Keeping Moves to No. 4 in Standings with Win at Unleash The Beast in Indianapolis
By: Mandi McCary
INDIANAPOLIS – As one of the standouts in the recently concluded inaugural season of the PBR Team Series, Texas Rattler Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas) is off to an equally impressive season on the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast (UTB) tour. Keeping’s 2-for-3 weekend secured the second event win of his career at the PBR ZipRecruiter Invitational, presented by Ariat, in Indianapolis.
After going 11-for-16 for the Texas Rattlers during the 2022 PBR Team Series, Keeping started the weekend off at No. 5 in the Unleash The Beast standings with his eye on the gold buckle at the end of the 2023 season. Sitting in second place in Saturday’s Round 1 courtesy of his 87.75-point ride aboard Casper (Crescent City Bucking Bulls/ Lari Crane/ Gene Owen), Keeping kept the fire going in Round 2.
Paired with Renegade (Cord McCoy/ Rodosky/ Lovell/ Punke/McCoy Rodeo) as Sunday afternoon began, the talented Texan exploded from the chutes. The solid 88.75-point ride punched his ticket to the final round in the No. 1 spot on the event leaderboard.
Keeping then selected UTZ BesTex Smokestack (Blake Sharp/Chris Utz/Garrett Carey) as his bovine opponent in the championship round. As part of a two-man battle for the event win, Keeping was in the clear after a heartbreaking last-second injury left Tate Pollemeier (Ft. Scott, Texas) unable to attempt a re-ride.
With fans inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse on the edge of their seats, Keeping erupted from the chutes on the muscular animal athlete but was launched to the ground in 6.59 seconds.
Despite the final-round upset and a notable limp to the CanAm cage, Keeping was handed a check for $42,146. He also collected 114.5 points toward the standings.
The 23-year-old Keeping moved to No. 4 in the PBR Unleash The Beast Standings, 99 points behind world leader Andrew Alvidrez (Seminole, Texas).
Despite his best efforts and claiming the No. 6 spot in Round 1, Alvidrez had a less-than-ideal weekend after bucking off of his Round 2 pairing with Jeremiah (Universal Pro Rodeo) on Sunday. Equally disappointing, the talented Texan could not make the 8 in his 15/15 Bucking Battle matchup with Moonlight Party (Jane Clark/ Gene Owen) on Saturday night. Although the weekend was an upset for him, Alvidrez held tight to No. 1 in the standings.
The second 15/15 Bucking Battle of the 2023 season saw 2018 PBR World Champion Kaique Pacheco (Itatiba, Brazil) record a staggering 93-point score on Saturday night aboard Ricky Vaughn (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.).
Close behind him, hunting for a second 15/15 win this season to pair with his Chicago victory, was Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) with an impressive 92-point ride aboard Tulsa Time (Cord McCoy/ Kelly & Cami Heath/ McCoy Rodeo).
The only man to record a ride in Sunday’s championship round was 20-year-old Casey Roberts (Munford, Alabama).
After landing in third place in Round 1, Roberts was no match for Do Dat Eddie (Universal Pro Rodeo/ Rachel & Dustin Powell) in Round 2, hitting the ground after just 3.38 seconds. The Oklahoma Freedom cowboy quickly vindicated himself, however, when he had the arena at full volume with his confident 88-point ride aboard Red Demon (Universal Pro Rodeo/ Rachel & Dustin Powell) in the final round of the weekend.
For his second-place overall finish, he earned 95 points and $28,986.
Starting the weekend at No. 35, Roberts catapulted to the No. 17 spot in the UTB season standings.
Roberts’ Oklahoma teammate Pollmeier rounded out his weekend with a third-place finish.
After capturing the Round 1 win on Saturday night, the 18-year-old cruised into Sunday sitting at the top of the field.
After an 86.5-point ride aboard Mike’s Effect (Blake Sharp/ Michael Floyd/High Voltage Cattle/ Wheeler) in Round 2, his spot was secured in the championship round.
Pollmeier selected Blue Duck (Cord McCoy/Grin/Jacobson/Davis Rodeo Ranch/ McCoy Rodeo) as his matchup for the final round.
Matching the crowd’s energy, the rookie rider climbed aboard the talented animal athlete.
Crashing to the ground at 7.15 seconds, Pollmeier was smashed and thrashed, leaving him unable to accept a re-ride when judges deemed a technical error.
Collecting 75 points and $12,713.33, Pollmeier vaulted from No. 31 in the UTB standings to No. 18 as the battle for the next world title heats up.
Texan Austin Richardson (Dallas, Texas) finished fourth, courtesy of going 2-for-3 during the two days of competition.
In Saturday’s opening round, the 22-year-old bested Twisted Feather (Blake Sharp/ Michael Floyd/Cain Kobert) for a solid 82.5 points.
Paired with Tom Horn (Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls) in Round 2, the 2022 Austin Gamblers rider launched from the chutes with dirt flying for an 89.25-point score.
Richardson then selected Yellowknife (Blake Sharp/Michael Floyd) for the championship round in hopes of catapulting himself up the leaderboard.
Despite his best efforts, he was no match for the talented animal and was thrown to the dirt in 7.1 seconds.
Richardson now holds the No. 39 spot in the standings after collecting 47 UTB points to move up from No. 54.
Kyler Oliver (Roy, Utah) rounded out the Top 5 with a 2-for-3 weekend.
On Saturday night, Oliver secured a less-than-ideal 77.5-point score for his Round 1 matchup with Sicilian Kiss (Blake Sharp/Chris Utz/Garrett Carey).
The Kansas City Outlaws athlete then paired with Savage (Blake Sharp/Michael Floyd/Koe Wetzel/ High Voltage Cattle) in Saturday’s long round, recording an 87.5-point score to sail into the championship round.
Selecting Alakazam (D&H Cattle/ Buck Cattle/Tommy Julian) for the final round, the 22-year-old was quickly dispatched after 2.07 seconds.
Despite the disappointing conclusion to his weekend, Oliver earned 31 points to move from No. 54 to No. 44 in the UTB standings.
In the bull pen, Ridin Solo (Cord McCoy/ Bill McCarty/McCoy Rodeo) was unrivaled, crowned the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event. The powerful reigning World Champion Bull turned heads in Sunday’s championship round when he posted a massive 46.5-point score for his 1.65-second buckoff of Marcus Mast (Middlebury, Indiana).
Elsewhere in the PBR this weekend, as the only rider to go 3-for-3 in front of a sold-out crowd at Van Andel Arena, Casey Coulter (Kirksville, Missouri) clinched the win at the PBR Pendleton Whiskey Velocity Tour’s Tractor Supply Co. Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Coulter took his first step to the top of the leaderboard in Round 1, finishing third after making the 8 aboard Warpath (Generations Pro Rodeo, Inc.) for 86 points.
The “show-me state” cowboy continued the momentum into Round 2 as he bested his bovine opponent Bean Time (Cornwell Bucking Bulls) to record another 86-point ride.
In the championship round, Coulter clinched the win, the second of his career, when he conquered Jet Black (Mike Miller Bucking Bulls) for 84 points.
Coulter’s flawless efforts netted him 131 Velocity Global Points. He’s now ranked No. 6 in the Velocity Global Standings.
PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR UTB event and is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv. Tune in to channel 720 for the latest programming schedule.
The PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to Sacramento, California, for the PBR Wrangler Long Live Cowboys Classic on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:45 p.m. PST, Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6:45 p.m. PST and Sunday, Feb. 5 at 1:45 p.m. PST.
PBR Unleash The Beast – PBR ZipRecruiter Invitational, presented by Ariat
Gainbridge Field House – Indianapolis, Indiana
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Daniel Keeping, 87.75-88.75-0-176.50-114.5 Points.
2. Casey Roberts, 87-0-88-175.00-95 Points.
3. Tate Pollmeier, 88.25-86.5-0-174.75-75 Points.
4. Austin Richardson, 82.5-89.25-0-171.75-47 Points.
5. Kyler Oliver, 77.5-87.5-0-165.00-31 Points.
6. Marcelo Procopio Pereira, 83-81-0-164.00-30 Points.
7. João Ricardo Vieira, 83.5-72.5-0-156.00-17 Points.
8. Marcus Mast, 0-89.5-0-89.50-33 Points.
9. Jose Vitor Leme, 0-88.75-0-88.75-20.5 Points.
10. Boudreaux Campbell, 0-88.25-0-88.25-17 Points.
11. Koltin Hevalow, 0-87-0-87.00-14 Points.
12. Derek Kolbaba, 86.75-0-0-86.75-15.5 Points.
(tie). Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 86.75-0-0-86.75-15.5 Points.
14. Andrew Alvidrez, 86.5-0-0-86.50-14 Points.
(tie). Luciano De Castro, 0-86.5-0-86.50-11 Points.
(tie). Chase Dougherty, 0-86.5-0-86.50-11 Points.
17. Wingson Henrique da Silva, 0-86.25-0-86.25-9 Points.
(tie). Alex Cerqueira, 86.25-0-0-86.25-13 Points.
19. Chase Outlaw, 0-85.75-0-85.75-8 Points.
20. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-85-0-85.00-8 Points.
21. Braidy Randolph, 0-84.75-0-84.75-8 Points.
22. Kaique Pacheco, 0-84-0-84.00-8 Points.
23. Eduardo Aparecido, 83.75-0-0-83.75-12 Points.
24. Brady Oleson, 82.75-0-0-82.75-9 Points.
25. Silvano Alves, 81.75-0-0-81.75-8 Points.
Rafael Jose de Brito, 0-0-0-0.00
Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0.00
Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0.00
Jesse Petri, 0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Manoelito de Souza Junior, 0-0-0-0.00
Sandro Batista, 0-0-0-0.00
Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Rafael Henrique dos Santos, 0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0.00
Vitor Losnake, 0-0-0-0.00
Dawson Branton, 0-0-0-0.00
Hunter Ball, 0-0-0-0.00
Flavio Zivieri, 0-0-0-0.00
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