By the Numbers: Weekend One of World Finals Sets up Dramatic Sprint to the Finish Line
By: James Youness
FORT WORTH, Texas – With Weekend One of the 2023 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast in the rearview mirror, five rounds of elite bull riding action remain on the slate for this upcoming weekend.
With the race to be crowned the 2023 World Champion set to resume Thursday, May 18 inside Dickies Arena, PBR fans have more than a few situations to keep their eyes on.
Potentially one of the most unexpected scenarios of them all, No. 1 Kaique Pacheco remains atop the premier series standings with 980 UTB points, despite not competing in this year’s World Finals due to injuries sustained at the end stretch of regular season action.
Holding the same 74-point lead over No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme as he did coming into the contest, there’s no way the 2018 World Champion exits the season as No. 1 without competing at the year-end slate, RIGHT?!
Seeing two-time World Champion Leme produce an uncharacteristic 0-for-3 start to this year’s edition of the season-culminating competition, technically anything is possible.
All things considered, safe money would say he gets back into the ride column as soon as Thursday night, as the Monster athlete understands how special of an opportunity it would be to join legends Silvano Alves and Adriano Moraes in the coveted three-buckle category.
After beginning the opening weekend with two-consecutive buckoffs, courtesy of Ricky Vaughn (2.29 seconds) and Mr. Nasty (1.81 seconds) No. 3 Dalton Kasel was able to find some success Sunday, coming in the form of an 89-point conversion atop Hang Em High. As the only rider ranked in the Top 3 to record a qualified ride so far on the industry’s biggest stage, he was able to slide within 200 points of No. 1 Pacheco, now just 187.34 UTB points back from the Brazilian.
This is where world title odds start to get spicy, as each rider ranked between No. 4 and 7 logged at least one ride throughout Weekend One, with No. 5 Boudreaux Campbell representing the only Top 10 contender who netted two qualified rides in the first three rounds.
First finding success against Buster Brown in Round 1 for a sound 84.75 points, he went on to log the event’s second-best score so far in the third round, courtesy of a 90.25-point showdown against the elite talents of I’m Legit Too.
Having captured the World Finals event title in 2020, Campbell knows what it takes to get the job done, but it’s not another event title he’s chasing. He wants the gold buckle.
Coming into Weekend Two holding a second-place mark on the leaderboard, with a massive 560 UTB points on the line for whoever does earn the event-bet honors, the Carolina Cowboys’ athlete will need to keep an eye on his PBR Team Series teammate and 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis, who’s been making a run of his own.
While we’ve seen some favorable flashes from the from the Jasper, Texas, rider throughout the 2023 UTB season, there’s been a different look in his eye each time he prepared to go to work within the confines of Dickies Arena.
Despite only going 1-for-3 during the opening showcase, including an epic 88-point win aboard Bubba G in Round 3, the 28-year-old understands the importance of momentum. With something to build on, he’ll hope to rest his banged-up hand, which was wrapped to the nines in ice during Sunday afternoon’s post-event press conference, before returning to the dirt Thursday as he looks to make another run.
Between No. 6 Dener Barbosa (-318.17), who bested his opening round bovine opponent, Froggy, for 85.75 points, and No. 7 Rafael Jose de Brito (-336), who holds the high-marked score of the event courtesy of a round-winning, 90.5-point conversion atop Chiseled, the pair remains within striking distance of the ever-elusive gold buckle with four nights of competition remaining.
With a hint of camaraderie stemming from Wednesday night’s 2023 PBR Team Series Draft, where each of the league’s eight organizations will have a chance to welcome fresh 5-on-5 talent to their respective rosters, set to be broadcast live on RidePass on Pluto TV at 5 p.m. CST, the premier series pack will quickly revert to its traditional “me before we” concept Thursday night as the 40 best bull riders in the world continue to duke it out for the right to be named the 2023 World Champion.
As Weekend Two of the 2023 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast Finals are set to invade Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena May 18-21, PBR.com is taking a look at some of the statistical stories and numerical takeaways from last weekend’s first three rounds of action:
90 x 2: Throughout the opening 120+ matchups (40 riders x 3 rounds + a few re-ride opportunities) between the best bovines and bull riders to grace the planet, only Rafael Jose de Brito and Boudreaux Campbell were able to team up with their animal athletes to meet the 90-point mark. Despite Round 2 representing the overall highest-ranked bullpen as a collective unit, which allowed just four total rides Saturday night, including a nearly-epic 89.75 point score, it was the third round which surrendered the pair of 90-pointers. 2023 Rookie of the Year front runner Brito was the first to meet the mark all weekend, pairing up with Chiseled to help extend his lead atop the first-year standings to 209.67 points over No. 10 Daniel Keeping, who failed to record a ride during the opening slate. Unfortunately for Campbell, who went on to record the second, and only other ride to achieve the 90-point status a few rides later, he was scored 90.25 points for his tussle with I’m Legit Too, just .25 points short of tying the Brazilian for a round win, which would’ve been greatly welcomed as the Crockett, Texas, native makes a push for what would be his first gold buckle.
Four 2-4-3s: While the tour’s best-ranked riders eventually came alive as the opening weekend progressed, with Campbell representing the only Top 10 cowboy to rack up two rides in the first three rounds, the event leaderboard currently showcases three other riders who were able to double down, all of whom entered the event ranked No. 18 or lower. Sitting atop the aggregate race with 175.75 points is No. 14 Ramon de Lima. Besting Renegade in Round 1 for 87 points, he wasn’t able to conquer Ivy League in the second round, but quickly rebounded Sunday with a successful 88.75-point journey aboard Hoka Hey. The 32-year-old Austin Gamblers athlete still has an outside shot at making a run for the title, just 374.5 points back from Pacheco, but will need a couple round wins and an event title to pull it off. Elsewhere around the 2-for-3 club, Braidy Randolph and Colten Fritzlan were able to shake off slow starts by finishing their weekend with consecutive qualified rides. Randolph, who occupies the third-place spot heading into this weekend, exited a pair of matchups with Twisted Steel (85.75 points) and Taylor’s Cowtown Throwdown (87.25 points) in the ride column, while Fritzlan met the 8 by dancing with Alakazam (86 points) and Detroit Lean (86.75 points), respectively.
Three Rounds, Three Winners: Spreading the love, and corresponding $35,000 checks, three different riders earned round wins during Weekend One, including Derek Kolbaba, Austin Richardson and Rafael Jose de Brito. While the latter was the only competitor of the three to log a second ride and now reside within the Top 5, both Kolbaba and Richardson enjoyed their night in the limelight while picking up respective 88-point prizes and confirming they have the talents to make a run at the event title. Kolbaba, who captured the victory during the opening round, managed an 89.75-point ride Friday night, and nearly doubled down in Round 3, but was dispatched from Red Mosquito in a close 6.91 seconds. For 23-year-old Richardson, who had a chance to start hot in Round 1, but couldn’t finish his opening matchup with Lapua (bucked off in a heartbreaking 7.27 seconds), he got his revenge the next night in Round 2 by posting a round-best 89.75-point score atop Black Gold. Entering Thursday’s slate, the duo sits tied for sixth-place honors with matching 89.75 scores, while Brito remains just above the pair at fifth overall, courtesy of his flashy 90.5-point go.
Three-straight for No. 2: With Pacheco ruled out of the eight-round showdown and No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme just 74 points back from his fellow countryman, even Las Vegas itself would’ve assumed the same deficit would exist after the two-time champion had three cracks in the opening slate, but here we are. Unable to find success against Blood Moon (3.42 seconds), JAG Metals Grand Theft (7.81 seconds) and Pearl’s Ghost (5.79 seconds), the three-straight strikeouts represent Leme’s third such occurrence this season alone, completely unlike him. After missing some time this spring, he bucked off during the first out in his return (1.24 seconds aboard Hostage) at the UTB regular season finale in Louisville, Kentucky, but quickly shook off the rust and went on to post a pair of 90-point rides paired with Pneu Dart’s Wild Card (90 points) and Ivy League (91 points): typical Leme-type stuff. Competing in his seventh World Finals appearance, he’s managed to finish within the Top 6 (1st, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 5th, 6th) in all six of his previous trips, including consecutive gold buckle-worthy placements in 2020 and 2021. While he’s had a few pairs of back-to-back buckoffs in his storied World Finals career, this past weekend represented the first time he’s gone scoreless in three in a row.
Beginner’s Luck?: Just because some of the biggest names in the sport struggled during Weekend One, does NOT mean any of the first-time qualifiers are going to take it easy on the pack. Seeing vmore 15 riders make their World Finals debut throughout the opening go, including Rafael Jose de Brito, Daniel Keeping, Tate Pollmeier, Wingson Henrique da Silva, Braidy Randolph, Guilherme Valleiras, Koltin Hevalow, Wyatt Rogers, Brady Turgeon, Flavio Zivieri, Nick Tetz, Joao Lucas Campos, Dawson Branton, Vitor Losnake, Aaron Williams and Tyler Manor, the rookie class was able to produce a combined eight rides through the first three rides, with Randolph’s pair representing two of the eight, and Brito’s event-high score of 90.5 continuing to lead the way. Seeing Branton, Tetz and Lucas each meet the 8, it was the Top 2-ranked Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour finishers (Josh Frost, Claudio Montanha Jr.) who were the only riders part of the final five invitees to not record a qualified ride.
With the opening slate of World Finals action officially in the books, the world’s best bull riders will return to Fort Worth for Weekend Two of the UTB finale, May 18-21. Sessions will begin at 7:45 p.m. CST Thursday, May 18, Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20, with Round 7, followed by the explosive championship round scheduled to conclude on Sunday, May 21 starting at 1:45 p.m. CST.
A variety of PBR-based programming from Weekend Two will be broadcast on CBS, CBS Sports Network and RidePass on Pluto TV, with the most updated schedule living here.
Fans can stay tuned to PBR.com and PBR social media channels throughout the weekend for the latest scores, updates, wrecks and beyond as the 2023 Unleash The Beast season sprints to the finish line!
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