Julio Cesar Marques, Clay Guiton and Utah’s Own Keyshawn Whitehorse Split Round 1 Win at PBR Salt Lake City

By: Mandi McCary

SALT LAKE CITY – For the first time since 2020, PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast (UTB) touched down in Utah, where a trio of cowboys – Julio Cesar Marques (Tatui, Brazil), Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina) and home-state man Keyshawn Whitehorse (McCracken Spring, Utah) – split the PBR Salt Lake City Round 1 win in front of a full house.

First out of the chutes was Utah’s own Whitehorse aboard Lapua (Phenom Genetics/ Sankey/ Ready Team). As the Arizona Ridge Riders athlete fired out into the arena aboard his bovine partner, fans inside Delta Center reached a deafening volume as the clock approached 8 and he earned the first of three matching 88.25-point scores.

Next up in the triple threat was Guiton. The 18-year-old who, despite an incoming hot streak of double Top-5 finishes, went 2-for-4 to finish in ninth place last weekend in Sacramento. The rising talent was paired with Blackstone (Clay Struve/ Dakota Rodeo/ Chad Berger) on Friday night, soaring through the air as the buzzer sounded.

 
Rounding out the three-way tie was Kansas City Outlaws man Marques. In a battle of athleticism down to the wire, he bested Devil’s Revenge (Dakota Rodeo/ Chad Berger/ Lucky Blue/ Crab Bucking Bulls).

All three cowboys earned 21 Unleash The Beast points.

Whitehorse, who began the night at No. 47, now sits at No. 40 in the race for the 2024 PBR World Championship, while Guiton moved up from No. 24 to No. 21.

Marques advanced closer to the Top 10, moving from No. 15 to No. 14.

Marking just the fifth time in history that the UTB has traveled to Salt Lake City, the two-day weekend is the 11th event of the 2024 season and saw a return to competition for two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio, Brazil). Leme, who has been sidelined for two months with a lower-body injury, did not have the start to the weekend he had planned as DirtyBru (D&H Cattle Co/ Gordon/ OK Corralis) unseated the champ after a mere 1.91 seconds.

Despite the upset, he still sits within the Top 40 in the world, holding strong to the No. 35 spot in the standings.

Marques ignited a fire in his teammates as Outlaws riders Leonardo Castro Ferreira (Cassilandia, Brazil) and Koltin Hevalow (Smithville, Missouri) rounded out the Top 5 with a shared fourth-place finish.

Fresh off of winning the UTB Major in Sacramento that rocketed him to No. 10 in the standings, Ferreira was paired with Monstrosity (Nuckols/ Ogden/ Hart). As his fellow riders cheered him on, the talented 19-year-old rookie locked in an 85.5-point score.

Twenty-year-old Hevalow, who has covered 11 of his 26 animal athlete opponents this season, was up for the challenge that Taz (Bierema Rodeo Inc./ Cooper/ Scruggs Bucking Bulls) presented.

Both Ferreira and Hevalow netted 15.5 Unleash The Beast points to help them move up one spot in the standings heading into Saturday.

Ferreira climbed from No. 10 to No. 19 in the Unleash The Beast standings, while Hevalow rose from No. 12 to No. 11.

The PBR Salt Lake City continues with Round 2 followed immediately by the championship round on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 6:45 p.m. MST.

PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast 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– PBR Salt Lake City
Delta Center -Salt Lake City, Utah
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)

1. Julio Cesar Marques, 88.25-0-0-88.25-21 Points.
(tie). Clay Guiton, 88.25-0-0-88.25-21 Points.
(tie). Keyshawn Whitehorse, 88.25-0-0-88.25-21 Points.
4. Leonardo Castro Ferreira, 85.5-0-0-85.50-15.5 Points.
(tie). Koltin Hevalow, 85.5-0-0-85.50-15.5 Points.
6. Vitor Losnake, 85.25-0-0-85.25-13.5 Points.
(tie). Bob Mitchell, 85.25-0-0-85.25-13.5 Points.
8. Alex Cerqueira, 83.25-0-0-83.25-12 Points.
9. Cort McFadden, 83-0-0-83.00-10.5 Points.
(tie). Kyler Oliver, 83-0-0-83.00-10.5 Points.
Cassio Dias, 0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0.00
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00
Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0.00
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0.00
Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0.00
Wingson Henrique da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00
Caden Bunch, 0-0-0-0.00
Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0.00
Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00
Conner Halverson, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
Callum Miller, 0-0-0-0.00
Eli Vastbinder, 0-0-0-0.00
Jose Vitor Leme, 0-0-0-0.00
Brady Oleson, 0-0-0-0.00
Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Marco Rizzo, 0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0.00
Nick Tetz, 0-0-0-0.00
Jake Gardner, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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