GET SOCIAL 
SHOP NOW AT:
WRANGLER.COM

2023 World Finals Countdown: 100 Days Out

By: James Youness

PUEBLO, Colo. — From 18-year-old young guns to the experienced 47-year-old veteran Ednei Caminhas and everyone between, the first month of celebrating PBR’s 30th anniversary has brought us a whole bunch of rank bull riding action.

Seeing slow starts to the year from 2022 World Champion Daylon Swearingen, 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco and beyond, fans have witnessed Pacheco climb the rankings while seeing last year’s No. 1 rider and other typical odds-on favorites continue to struggle or miss events with injury or exemption status.

In lieu of some of those established riders occupying the top spots in the standings, the premier series tour has seen some up-and-coming talent prove that they’re here to compete now in Daniel Keeping, Thiago Salgado and the crew of surging youngsters.

But as two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme has showed us after missing a large chunk of time at the beginning of the season, if you show up and win events, there’s always room to make a run. Currently ranked No. 2 in the Unleash The Beast standings, just 53.5 points back from No. 1 Andrew Alvidrez, who’s also done his fair share of event title-winning so far, Leme is doing just that.

With the 2023 PBR World Finals exactly 100 days out, PBR.com is taking a look at a few of the top takeaways Unleash The Beast has provided in counting down the journey to the season-end celebration.

Young, Wild & Free: All PBR Rookie of the Year candidates aren’t created equally, and that’s okay, as riders have varying paths to qualifying as a regular on the premier series tour. Once deemed worthy of performing among the world’s best, the odds are even, and it comes to do who can do their job best.

Heading into this weekend’s action at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, it’s been Texas Rattlers’ standout Daniel Keeping who’s been doing his job well lately, after capturing the most recent event title in Indianapolis.

Despite enduring a troublesome 1-for-13 stretch earlier this month, the youngster shrugged it off this past weekend, going 2-for-3 and capturing his second event title of the season.

Winner Takes All: When the gold buckle is the endgame prize, the goal for riders is to collect the most Unleash The Beast points at year’s end. While there are an abundance of points available at this year’s 2023 World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, May 12-14 and May 18-21, most of the champions in recent history have found their stride before the year-end event. Thus, the importance of racking up the crucial points at events during the five-month grind of a season.

Winning events is typically a good way of earning said points. Through UTB’s first nine events, the tour has seen Brady Oleson, Cooper Davis and Kaique each record event wins so far, while Alvidrez and Leme join Keeping as two-time event-winners. Keeping’s first came in Minneapolis, while Alvidrez captured back-to-back wins in Manchester, New Hampshire and Albany, New York.

Stepping into the limelight in two of the premier series’ biggest stages of the year, Leme repeated the consecutive effort by winning in New York City and Chicago, tightening the race significantly since.

One-Round Wonder: Dalton Kasel walked away with the first 15/15 Bucking Battle event win of the year in Chicago with a round-best 89.75-point out atop Roc Wit It. Despite logging a 92-point score atop Tulsa Time last weekend in the second one-out installment, Kasel had to settle for a second-place finish, as Pacheco exited the contest with the victory, courtesy of his 93-point mark paired against Ricky Vaughn.

With the campaign’s third 15/15 Bucking Battle set to take place in Sacramento this weekend, Dalton will look to continue to take advantage of the extra opportunity to garner Unleash The Beast points after netting 58 for his first-place effort in Chicago and 49 last weekend for the runner-up finish in Indianapolis. Oddly enough in the multiple-round formats, he’s only placed in the Top 10 twice, with a third-place representation at the PBR Manchester Invitational marking his best finish of the season.

Final(s) Countdown: The fan-favorite, year-end event isn’t just the best of the year for the PBR’s dedicated fanbase. The world’s best riders appreciate this stage more than anyone, and while the ever-approaching finale means time to accrue points runs short, they always show up to punch the clock.

With seven-day, weekend and single day tickets available for the year-end showdown, complemented by additional premium seating and experience options, including dirt suite availability, access to bull housing tours and other fun ways to stay involved, be sure to check out our 2023 World Finals page.

PBR is also offering a variety of 2023 World Finals travel packages, and for those bringing their own rig, The Rid ‘N’ Rank RV Park will be back in action with three, four and 10-day package options as the exclusive tailgate party of the 2023 World Finals gets the party started before each round of action.

The race to be crowned the 2023 World Champion continues this weekend in Sacramento, with Round 1 beginning on Friday, Feb. 3 at 10:45 p.m. EST on RidePass on Pluto TV followed by the second round on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 9:45 p.m. EST on the RidePass as well, the action will conclude on Championship Sunday.

The PBR Wrangler Long Live Cowboy Classic 15/15 Bucking Battle set to air on CBS at Noon EST, while the championship round itself will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5.

Stay tuned to PBR.com and PBR social media channels for the latest news, notes and standings heading into Sacramento and leading into the 2023 World Finals!

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media

© 2023 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.

Related Content