19-year-old Marco Rizzo wows in Unleash The Beast debut, tying for third in the opening round
By Kacie Albert
HOUSTON, Texas – At the debut PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Cody Jesus (Window Rock, Arizona) and Felipe Furlan (Sales Oliveira, Brazil) rode a cut above the rest, leading the field of 10 riders who made the requisite 8, to tie for the Round 1 win at Kubota PBR Houston, presented by Michelob ULTRA.
Both Jesus and Furlan delivered matching 88.5-point rides inside the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets to garner 23 Unleash The Beast points.
Jesus, a member of the 2023 PBR Teams Champion Texas Rattlers in the separate PBR Teams league, dominated aboard Flatliner (Blake Sharp), while the Missouri Thunder’s Furlan set the tone early when he conquered Joker’s Alibi (Eldred Cattle).
For Arizona’s Jesus, he rose one position in the race for the 2024 PBR World Championship, climbing from No. 9 to No. 8. He is now within 433.5 points of No. 1 Cassio Dias (Sao F. de Sales, Brazil), who was bucked off by Show Me (Cooper/Scruggs Bucking Bulls) in an uncharacteristically swift 2.7 seconds on Friday night.
Furlan surged six positions from No. 20 to No. 14.
2018 PBR World Champion Kaique Pacheco (Itatiba, Brazil) and Unleash The Beast newcomer Marco Rizzo (Quitman, Georgia) tied for third.
Pacheco, who was part of the 2022 PBR Teams Champion Nashville Stampede, ignited the raucous crowd when he bested Renegade (Hale/Vella/Ogden/Hart) for 86.75 points.
In his first-ever out on the premier series, 19-year-old Rizzo rode Wall Street Train (Flying S/Wall Street Ranch/Big Guns) with ease, marked a similar 86.75 points.
Both Pacheco and Rizzo netted 16.5 Unleash The Beast points.
Chasing his second gold buckle, Pacheco climbed from No. 12 to No. 11 in the Unleash The Beast standings. He is now within 492.5 points of No. 1 Dias.
Rizzo rose from unranked to No. 51 as he chases his first PBR World Finals berth this May.
Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was rookie sensation Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina).
Guiton travelled to Houston following a career-best weekend on the Unleash The Beast, delivering two 90-point rides en route to a fifth-place finish in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The 18-year-old delivered his third consecutive qualified ride in Unleash The Beast action during Round 1 of the Kubota PBR Houston, presented by Michelob ULTRA, when he bested Washita Red (Eldred Cattle) for 86.5 points.
Guiton earned 15 Unleash The Beast points. He rose from No. 36 to No. 33 in the standings.
Action for the 2024 Kubota PBR Houston, presented by Michelob ULTRA, will conclude with Round 2 and the championship round on Saturday, Jan. 27. Action gets underway at 6:45 p.m. CST.
PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast 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
Kubota PBR Houston, presented by Michelob ULTRA
Toyota Center – Houston, Texas
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
- Cody Jesus, 88.5-0-0-88.50-23 Points.
(tie). Felipe Furlan, 88.5-0-0-88.50-23 Points.
- Kaique Pacheco, 86.75-0-0-86.75-16.5 Points.
(tie). Marco Rizzo, 86.75-0-0-86.75-16.5 Points.
- Clay Guiton, 86.5-0-0-86.50-15 Points.
- Ednélio Almeida, 85.25-0-0-85.25-14 Points.
- Eli Vastbinder, 85-0-0-85.00-13 Points.
- Eduardo Aparecido, 83-0-0-83.00-12 Points.
- Leonardo Castro Ferreira, 82.25-0-0-82.25-11 Points.
- Wingson Henrique da Silva, 78.25-0-0-78.25-2 Points.
Cassio Dias, 0-0-0-0.00
Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00
Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0.00
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0.00
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0.00
Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0-0.00
Conner Halverson, 0-0-0-0.00
Sage Steele Kimzey, 0-0-0-0.00
Vitor Losnake, 0-0-0-0.00
Caden Bunch, 0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0.00
Silvano Alves, 0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00
Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0.00
Jesse Petri, 0-0-0-0.00
Luciano De Castro, 0-0-0-0.00
Jake Morinec, 0-0-0-0.00
Dawson Branton, 0-0-0-0.00
João Henrique Lucas, 0-0-0-0.00
Hunter Ball, 0-0-0-0.00
Callum Miller, 0-0-0-0.00
