PUEBLO, Colo. – Officially becoming the first rider to surpass the 1,000-point mark (now with 1,030.83 points) in the 2024 Unleash The Beast World Championship standings, No. 1 Cassio Dias continued his historic rookie campaign by picking up his fifth, yes fifth, win of the season in Little Rock, Arkansas!
Waving to the Simmons Bank Arena crowd three separate times last weekend, as the only rider to manage a perfect 3-for-3 performance, Dias may have heard World Champions in Cooper Davis, Justin McBride and company suggest he sit a few events out in returning to full health …
… but with his Kansas City Outlaws coach in J.W. Hart donning the reputation of the sport’s “Iron Man,” there was zero chance the world’s top-ranked rider was going to afford No. 2 John Crimber, No. 3 Dalton Kasel and the rest of the premier series pack a chance to catch him while sitting at home.
Just 2-for-7 since picking up his fourth win of the campaign in Los Angeles, California, there was definitely some truth and genuine reasoning when some of the best to ever ride supported the talented Brazilian taking a few weeks off in approaching 100% health. But after seeing the 22-year-old return to his elite, event-clinching form, it’s safe to say we’re all glad that Dias is back to looking like the World Champion runaway we’d witnessed throughout the first half of the season.
Having captured four of the tour’s first 12 event titles, it was very evident early into the campaign that the 2023 PBR Teams MVP runner-up wasn’t settling for anything less than a buckle this spring.
That’s all in the past, however, as the rider refocused himself on what’s to come while championing through what’s believed to be a lower-body injury.
RELATED: #InCaseYouMissedIt: Dias earns huge fifth win of 2024
Getting back into the ride column during Round 1 in Little Rock, Dias exited his opening round showdown against T-Wrecks with a less than perfect 83 points. But for Dias, and fans around the world, seeing the pack favorite stay atop his bull for 8 seconds was a welcome site. Seeing much less of a post-ride limp was just as encouraging, as the crowd caught on to his improving health.
It wasn’t a perfect ride by any means, but the No. 1 rider was back to doing what he does best:
Riding bulls.
Eventually capturing his tour-best eighth round win of the season when Saturday’s second round rolled around, he doubled down, this time dancing with Tulsa Time as he resumed his top-tier form.
Scored a round-winning 89.25 points, Dias not only earned the first pick in the short round bull draft, but regained some of the tour-leading confidence we’ve seen oozing for a majority of the season. Far from done on the weekend, he, naturally, was positioned in the last attempt of the night.
Adding to the drama, fellow Brazilian Thiago Salgado had surpassed Dias atop the event leaderboard, albeit with just a 2-for-3 record, the very feat Dias had already accomplished heading into the short go.
Doing … well, exactly what Dias does, he quickly reclaimed the lead while sealing the deal on his fifth win of the season. Scored 90.5 points after matching each and every move that Dark Thoughts threw his way, he recorded not only his circuit-leading ninth round win, but the sixth 90-pointer of his rookie season, which also paces the pack.
Increasing his lead from 264.5 to 413.5 points on the weekend, as both Crimber and Kasel went 0-for-2, Dias netted a whopping 149 UTB points and a career-high $52,290 for his fifth win on the year. The fiery, first-year competitor has already brought home a tour-high $288,222.
A total he’ll look to grow even further this upcoming weekend, as the tour heads to visit an old friend in Ty Murray and company during the PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational!
With Unleash The Beast preparing to invade The Pit March 22-24 during the third and final PBR Major of the season in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we’re taking a quick look back at some of the numerical takeaways from last weekend’s PBR Little Rock during this week’s By the Numbers!
Top 10 Thiago: Fans may be familiar with the back-flipping talent from his spicy summer showcases competing alongside his Florida Freedom teammates within the PBR Camping World Team Series. And possibly even from the few early-season premier series appearances he made before the new year dawned. But after recording just one qualified ride throughout the first four UTB events of the season, the 21-year-old Brazilian was forced to grind his way back to the top tour.
Fast forward three months and the talented rider is back like he never left!
Since returning to the grandest stage in bull riding last weekend in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he turned in a 10th place finish during his first event back, Salgado is now 3-for-6 courtesy of his runner-up effort just days ago in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Two of said three conversions came inside Simmons Bank Arena last weekend, as the surging Brazilian paired an opening round strike aboard Crack Jack (87.25 points) with a dramatic short round conversion atop I’m Legit Too (88.25 points). Racking up a second-consecutive Top 10 effort (which tied a pair of second-place results to represent a career-best placing for the youngster), Salgado has boosted himself to the No. 37 rank despite besting just four of his 16 bovine opponents on the season. With his No. 24 overall finish in 2023 continuing to rank as his career-best finish and the pack ramping things up as the 2024 World Finals: Unleash The Beast quickly approaches, set to invade Arlington and Fort Worth, Texas, May 9-19 for two weeks of Western entertainment, Salgado would be wise to keep his head down and get his ride count up heading into Albuquerque!
No. 5 on the Climb: In a sport where timing is, literally, everything, Koltin Hevalow seems to be heating up at the perfect time with just seven Unleash The Beast events remaining before the pack invades Cowtown Coliseum and AT&T Stadium to see who will be named the 2024 PBR World Champion. Extending his event ride streak to seven-straight courtesy of his flashy 87.75-point journey aboard Woody during the opening round, Hevalow ended up edging out Thiago Salgado by half of a point (.5) as the 20-year-old secured his third round win of the season en route to picking up 28 UTB points during his first night of work.
The Smithville, Missouri, native was just getting warmed up on Friday night, though, as he returned to Simmons Bank Arena during Championship Saturday destined for additional success. Teaming up with Cliff Hanger for a sound 84.5 points, the youngster punched his ticket to the short round once again. Enter the drama, as Hevalow nearly matched No. 1 Dias as the only rider to produce a flawless, 3-for-3 slate, if not for suffering a heartbreaking buckoff at the 7.7-second mark. Now 2-for-3 in each of his past two competitions attended, Hevalow finds himself ranked No. 5 as the tour prepares to endure the third and final PBR Major of the season when the tour travels to The Pit! Now 19-for-41 (45.24%) with five Top 5 finishes to his name, he’ll look to keep things spicy during the three-day, four-round showdown March 22-24.
And I Would Walk (Fly) 2,071 Miles: There’s no doubt that No. 33 Ezekiel Mitchell has endured a lot throughout the 2024 premier series season. Just 6-for-21 (28.57%) throughout his nine UTB appearances, it’s never a good sign when a rider has more events attended than qualified rides. But anytime a talented veteran like Mitchell can rip off two rides in the same event en route to securing his season-high finish (tying Hevalow for third; now the second-straight week that the podium has featured four riders), well, that’s a good sign!
Initially accepting a head-to-head showdown with Spendin’ Cash to get things started, Mitchell went the distance for 86 points to get a score on the board. Parlaying the opening round success some 23 hours later, he doubled down during 8 seconds of greatness atop Gangster Time for 86.25 points.
With the conversion representing his third-straight premier series qualified ride, combining his two in Little Rock with a Round 2 score in Indianapolis a few weeks back, Zeke was feeling it! Apparent via his contagious smile, the dancing, swag-forward cowboy was putting on quite the show. So much so, that you wouldn’t have been able to tell the dedicated rider had travelled more than 2,000 miles on Friday. Making the most of his last-minute invite, earning a spot as Vitor Losnake was forced to miss action, the Rockdale, Texas, native landed in the northeast only to hop right back on a plane heading south. On Friday morning, he had landed in Philadelphia, heading for the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour event in Wheeling, West Virginia, when told of an opening in Little Rock. The 26-year-old cowboy immediately booked another flight to make it to Simmons Bank Arena on time, where he eventually turned in his best finish of the season!
First-Years Applying Pressure: With each and every UTB event winner in 2024 automatically earning a berth to the season-culminating showdown, the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (PWVT) preparing to send a few of its top competitors, not to mention PBR Teams qualifiers and international invites, we may not know the final number of contestants who will travel south to vie for the year-end honors. But what we do know is that the 2024 World Finals: Unleash The Beast is set to be one of the most dramatic and electrifying events in Western sports history, partially due to the unique format. But even more thanks to the rocket-fueled 2024 rookie class, who continues to dazzle as the spring slate approaches.
Contributing seven of the weekend's 19 qualified rides, thanks to efforts like Caden Bunch exiting his Round 2 showdown aboard Whiplash for 87.25 points, rookies haven't been shy to event leaderboards. Following up his big win in Milwaukee with a 1-for-3 effort in Little Rock, he extended his event ride streak to seven-straight while serving as one of four rookies to finish within the Top 10 at the southern showdown. Joining Bunch, the top-ranked rider in the world in No. 1 Cassio Dias, No. 14 Leonardo Castro and No. 21 Felipe Furlan. No. 13 Kaiden Loud was the fifth and final first-year to make the whistle, turning in an 11th place finish for his opening round, 84-point ride atop Zeus.
RELATED: Man Hater snaps streak of 46-point bull scores, still has World Championship in his sights
45+ Club: Just like we know No. 1 Cassio Dias is the current favorite to run away with the 2024 title, bull riding fans understand that No. 1 Man Hater has all but officially clinched a bucking title of his own as the pair has done all it can, and then some, to entertain fans around the world this season. Seeing the pair team up for the highest ride score in two years, posting an epic 94.75-point effort back in Los Angeles, we know that both the animal athlete and rider have been giving their all in 2024. But after seeing the revered bovine return to action for the first time since L.A. (where he gave up the first qualified ride of his premier series career) en route to posting just a 45-point score (the high-scoring benchmark for most bulls, but merely an off night for the best in the world in Man Hater), it was another set of bulls who kept the talented bucker from taking home the YETI Bull of the Event honors: the first and only time this season Man Hater has competed and not been the highest-performing bull of the weekend.
Those honors belonged to both No. 2 UTZ BesTex Legend and No. 3 Flyin Wired, who turned in matching 45.25-point efforts in ditching Keyshawn Whitehorse (1.99 seconds) and Caden Bunch (4.65 seconds), respectively, during the bull-dominated short go. Surrendering just two qualified rides throughout 12 championship round outs, with I’m Legit Too (quite the money bull, lately!) and Dark Thoughts the two bulls to relinquish Round 3 rides, the bulls put quite the exclamation mark on an event in which they allowed just 19 combined conversions.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
