2024 Unleash The Beast Game Notes: St. Louis
By: Andrew Hatfield
2024 UNLEASH THE BEAST GAME NOTES: ST. LOUIS
As the PBR’s Unleash The Beast tour prepares to invade St. Louis, Missouri, Dec. 2-3 during the second event of the 2024 campaign, the best bull riders in the world are set to compete inside Enterprise Center as the tour looks to crown a 2024 World Champion in six short months:
RIDIN’ HIGH: The 2024 Unleash The Beast season began with a bang in Tucson, Arizona, last month as the best bull riders in the world posted an incredible 42 rides, more than any event in the 2023 season. Tucson’s 42 qualified rides were the most in a three-round event since New York City in 2022 (45 rides). The event featured high drama throughout the entire weekend, as Caden Bunch secured his first premier series victory in the second-to-last out. Usually reserved for the Top 12 riders, the Championship Round was extended to 13 as in Round 2, teenage phenom John Crimber tied Kyler Oliver and Andrew Alvidrez’s Round 1-winning 89-point rides to secure his first round win on the premier series.
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER: Last month in Tucson, 2002 PBR World Champion Ednei Caminhas (48) and young phenom John Crimber (18) competed alongside each other, marking an incredible 30-year age gap. Born in August of 2005, Crimber wasn’t even alive when Caminhas won his gold buckle. While Caminhas was unable to make the 8 last weekend, fellow grizzled old hand Joao Ricardo Vieira (39) did manage to punch his ticket to the final round, representing a remarkable 21-year-age range of competitors competing for the event buckle. With veteran riders still competing at the highest level and younger riders bursting onto the scene, the 2024 season may feature one of the most competitive fields in PBR history.
Fans can tune into this weekend’s PBR St. Louis beginning Saturday night, with Round 1 set to begin Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6:45 p.m. CST. The second round and championship go are slated to take place on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 1:45 p.m. CST, airing live on CBS Sports Network.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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