2023 Unleash The Beast Game Notes: World Finals Round 6
By: Andrew Hatfield
2023 UNLEASH THE BEAST GAME NOTES: WORLD FINALS ROUND 6
As PBR’s Unleash The Beast bucks into Dickies Arena May 20-21 during the final event of the 2023 Unleash The Beast campaign, PBR.com is highlighting some of the series’ latest winners, top competitors and beyond as the premier series wraps up down south Saturday night with Round 6 of the year-end showcase!
LEME CLOSES THE GAP ON PACHECO: Two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme had not bucked off five times in a row since March of 2019. He kept that streak alive last night, making the 8 atop Pneu Dart’s Wild Card for 88.5 points to stop his 0-for-4 slide at the World Finals. The ride tied him for fifth in Round 5, netting him 34 points in the Unleash The Beast standings and putting him just 40 points behind No. 1 Kaique Pacheco, who is not competing due to injury. Seeking to become just the third man in history behind Adriano Moraes and Silvano Alves to win a third gold buckle, Leme will once again stand alone atop the standings with a third place or higher finish in each of the two remaining rounds. The Austin Gamblers superstar takes on Big Johnny Reb in Round 6
ALVIDREZ BREAKS THROUGH TO WIN ROUND 5: Texas’s Andrew Alvidrez snapped a five-out buckoff streak to win Round 5 courtesy of a monstrous 91.5-point ride on Red Mosquito. Bringing Dickies Arena to an uproar with the highest-marked ride of the 2023 PBR World Finals, the Missouri Thunder’s Alvidrez secured 89 points and rose to No. 4 in the Unleash The Beast standings, 276 points behind leader Kaique Pacheco. Alvidrez, who was the No. 1-ranked rider for five weeks after winning back-to-back events in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Albany, New York, has never finished higher than 26th in the standings before this season. He looks to continue his championship run on Casper in Round 6
THE ROOKIE TRIUMVIRATE: After five rounds at the PBR World Finals, the top three spots on the event leaderboard all belong to rookies, as Wingson Henrique da Silva, Braidy Randolph and Rafael Jose de Brito pace the field. Silva began his first World Finals with two consecutive buckoffs, but has since looked unstoppable, topping Bison for 86 points in Round 3, Flyin Wired for 89.5 points in Round 4 and Tijuana Two-Step for 88 points in Round 5. So far, he has netted 116 Unleash The Beast points, moving him into the Top 10 in the standings and pulling him within 230.5 points of Brito in the Rookie of the Year race. Randolph has also made the most of his first career stop on bull riding’s biggest stage, as he recorded the best of his three rides at the World Finals, an 89.25-point dance with Cherry Bomb Friday evening, to move into second place in the event standings. The Pennsylvanian has skyrocketed up the standings, going from the No. 26 spot entering World Finals to the No. 17 spot entering the final two days. Rounding out the top three is Brito, who sits in third with just two rides thanks to a monstrous 90.5-point performance on Chiseled in Round 3, the first 90-point ride of this year’s World Finals. Silva takes on Bandito Bug in Round 6, while Randolph battles Pegasus and Brito shares a chute with Short Circuit
For all of the statistics, stories and standings heading into Round 6 of the 2023 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast, be sure to check out this week’s Game Notes and stay tuned to PBR.com and PBR social media channels!
Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media
© 2023 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.