CROWNING A CHAMPION: The PBR World Finals returns to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for the third consecutive season but with a brand new three-stage format that begins with Eliminations May 9-12 and Ride For Redemption May 15-16 at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, before concluding with the PBR World Finals: Championship inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, May 18-19. The first stage of the PBR World Finals at Cowtown Coliseum, Eliminations, begins Thursday, May 9, at 7:45 p.m. CDT, Friday, May 10, at 6:45 p.m. CDT, Saturday, May 11 at 6:45 p.m. CDT and Sunday, May 12, at 1:45 p.m. CDT:
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THE YEAR OF THE ROOKIE: After Rafael Jose de Brito became the first rookie in PBR history to win a gold buckle in 2023, two rookies top the standings heading into the 2024 PBR World Finals. While No. 1 Cassio Dias has dominated most of the season, No. 2 John Crimber has put together arguably the best season ever by an 18-year-old. The son of 10-time PBR World Finals qualifier Paulo Crimber has won 11 rounds in the regular season after going 1-for-3 and winning Round 2 in Louisville, Kentucky, putting him just two behind Dias’s 13. Crimber’s eleven round wins in the regular season are more than any rider posted in 2023. He became the second youngest rider in PBR history since 2000 to win an elite tour event with his first career premier series victory in Jacksonville, Florida, in February, surpassing Jess Lockwood and trailing only L.J. Jenkins, who won in Columbus, Ohio, in October of 2005, just three months after his 18th birthday. But Crimber and Dias are not the only rookies who have put together a strong campaign, as there are currently 14 rookies competing in this year’s World Finals, making up 31% of the field. Last year, only eight rookies competed at the PBR World Finals, excluding Joao Lucas Campos, who was making his premier series debut. As a unit, rookies have won an incredible eleven of the twenty-three events, and a rookie has been on top of the Unleash The Beast standings for all but one week throughout the season, as No. 10 Caden Bunch began the Year of the Rookie by winning the first event of the season in Tucson, Arizona, before Cassio Dias took over, giving up the No. 1 spot just once before quickly retaking it. Proving the PBR is in good hands for years to come, at least two rookies have competed in all twenty-three championship rounds this season.
VELOCITY ADDITIONS: Five qualifiers from the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals will join the other 40 qualifiers for the PBR World Finals Eliminations. Those five riders are Grayson Cole, Dener Barbosa, Claudio Montanha Jr., Qynn Andersen and Jean Fernandes Pereira. Cole qualified for his second PBR World Finals as the 2024 Velocity Tour Champion. Throughout the regular season, Cole posted eight Top 5 finishes, including two victories in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, to take the No. 2 spot in the standings entering the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour finals 17.5 points behind No. 1 Ederson Santos. After being bucked off by Smoke Show in 3.04 seconds in Round 1, the Pennsylvanian rallied for a clutch 89.25-point conversion aboard Pearl Snap to win the second round. While he would buck off Game Over in 2.4 seconds, his 1-for-3 performance placed him ninth in the event, catapulting him to the No. 1 spot in the standings. Dener Barbosa and Jean Fernandes Pereira finished third and fifth, respectively, to claim the remaining two spots at Eliminations based on the Velocity Global standings. While it is Pereira’s first career World Finals appearance, it is Barbosa’s eighth, as he finished 176.5 Velocity Global points behind Cole after going 1-for-2 last weekend. Claudio Montanha Jr. went 2-for-3 and finished sixth at the finals in Corpus Christi, Texas, to earn his eighth world finals appearance as the top performer not already qualified at the event. Rounding out the final five invitees is Australia’s Qynn Andersen, who earned his spot by being the highest-placing international invite not already qualified at the event, finishing 12th with a 1-for-2 outing.
Photo courtesy of Johs Homer/Bull Stock Media
