FORT WORTH, Texas – On Wednesday evening inside Cowtown Coliseum, Dawson Branton (Jefferson, Oregon) inched one step closer to punching his ticket to compete inside AT&T Stadium at the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship, winning Round 1 of Ride For Redemption in Fort Worth, Texas.

During the PBR World Finals – Ride For Redemption, the Top 5 riders in the aggregate following the two rounds of competition will earn the final berths to the Championship on May 18-19 at AT&T Stadium. While no Unleash The Beast points will be awarded during Ride For Redemption, riders will also be competing for their share of the $45,000 purse.

Branton was paired with Rowdy (Ogden Ranch/Hart Cattle Co.) as the first-ever round for the ride-in to bull riding’s most prestigious event got underway. Nodding with confidence, Branton remained in perfect time with the animal athlete, reaching the requisite 8 with ease.

As the crowd inside PBR’s most intimate venue erupted in cheer, Branton was awarded what proved to be an unrivaled 87.75 points.

Branton leads a contingent of six riders who delivered a score in the opening round of Ride For Redemption.

Vitor Losnake (Piratininga, Brazil) made the most of his re-ride draw, conquering Tijuana Two-Step (Blake Sharp/Michael Floyd) for 86.5 points to finish second.

Third was Rafael dos Santos (Quitman, Georgia), who earned his spot on the podium for Round 1 of Ride For Redemption by besting Suffering Succotash (Hart Cattle Company) for 85 points.

An 84.75-point effort atop Shot In The Dark (Leffew/Meza/Castillo/Gutierrez) positioned Paulo Eduardo Rosetto (Colorado, Brazil) fourth on the event leaderboard.

Rounding out the Top 5 and earning the last berth to the Championship were Ride For Redemption to end tonight was Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas).

Keeping’s qualified ride was earned aboard Grey Fox (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell/Delmas/Williams) for 83.5 points.

While Bob Mitchell (Steelville, Missouri) was successful in Round 1 of Ride For Redemption, he will be in a must-ride position when the ride-in round resumes. His 81.25-point ride atop Bubba G (Dakota Rodeo/Brian & Ashley Pintar/Clay Struve/Chad Berger) currently seats him sixth in the event.

The remaining 32 riders will all begin the final round of Ride For Redemption with no score, each facing a must-ride situation to keep their 2024 PBR World Finals – Championship hopes alive.

The 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Ride For Redemption continues with Round 2 on Thursday, May 16, at 7:45 p.m. CDT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at PBR.com/WorldFinals, CowtownColiseum.com and AXS.com, or by phone at 1-800-732-1727.

PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast event. PBR RidePass is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv. Click here for on-demand PBR programming.

PBR Unleash The Beast 2024 PBR World Finals – Ride For Redemption Cowtown Coliseum – Fort Worth, Texas Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2- Event Aggregate) 1. Dawson Branton, 87.75-0-87.75 2. Vitor Losnake, 86.5-0-86.50 3. Rafael dos Santos, 85-0-85.00 4. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 84.75-0-84.75 5. Daniel Keeping, 83.5-0-83.50 6. Bob Mitchell, 81.25-0-81.25 Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0.00 Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0.00 Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0.00 Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0.00 Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0.00 Ednélio Almeida, 0-0-0.00 Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0.00 Jesse Petri, 0-0-0.00 Mason Taylor, 0-0-0.00 Conner Halverson, 0-0-0.00 Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0.00 Kyler Oliver, 0-0-0.00 Callum Miller, 0-0-0.00 Lucas Divino, 0-0-0.00 JaCauy Hale, 0-0-0.00 Jake Morinec, 0-0-0.00 Shane Scott, 0-0-0.00 Qynn Andersen, 0-0-0.00 Marco Eguchi, 0-0-0.00 Ramon de Lima, 0-0-0.00 Nick Tetz, 0-0-0.00 Michael Lane, 0-0-0.00 João Henrique Lucas, 0-0-0.00 José de Castro, 0-0-0.00 Briggs Madsen, 0-0-0.00 Elizmar Jeremias, 0-0-0.00 Grayson Cole, 0-0-0.00 Lucas Fideles Souza, 0-0-0.00 Hayden Harris, 0-0-0.00 Arthur Antonialle, 0-0-0.00 Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0.00 Jean Fernandes Pereira, 0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media