PUEBLO, Colo. – The 2024 Unleash The Beast season has been all about Cassio Dias.

The 22-year-old rookie is ranked No. 1 in the UTB World Championship standings thanks to his five – yes, five – event wins. In addition, he’s had six Top-5 finishes, six 90-point rides, nine round wins, and has made the championship round in 12 of the 17 events.

He leads No. 2 John Crimber by 413.5 points with just 50 days remaining until the 2024 PBR World Finals in Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas.

With seven events remaining on the regular-season calendar, time is running short for anyone who wants to catch Dias and win the 2024 World Championship.

That being said, plenty of points remain on the table.

This weekend’s PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational is the last PBR Major of the season, offering more money and – more importantly – more points than a traditional event.

Regular UTB events award 20 points to round winners – a two-day event winner gets 80 points, and a three-day event winner gets 100 points. At Majors, round winners get 30 points, and the event winner gets a whopping 150 points – almost double what a two-day event winner gets.

Additionally, this weekend begins the buzzsaw portion of the UTB schedule, as it’s the first of four consecutive three-day events followed by two two-day events within the next week.

Again, there are plenty of points left on the table, and this next month will be what separates the contenders from the pretenders.

Let’s look at some of those contenders now.

No. 2 John Crimber (413.5 points behind Dias)

Crimber had thrown his hat in the ring as a world title contender before he was even old enough to have his PBR card, stating that he wanted to be the youngest PBR World Champion ever and win the gold buckle in his first season.

He’s had a hell of a season for himself, notching his first career victory in Jacksonville, Florida, in February.

That’s his only win thus far, but his incredible consistency has kept him at the top of the leaderboard – he made history as the only rider ever with four Top-2 finishes in his first 10 events. Overall, he has seven Top-10 finishes and is 17-for-36 (47%) this season.

Even so, Crimber is 413.5 points behind Dias, so he’s got some significant ground to make up.

However, if he were to run the table in Albuquerque, that would be 270 points, not including ride score bonuses. That’s a pretty hefty chunk.

Of course, this relies on Dias not earning any points in Albuquerque, which, to be fair, isn’t likely. But consider: in the one month between Dias’s wins in Los Angeles in February and Little Rock last weekend, he went just 2-for-8 and was blanked in Indianapolis. He’s riding with an injured knee, and that was by far his worst stretch of the season.

If Dias goes cold, Crimber could make this a real race by doing what he’s been doing all season: riding well, staying on, and placing high.

No. 3 Dalton Kasel (-467.33 points)

It’s been an uncharacteristically slow season for Mr. 90 Points – he has just one event win and two of his namesake 90-point rides. And yet, he’s still near the top of the UTB standings and very much in the hunt for his first world title.

Kasel is 467.33 points behind Dias but just 53.83 points behind Crimber – a couple of round wins or an event win would wipe out that difference, and Kasel is eminently capable of both. The problem is that he has just two round wins this season and the aforementioned single event win.

Kasel is 17-for-38 (44%) this season with five Top-10 finishes – not far behind Crimber’s numbers. He, too, will have to remain consistent for the rest of the season and pull out some of the fireworks we know he’s capable of.

A win in Albuquerque would be huge, but Kasel would likely need another down the stretch to remain competitive heading into World Finals.

No. 5 Koltin Hevalow (-515.83 points)

With No. 4 Austin Richardson out with a season-ending injury, No. 5 Koltin Hevalow is our next closest competitor.

Hevalow has had a truly breakout season on the UTB, going 19-for-42 (45%) with one event win, three round wins, and six Top-10 finishes. Again, riding percentage and consistency, rather than event wins, has kept Hevalow at the front of the pack.

Hevalow is 515.83 points behind Dias – the problem is that he only has 515 points. He would have to literally double his current season-long point total to catch Dias. We'll go out on a limb and say this isn’t feasible in the regular season for neither Hevalow nor anyone else below him in the standings.

Where things really get interesting is the PBR World Finals, which brings us to…

No. 27 Jose Vitor Leme (-883.83 points)

Look, we know. At 883.83 points behind Dias, two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme is not looking too hot in this world title race. But Leme is finally back in the draw in Albuquerque, and if anyone can rip off a string of event wins, it’s the guy who currently holds the record of eight wins in a single season.

Leme’s trump card – as well as the key to many other riders’ hopes and dreams – is the PBR World Finals. Each round win in Texas is worth 80 points. The aggregate winner of the elimination rounds gets 200 points, while the overall World Finals event winner gets 400 points.

At seven career World Finals, Leme is 29-for-43 (67%) with two event wins and has never finished worse than eighth on the sport’s biggest stage. After a down performance at the World Finals last season and competing in just four events so far this season due to injury, you can bet he'll be fired up and ready to remind us just who he is.

If a rider wins both aggregates at World Finals, that’s 600 points on its own. There are also eight rounds available to win, which is another 640 points. And this doesn’t even include ride score bonuses. Of course, expecting one rider to sweep every single buckle at the World Finals is absurd, even if that rider is one of the most prolific in history.

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But although Leme has competed in just four events this season, he’s 6-for-8 with two round wins. If he’s healthy, he will always be a threat to win events. And if he can make up some ground in the last six weeks of the regular season, he will definitely be someone to watch at the World Finals.

This world title race is Dias’s to lose. But the opportunities are there for the pack to put the pressure on.

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media