BUCKOFF IN THE PIT: This weekend, for the 26th time and third consecutive season, PBR’s elite 2024 Unleash The Beast travels to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational, the seventeenth event of the 24-event 2024 individual season and the final of three majors. Duke City will host the PBR for three days of action on Friday, March 22, starting at 7:45 p.m. MST, Saturday, March 23, starting at 6:45 p.m. MST and on Sunday, March 24, at 1:45 p.m. MST:

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DIAS EXTENDS HOLD ON NO. 1 RANKING WITH FIFTH EVENT WIN: Cassio Dias once again stood victorious in Little Rock, Arkansas, hoisting his fifth event buckle after going a perfect 3-for-3. The burgeoning superstar flew out of the gate on T-Wrecks for a modest 83 points, placing him eighth in the event standings entering the final day of competition. Dias then locked in, winning Round 2 by covering Tulsa Time for 89.25 points to punch his ticket to the championship round. There, the Brazilian roared out of the chutes on Dark Thoughts for an event-high 90.5 points, his premier-series-leading sixth 90-point ride.

DON'T GET IT TWISTED: Dana White’s Twisted Steel heads to The Pit this weekend after bucking off Koltin Hevalow in 5.39 seconds in Jacksonville, Florida, in February. The powerful bovine competitor has allowed just one ride in his ten premier series outs (90% buckoff percentage) dating back to the beginning of the 2023 PBR Teams season and has bucked off all four riders who have faced him during the 2024 Unleash The Beast campaign. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January, Twisted Steel shed Vitor Losnake in two seconds flat, the second straight out he bested the Brazilian cowboy. Later that month, he unseated Eli Vastbinder in 3.2 seconds in Houston, Texas. This weekend, the rank animal athlete seeks revenge against Andrew Alvidrez in Round 1, the lone rider who has made the 8 aboard Twisted Steel this season. The Texan covered the powerful bovine competitor for 88 points at the PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, last October. If the bull can settle the score, he will seem virtually unstoppable leading into his celebrity showdown with UFC Hall of Famer, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW: Each year, the Ty Murray Invitational extends an invitation to the Indian National Finals Rodeo (INFR) Champion, a title won by 22-year-old JaCauy Hale of Ganado, Arizona, this season Making his PBR debut on I’m Legit Too in Round 1 this weekend, Hale finished with 216 points in the INFR standings, 54 points ahead of Latrell Long, who finished second, and 135 points ahead of PBR veteran Dakota Louis, who finished fifth. One of just two riders to make the 8, he finished second at the INFR Championship. Last year, Robbie Taylor earned the nod, but he was shut out in his two attempts.

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media