LAS VEGAS – In front of a raucous, sold-out, Thursday night crowd inside South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, Alan de Souza (Taubate, Brazil) emerged victorious, crowned the 2023 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Challenger Series Champion, while Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina) went a perfect 2-for-2 in Las Vegas to win the tour’s season-ending championship event.

For the Nashville Stampede’s Souza, he traveled to Sin City with a 76.33-point lead over No. 2 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas), as the lone two contenders remaining in the hunt to be crowned the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Champion.

As competition got underway, Crimber made a significant dent in Souza’s lead as he rode to the Round 1 win courtesy of a commanding 89-point ride atop Huckleberry (Buckin Fun Group/Twisted Horn Ranch).

Crimber’s ride, paired with Souza’s hard-fought 6.29-second buckoff atop Blown Away (Nothin’ But Try Ranch/Diggers/Kinser/McCall), led him to inch within 48.33 points of the top spot.

With Souza not advancing to the championship round, Crimber had the chance to clinch the year-end title should he make the requisite 8 atop Baby Huey (M Rafter E/High View Cattle). The 18-year-old phenom, however, proved no match for the powerful animal athlete, sent airborne in 4.3 seconds.

The buckoff cemented the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Championship for Souza. When the dust settled, Crimber finished fourth at the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Championship, garnering just 49 points. He finished second to Souza by 27.33 points.

Souza and Crimber both earned automatic berths to the 2024 PBR Unleash The Beast season, alongside 2002 PBR World Champion Ednei Caminhas (Indaiatuba, Brazil), Dakota Buttar (Eatonia, Saskatchewan, Canada) and Conner Halverson (Gordon, Nebraska) via their overall finish in the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Global standings.

Courtesy of a perfect 2-for-2 showing, the Texas Rattlers’ Vastbinder won the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Championship event title.

Vastbinder got off to a hot start in Round 1 when he rode It’s Cherry (Halpain Bucking Bulls) for 83 points.

Entering the championship round fifth on the event leaderboard, he next took on Trump Train (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger). In what proved to be a perfect pairing, Vastbinder remained centered, matching the bovine athlete jump-for-jump en route to the whistle. Scored a monstrous 90 points, Vastbinder surged to the top of the event leaderboard, cementing his event win.

Vastbinder left South Point Arena Thursday evening having earned 124 Challenger Series points. He finished the season No. 37 in the standings.

PBR action from Las Vegas continues Oct. 20-22 with the 2023 PBR Camping World Teams Championship at T-Mobile Arena.

PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer replays of all the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Championship and 2023 PBR Camping World Teams Championship action from Las Vegas. Check https://pluto.tv/en/live-tv/pbr-ridepass for the latest programming schedule.

PBR Challenger Series PBR Challenger Series Championship South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa – Las Vegas, Nevada Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2- Event Aggregate-Event Points) 1. Eli Vastbinder, 83-90-173.00-124 Points. 2. Bob Mitchell, 86-83.5-169.50-83.5 Points. 3. Sandro Batista, 75.5-89-164.50-60 Points. 4. John Crimber, 89-0-89.00-49 Points. 5. Jordan Hansen, 88-0-88.00-35 Points. 6. Cladson Rodolfo, 86-0-86.00-28.5 Points. Alan de Souza, 0-0-0.00 Ednei Caminhas, 0-0-0.00 Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0.00 Conner Halverson, 0-0-0.00 Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0.00 Davi Henrique de Lima, 0-0-0.00 João Paulo Fernandes, 0-0-0.00 Trace Redd, 0-0-0.00 Jaxton Mortensen, 0-0-0.00 Cort McFadden, 0-0-0.00 Brandon Chambers, 0-0-0.00 Chase Dougherty, 0-0-0.00 Elijah Mora, 0-0-0.00 Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0.00 Elizmar Jeremias, 0-0-0.00 Zane Cook, 0-0-0.00 Dustin Herman, 0-0-0.00 Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0.00 Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0.00 Jean Fernandes Pereira, 0-0-0.00 Cole Brewer, 0-0-0.00 Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0.00 Paulo Eduardo Rosseto, 0-0-0.00 Marcelo Procopio Pereira, 0-0-0.00 Leonardo Castro Ferreira, 0-0-0.00 Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0.00 João Lucas Campos, 0-0-0.00 Gabriel Morais, 0-0-0.00 Adilson Junior, 0-0-0.00 Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0.00 Daniel Feitosa, 0-0-0.00 Wyatt Gleeson, 0-0-0.00 Alex Junior da Silva, 0-0-0.00 Eric Henrique Domingos, 0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media