APARECIDO WINS ROUND 1 TO MOVE TO NO. 2: Entering his 13th World Finals ranked No. 4 in the Unleash The Beast standings, Eduardo Aparecido roared out of the chutes on Down Payment for 87.75 points to win the opening round of Eliminations inside an electric Cowtown Coliseum. Aparecido is chasing fellow Brazilian No. 1 Cassio Dias, who was initially called for a slap just under seven seconds into the final out of the evening. However, after review, the call was overturned, and Dias was awarded 86.75 points for his work atop Sava to tie for second in the opening round. Sitting atop the standings for all but two weeks of the 2024 season, Dias currently leads Aparecido by 552.33 points.

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BRANTON CONVERTS FIRST RIDE OF 2024 PBR WORLD FINALS: The first qualified ride on Thursday evening belonged to Dawson Branton. In his second World Finals, the Oregonian thundered out of the chutes on Zeus for 84.25 points. Finishing the round fourth, he moved from No. 48 to No. 44 in the Unleash The Beast standings. Competing mostly outside the premier series in 2024, the Carolina Cowboys’ Branton tallied two Top 10 finishes on the top tour. On the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, Branton went an impressive 9-for-14 (64%) and won two events in Portland, Oregon, and Youngstown, Ohio. In addition, he tacked on three more Top 5 finishes and ended the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour season ranked No. 6 in the Velocity Global standings.

DON’T GET IT TWISTED: Dana White’s Twisted Steel returns to action for his second World Finals against Qynn Andersen in Round 2 Friday evening. The powerful bovine competitor has allowed just two rides in his thirteen premier series outs (84.6 buckoff percentage) dating back to the beginning of the 2023 PBR Teams season and has bucked off six of the seven riders who have faced him during the 2024 Unleash The Beast campaign. After being ridden by Keyshawn Whitehorse for 88.75 points in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the rank animal athlete roared back, bucking off Conner Halverson in 2.58 seconds. Before being topped by Whitehorse, Twisted Steel got his revenge against the only rider who had covered him previously in the 2023-24 campaign, dispatching Andrew Alvidrez in 3.09 seconds in Albuquerque. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January, Twisted Steel shed Vitor Losnake in two seconds flat, the second-straight out in which he bested the Brazilian cowboy. Later that month, he unseated Eli Vastbinder in 3.2 seconds in Houston, Texas.

Tune into the Round 2 action via the CBS Sports Network broadcast, set to air live Friday, May 10 starting at 7 p.m. CDT.

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media