ALBANY, N.Y. – In front of an electric Friday night crowd in Albany, New York, Austin Richardson (Dallas, Texas), Braidy Randolph (Stephenville, Texas) and Kaiden Loud (Kaufman, Texas) rode supreme, tying for the Round 1 win at the Unleash The Beast’s PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Albany.

All three riders delivered matching 86.5-point rides to each earn 21 Unleash The Beast points.

Richardson, who also rides for the Austin Gamblers in the separate PBR Teams League, went the distance atop Martini Houdini (Flying C/Tom Baker/SPR Scott Palmer Racing). While he traveled to the Empire State event ranked No. 6 in the Unleash The Beast standings, the round victory elevated Richardson one position. He will begin Championship Saturday No. 5 in the standings, 208.5 points back of the top spot.

Randolph, a member of the reigning PBR Teams Champion Texas Rattlers, conquered Bangarang (Shuler Bucking Bulls), climbing two spots in the World Championship standings from No. 18 to No. 16.

The Nashville Stampede’s Loud topped the standings via his 8-second effort on Boo Ray (D&H Cattle Company). He surged from No. 39 to No. 26 in the standings as he seeks his first World Finals berth at season’s end.

Cassio Dias (Sao D. de Sales, Brazil) extended his lead atop the Unleash The Beast standings via a sixth-place finish in Round 1 of the fifth event of the 24-event 2024 season.

The Kansas City Outlaws’ standout rode Nighttime Crime (Mike Miller Bucking Bulls) for 85.75 points to garner 14 Unleash The Beast points. He now leads No. 2 Alan de Souza (Taubate, Brazil) by 161.5 points.

Returning to the top of the leaderboard, and rounding out the Top 5, were Julio Cesar Marques (Tauti, Brazil) and Wyatt Rogers (Hulbert, Oklahoma), teammates on the Kansas City Outlaws, who tied for fourth. Their mirror 86.25-point score earned each rider 15.5 Unleash The Beast points.

Marques rode West Coast (D&H Cattle Company) and Rogers covered Falcon Eddie (Lari Crane/Gene Owen). 

In the Unleash The Beast standings, Marques rose from No. 20 to No. 18, while Rogers climbed from No. 30 to No. 21.

Action for the 2024 PBR Albany will conclude with Round 2 and the championship round on Saturday, Dec. 30. Action gets underway at 6:45 p.m. EST.

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 Albany MVP Arena – Albany, New York Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points) 1. Austin Richardson, 86.5-0-0-86.50-21 Points. (tie). Braidy Randolph, 86.5-0-0-86.50-21 Points. (tie). Kaiden Loud, 86.5-0-0-86.50-21 Points. 4. Julio Cesar Marques, 86.25-0-0-86.25-15.5 Points. (tie). Wyatt Rogers, 86.25-0-0-86.25-15.5 Points. 6. Cassio Dias, 85.75-0-0-85.75-14 Points. 7. Lucas Divino, 85.5-0-0-85.50-13 Points. 8. Conner Halverson, 84.75-0-0-84.75-12 Points. 9. Leonardo Castro Ferreira, 83.75-0-0-83.75-11 Points. 10. Alex Cerqueira, 83.25-0-0-83.25-10 Points. 11. Wingson Henrique da Silva, 80.75-0-0-80.75-9 Points. 12. Jake Morinec, 80.25-0-0-80.25-8 Points. 13. Felipe Furlan, 79-0-0-79.00 14. Guilherme Valleiras, 73.5-0-0-73.50 Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0.00 Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0.00 Caden Bunch, 0-0-0-0.00 Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0.00 Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00 Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00 Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00 Brady Oleson, 0-0-0-0.00 Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0.00 Eli Vastbinder, 0-0-0-0.00 Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0.00 Ednélio Almeida, 0-0-0-0.00 Flavio Zivieri, 0-0-0-0.00 Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00 Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00 Rafael dos Santos, 0-0-0-0.00 Jesse Petri, 0-0-0-0.00 Luciano De Castro, 0-0-0-0.00 Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0.00 Kyler Oliver, 0-0-0-0.00 Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0.00 Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0-0.00 Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00 Nick Tetz, 0-0-0-0.00 Leonardo Lima, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media