59 Points.
- Kaique Pacheco, 83.25-84.25-0-167.50-32.5 Points.
- Silvano Alves, 84.5-82.5-0-167.00-23.5 Points.
- Ednélio Almeida, 83.25-81.5-0-164.75-21 Points.
- Daylon Swearingen, 88.25-0-0-88.25-32 Points.
- Boudreaux Campbell, 87.25-0-0-87.25-19 Points.
(tie). Keyshawn Whitehorse, 87.25-0-0-87.25-19 Points.
- Mason Taylor, 87-0-0-87.00-15.5 Points.
- Cody Jesus, 0-86.75-0-86.75-17.5 Points.
- Wyatt Rogers, 86.5-0-0-86.50-13 Points.
- Bob Mitchell, 0-86.25-0-86.25-16 Points.
- Conner Halverson, 85.75-0-0-85.75-12 Points.
- Sage Steele Kimzey, 85.5-0-0-85.50-10.5 Points.
- Braidy Randolph, 0-85-0-85.00-14 Points.
(tie). Eli Vastbinder, 85-0-0-85.00-8.5 Points.
- Koltin Hevalow, 84.25-0-0-84.25-8 Points.
(tie). Vitor Losnake, 0-84.25-0-84.25-12.5 Points.
- Flavio Zivieri, 84-0-0-84.00-8 Points.
- John Crimber, 83.5-0-0-83.50-8 Points.
(tie). Lucas Divino, 83.5-0-0-83.50-8 Points.
- Wingson Henrique da Silva, 82-0-0-82.00-8 Points.
- Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 80.25-0-0-80.25-8 Points.
- Alan de Souza, 0-70.75-0-70.75
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Caden Bunch, 0-0-0-0.00
Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
Jesse Petri, 0-0-0-0.00
Brady Oleson, 0-0-0-0.00
João Lucas Campos, 0-0-0-0.00
Jake Morinec, 0-0-0-0.00
Guilherme Valleiras, 0-0-0-0.00
Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Dener Barbosa, 0-0-0-0.00
João Henrique Lucas, 0-0-0-0.00
Briggs Madsen, 0-0-0-0.00
Clay Guiton, 0-0-0-0.00
PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour
PBR Charleston, Brought to You by Oglebay Resort
Charleston Civic Center – Charleston, West Virginia
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3- Event Aggregate-Event Points)
- Marco Rizzo, 85.5-86-0-171.50-113.5 Points.
- Brandon Chambers, 80.5-83-0-163.50-77 Points.
- Dylan Smith, 0-87-0-87.00-51.5 Points.
(tie). Weston Davidson, 0-87-0-87.00-51.5 Points.
- Marco Eguchi, 86.5-0-0-86.50-45 Points.
- Michael Lane, 0-86-0-86.00-25 Points.
(tie). Jean Fernandes Pereira, 0-86-0-86.00-25 Points.
- Leandro Machado, 85.5-0-0-85.50-22.5 Points.
- Hunter Ball [2], 0-84-0-84.00-18 Points.
- Casey Roberts, 83.5-0-0-83.50-17.5 Points.
(tie). Gabriel Morais, 0-83.5-0-83.50-14.5 Points.
- Ramon de Lima, 80-0-0-80.00-14 Points.
- Dakota Warnken, 79-0-0-79.00-5 Points.
- Tyler Manor, 76.5-0-0-76.50-4 Points.
Hunter Ball [1], 0-0-0-0.00
Cody McCandless, 0-0-0-0.00
Chad Hartman, 0-0-0-0.00
Zane Cook, 0-0-0-0.00
Dustin Herman, 0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0.00
Grayson Cole, 0-0-0-0.00
Matt Allgood, 0-0-0-0.00
Rubens Barbosa, 0-0-0-0.00
Alex Jenks, 0-0-0-0.00
João Paulo Fernandes, 0-0-0-0.00
Eder Barbosa, 0-0-0-0.00
Alvin Detweiler, 0-0-0-0.00
Jake Maher, 0-0-0-0.00
Michael Phillips, 0-0-0-0.00
Ashton Sahli, 0-0-0-0.00
Tyler Craig, 0-0-0-0.00
Cole Trivette, 0-0-0-0.00
Eli Byler, 0-0-0-0.00
Will Loomis, 0-0-0-0.00
Leandro Aparecido da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00
2024 PBR Unleash The Beast Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5’s, Points, Total Winnings)
- Cassio Dias, 7, 3, 4, 611.50, $169,064.00
- Austin Richardson, 7, 2, 3, 503.50, $183,857.00
- Eduardo Aparecido, 6, 0, 2, 266.50, $48,155.00
- Brady Fielder, 6, 1, 2, 226.33, $54,838.00
- Alan de Souza, 5, 0, 2, 212.50, $37,174.33
- Dalton Kasel, 6, 0, 1, 211.00, $46,223.00
- Koltin Hevalow, 7, 0, 2, 207.00, $26,262.00
- Cody Jesus, 5, 0, 2, 200.00, $31,254.67
- Julio Cesar Marques, 7, 0, 1, 179.00, $24,917.67
- Kaiden Loud, 7, 0, 1, 141.50, $26,477.00
- Kaique Pacheco, 4, 0, 1, 136.50, $22,183.33
- Conner Halverson, 6, 0, 1, 136.50, $12,010.00
- Sage Steele Kimzey, 4, 0, 1, 132.00, $18,569.17
- Vitor Losnake, 5, 0, 1, 129.50, $12,173.33
- Alex Cerqueira, 7, 0, 1, 125.50, $14,228.00
- Caden Bunch, 7, 1, 1, 125.00, $41,955.17
- Felipe Furlan, 5, 0, 1, 115.50, $19,416.00
- Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 7, 0, 1, 109.50, $9,879.50
- João Ricardo Vieira, 5, 0, 1, 108.50, $16,802.67
- Bob Mitchell, 7, 0, 1, 104.00, $8,390.00
- Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 5, 0, 0, 104.00, $13,855.00
- Boudreaux Campbell, 7, 0, 0, 98.00, $8,213.00
- Daylon Swearingen, 7, 0, 0, 96.00, $6,905.00
- Braidy Randolph, 5, 0, 0, 92.50, $10,321.33
- Jose Vitor Leme, 2, 0, 1, 91.00, $12,013.67
- Silvano Alves, 5, 0, 0, 81.50, $6,465.00
- Eli Vastbinder, 6, 0, 0, 74.50, $4,100.00
- Wyatt Rogers, 7, 0, 0, 69.50, $3,505.00
- Ednélio Almeida, 7, 0, 0, 64.00, $5,237.50
- Cort McFadden, 1, 0, 1, 59.00, $7,780.00
- Jesse Petri, 7, 0, 0, 56.00, $4,300.00
- John Crimber, 4, 0, 0, 54.83, $5,146.67
- Brady Oleson, 7, 0, 0, 51.83, $3,025.00
- Wingson Henrique da Silva, 5, 0, 1, 50.00, $3,600.00
- Luciano De Castro, 5, 0, 0, 47.33, $5,200.00
- Lucas Divino, 7, 0, 0, 44.00, $2,260.00
- Flavio Zivieri, 6, 0, 1, 42.00, $5,500.00
- João Lucas Campos, 5, 0, 0, 42.00, $3,723.00
- Jake Morinec, 3, 0, 1, 39.50, $5,092.00
- Rafael dos Santos, 5, 0, 0, 31.00, $4,580.00
- Guilherme Valleiras, 3, 0, 0, 30.00, $5,046.00
- Mason Taylor, 2, 0, 0, 29.50, $2,655.00
- Keyshawn Whitehorse, 4, 0, 0, 27.00, $3,223.00
- Andrew Alvidrez, 6, 0, 0, 21.33, $3,342.00
- Kyler Oliver, 3, 0, 0, 21.33, $3,342.00
