By Kacie Albert
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the regular season for the 2024 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast concluded Saturday night in Louisville, Kentucky, Brazilian phenom Cassio Dias’s (Sao F. de Sales, Brazil) rookie season for the ages remained on full display as he went 2-for-3 to win the Cooper Tires PBR Louisville, presented by Pneu-Dart, furthering his stronghold on the No. 1 rank in the World Championship race.
The win marked Dias’s seventh of the regular season, one off the all-time PBR record, as he readies to make his career-first PBR World Finals appearance where he will look to clinch both the World Championship and Rookie of the Year honor.
Dias virtually rewrote the record books for a rookie in the 2024 individual season. He led all riders with eight 90-point rides, twice as many as the second-place rider in the statistical category, John Crimber (Decatur, Texas), who had four. He also led in overall round wins, with 13, and championship round wins, with eight.
“It’s just God who blessed me every step of the way, every moment of my life. I just have to give the honor and glory to him,” Dias said on the dirt immediately following his win. “I am riding bull by bull. I know I did great, and it’s been an amazing season so far, but there’s still a lot of work to do at the World Finals.”
Dias, who rides for the Kansas City Outlaws in the separate PBR Teams league, got off to a quick start in Round 1, logging the third-best score when he topped Let’s Roll (Stolzfus/Bob & Jerry Adams/BS Cattle Co.) for 86.75 points.
His momentum, however, came to an end in Round 2 when he was tossed by Smooth Steel (Flying C/Tom Baker) in 3.79 seconds.
Via the 1-for-2 showing through the opening rounds, Dias advanced to the championship round fifth on the event leaderboard, using his early selection in the draft to elect to go head-to-head with Do Dat Eddie (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell/Delmas/Williams).
Holding the top spot entering the championship round was none other than teenage superstar Crimber, who has been firmly behind Dias in the No. 2 rank in the standings for most of the 2024 campaign.
Crimber, who is anticipated to be the top pick in the upcoming 2024 PBR Teams New Rider Draft in Nashville on May 29, advanced to the championship round atop the leaderboard courtesy of his Round 2-winning 88.75-point effort atop Renegade (Hale/Vella/Ogden/Hart). The 8-second effort reversed Crimber’s fortunes from Round 1 when he was deemed to have slapped Johnny Walker Red (Flying C/Jeff Baeza) at the 1.83-second mark.
With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Crimber quickly chose Doze You Down (Dozier Cattel Co./Martinez Bucking Bulls).
No. 1 Dias and No. 2 Crimber were joined by fellow Top 5-ranked bull riders Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil), Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) and Alan de Souza (Taubate, Brazil) in the final round.
No. 5 Souza was seventh after he topped Peterbilt (Blake Sharp/Michael Floyd) for 86 points in Round 2, No. 3 Aparecido was eighth compliments of his 85.75-point ride on Always Been Crazy (Harrison Cattle Co.) in Round 1, and No. 4 Kasel was tenth via his 85-point score on Tick (Whitehead Cattle) from Round 1. They drafted Hunting Trip (Dozier Cattle Co./Martinez Bucking Bulls), Jersey Mike (Fugitt/Nuckols/Conaway/Ogden/Hart) and Top Dollar (Hookin’ W Ranch/DeHoff/Beach/McAlister), respectively.
Out first, Kasel quickly set the tone in overtaking the event lead when he conquered Top Dollar for a commanding 89.75 points.
Aparecido and Souza were both unable to match the 8-second effort, as Aparecido, who had been carried out on a stretcher following his hard dismount the night before, was tossed by Jersey Mike in 4.53 seconds, and Souza was unseated by Hunting Trip at the 2.27-second mark.
Dias, however, delivered a statement ride. Nodding with confidence atop Do Dat Eddie, he remained in perfect time with the powerful animal athlete en route to the whistle as the crowd erupted in raucous cheer. Marked 88.75 points, the score was enough to vault Dias to the lead.
After the previous three riders bucked off, it all came down to Crimber’s showdown with Doze You Down. The 18-year-old young gun needed a score of 87 points or more to claim the victory at the regular-season Unleash The Beast finale.
Erupting from the chutes, Crimber initially appeared centered, but was unseated at 4.97 seconds, resulting in no score and delivering the victory to Dias.
Compliments of the win, Dias garnered $47,774.33 in addition to a crucial 115 Unleash The Beast points. He remained No. 1 in the World Championship race, extending his lead from 494.5 points to 560.5 points over No. 2 Crimber, who concluded the event fourth, earning 49 Unleash The Beast points.
Elsewhere in the Top 5, the Austin Gamblers’ Kasel concluded the tour stop tied for second, garnering 86 Unleash The Beast points. He rose from No. 4 to No. 3 in the standings, now within 571.33 points of No. 1 Dias.
Fresh off his back-to-back wins in Washington, the Nashville Stampede’s Souza finished eighth inside the KFC Yum! Center to earn 21 Unleash The Beast points. He remained No. 5 in the standings, now 637.33 points back of No. 1 Dias.
The Arizona Ridge Riders’ Aparecido tied for ninth overall to collect 19 Unleash The Beast points. He slipped from No. 3 to No. 4 in the standings, now trailing No. 1 Dias by 594.33 points.
Returning to the top of the event leaderboard, the Nashville Stampede’s Mason Taylor (Maypearl, Texas) tied for second alongside Kasel to net 77 Unleash The Beast points.
Taylor was flawless on Championship Saturday as he rebounded from a 6.13-second buckoff dealt to him by The Agenda (5G Farms/BS Cattle/Cornwell) in Round 1.
The charismatic Texan first converted in Round 2 when he bested Mr. Nightlinger (Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls) for 86.25 points. He then punctuated his outing in the Bluegrass State with an 88.5-point ride atop Norse God (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) in the championship round.
On the bubble of qualifying for the World Finals, Taylor rose from No. 40 to No. 32.
Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was the Missouri Thunder’s Andrew Alvidrez (Seminole, Texas).
Alvidrez earned 45 Unleash The Beast points for his Round 1-winning, 88.25-point score on Constitutional Carry (Jim & Shannon Barr/Hookin’ W Ranch).
While he traveled to Kentucky on the outside looking in of the Top 40, he cracked the coveted threshold, climbing from No. 41 to No. 38.
In the bull pen, the opening round of Cooper Tires PBR Louisville, presented by Pneu-Dart, also featured an ABBI (American Bucking Bull Inc) Classic competition, featuring 38 up-and-coming 4-year-old bovine athletes. The Intimidator (Halpain Bucking Bulls) bucked supreme, logging a score of 91.76 points via his 2.24-second buckoff of Kyler Oliver (Roy, Utah) to win the Classic event title in his Unleash The Beast debut. Earning $8,589, the win catapulted The Intimidator, who has lineage that traces back to current world No. 1 bull Man Hater (Jane Clark/Gene Owen), inside the Top 15 of the ABBI Classic World standings.
During the out, The Intimidator was also marked 45.5 points, which proved to be the top bull score of Cooper Tires PBR Louisville, presented by Pneu-Dart, earning him the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event honors.
Current ABBI world No. 1 by money won, Fast Flow (Outlaw/Lone Star/AFCO), was second, earning an additional $7,362. Son of the legendary bovine athlete Air Time, Fast Flow inked the silver showing after upending Joao Lucas Campos (Porto Feliz, Brazil) in 1.89 seconds.
The 2024 PBR Unleash The Beast season will conclude May 9-19 in Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas, with the 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast when the 2024 PBR World Champion will be crowned, receiving the coveted gold buckle and $1 million bonus.
This May, the event will debut a new three-part format, all the while awarding a record $3.13 million. Competition begins with Eliminations on May 9-12, followed by Ride For Redemption on May 15-16, both at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth. Bull riding’s most prestigious event will then conclude with the Championship on May 18-19 at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington.
Elsewhere in the PBR, the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour held its regular-season finale in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The event is still in progress.
The 2024 PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour concludes May 3-4 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals begins nightly at 7:30 p.m. CDT inside American Bank Center Arena.
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
Cooper Tires PBR, presented Pneu-Dart
KFC Yum! Center – Louisville, Kentucky
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
- Cassio Dias, 86.75-0-88.75-175.50-115 Points.
- Dalton Kasel, 85-0-89.75-174.75-86 Points.
(tie). Mason Taylor, 0-86.25-88.5-174.75-77 Points.
- John Crimber, 0-88.75-0-88.75-49 Points.
- Andrew Alvidrez, 88.25-0-0-88.25-45 Points.
- Jesse Petri, 87.25-0-0-87.25-27 Points.
(tie). Kyler Oliver, 0-87.25-0-87.25-27 Points.
- Alan de Souza, 0-86-0-86.00-21 Points.
- Eduardo Aparecido, 85.75-0-0-85.75-19 Points.
(tie). Jake Morinec, 0-85.75-0-85.75-18 Points.
- Leonardo Castro, 0-84-0-84.00-15 Points.
- Brady Fielder, 72.5-0-0-72.50-6 Points.
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00
Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00
Cody Jesus, 0-0-0-0.00
Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0.00
Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Sage Steele Kimzey, 0-0-0-0.00
Vitor Losnake, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00
Ednélio Almeida, 0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Conner Halverson, 0-0-0-0.00
Callum Miller, 0-0-0-0.00
Silvano Alves, 0-0-0-0.00
JaCauy Hale, 0-0-0-0.00
Dawson Branton, 0-0-0-0.00
Shane Scott, 0-0-0-0.00
Flavio Zivieri, 0-0-0-0.00
João Lucas Campos, 0-0-0-0.00
Elijah Monnett, 0-0-0-0.00
Alvaro Ariel, 0-0-0-0.00
2023 PBR Unleash The Beast World Championship Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5’s, Points)
- Cassio Dias, 23, 7, 9, 1,520.33
- John Crimber, 21, 1, 9, 959.83
- Dalton Kasel, 19, 1, 9, 949.00
- Eduardo Aparecido, 21, 2, 5, 926.00
- Alan de Souza, 21, 2, 7, 883.00
- Koltin Hevalow, 24, 1, 6, 541.50
- Austin Richardson, 8, 2, 3, 533.50
- João Ricardo Vieira, 19, 1, 4, 504.00
- Brady Fielder, 23, 2, 5, 466.16
- Caden Bunch, 17, 2, 3, 430.83
- Kaique Pacheco, 15, 0, 3, 389.33
- Leonardo Castro, 12, 1, 2, 386.50
- Thiago Salgado, 14, 1, 2, 374.00
- Julio Cesar Marques, 22, 0, 3, 371.32
- Cody Jesus, 15, 0, 3, 338.50
- Cort McFadden, 15, 0, 2, 338.00
- Alex Cerqueira, 22, 0, 3, 337.50
- Keyshawn Whitehorse, 16, 0, 3, 328.66
- Daylon Swearingen, 22, 0, 2, 326.00
- Kaiden Loud, 21, 0, 3, 320.00
- Sage Steele Kimzey, 12, 0, 2, 279.00
- Wingson Henrique da Silva, 15, 1, 3, 272.83
- Felipe Furlan, 18, 0, 2, 256.00
- Vitor Losnake, 20, 0, 2, 252.50
- Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 20, 0, 0, 240.00
- Clay Guiton, 10, 0, 3, 238.66
- Boudreaux Campbell, 21, 0, 1, 233.50
- Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 23, 0, 2, 233.50
- Ednélio Almeida, 22, 0, 2, 231.00
- Wyatt Rogers, 16, 0, 2, 225.50
- Jesse Petri, 20, 0, 0, 216.00
- Mason Taylor, 12, 0, 1, 207.50
- Jose Vitor Leme, 6, 0, 1, 200.00
- Bob Mitchell, 22, 0, 1, 196.00
- Conner Halverson, 22, 0, 1, 194.00
- Ezekiel Mitchell, 15, 0, 2, 185.50
- Kyler Oliver, 10, 0, 2, 178.33
- Andrew Alvidrez, 13, 0, 2, 158.33
- Marco Rizzo, 7, 0, 2, 147.83
- Callum Miller, 13, 0, 1, 147.50
- Luciano De Castro, 14, 0, 0, 137.33
- Silvano Alves, 16, 0, 0, 112.50
- Eli Vastbinder, 16, 0, 0, 105.83
- Braidy Randolph, 5, 0, 0, 92.50
- JaCauy Hale, 5, 0, 0, 81.00
