Knowing the tour record for most conversions has been set and quickly reset over the course of the past two weekends (with 62 rank conversions occurring in Anaheim, California, before seeing the pack bump that figure to a whopping 65 qualified rides last weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina), it seems safe to say the boys — and bulls — have been entertaining, to say the least.
RELATED: PBR Teams: Anaheim had more rides than any other Teams event in history
Naturally, it was a pair of reigning World Champion athletes in Cassio Dias and Man Hater who teamed up to ink the record books once again.
And it’s only fitting that the score came in the heart of cowboy country – and the new home to PBR’s headquarters in Mule Alley.
“Lightning CAN strike in the same spot three times. Wait for this score! Two World Champions just danced and the lights almost went out,” Craig Hummer exclaimed on the Merit Street broadcast Friday night.
“I know we are in the electronic age, but if you have a printed ticket for this one – go find Cassio Dias, get him to autograph it. Then go find Gene Owen and get your second signature.”
The all-star duo has danced before, of course, twice earning a combined ride score north of 93 points (with the two originally teaming up for a 94.75-point mark in Los Angeles during the 2024 Unleash The Beast campaign, eventually followed up the next month in Albuquerque, New Mexico, courtesy of an epic 93.25-point effort.)
But this ride … this one was something special.
While the industry’s biggest star continues to improve his English, he didn’t need any translation help from Guilherme Marchi this time around as he chatted with Matt West on the Merit Street broadcast following the epic out.
He knew exactly what he wanted to say. Short, sweet and onto the next bull.
“I’m feeling the best,” Dias said.
“Thank you, I love you. Thank you God. Thank you everybody.”
From the moment the two exited the chutes, fans, riders, tour personnel and beyond could see this out wasn’t just history. It was destiny.
And by the time the 2024 World Champion finished his patented dance atop the shark cage to further provide some entertainment, it was nearly impossible to hear his 98.25-point score be announced throughout Dickies Arena.
Just three weeks after Man Hater dispatched Sage Steele Kimzey in a quick 2.41 seconds to record the highest-ranked bull score in PBR history, he found himself paired against Dias for a third time Friday night.
Apparently when stock contractor Gene Owen shared he wouldn’t be shocked to see his prized bovine one-up his own epic out back in Kansas City, he wasn’t kidding.
49-point bull scores historically don’t, and haven’t, come around too often.
To be exact, they’ve only been recorded four times in more than 31 years of PBR action (two of the marks now belonging to Man Hater alongside elite efforts dating back to the early 2000s, with Hammer posting a 49-point out in 2003 and Hercules logging the organization’s first mark of 49 in 2000).
RELATED: Man Hater stamps PBR record books with scoreboard-shattering 49.5-point bull score
So, for this bull to produce CONSECUTIVE 49-plus-point outs is … literally mind-boggling.
While the bull score came damn close to matching his record-shattering out from last month, which was scored a rank 49.5 points, the most talented bull on planet Earth was ready for his encore performance.
Except this time his opponent wasn’t go anywhere.
Nowhere but the PBR record books, that is.
Earning the highest-marked ride in PBR Teams history while edging out Adriano Salgado’s previous season-high effort of 93 points by a whopping 5.25 points, Dias, rightfully so, received an electric applause after completing one of the most epic rides the industry has ever witnessed.
Specifically, the second highest-score in outright PBR history, trailing only the legendary combination of Jose Vitor Leme and Woopaa.
“No offense to anybody – that’s the best ride I’ve ever seen in my life,” Outlaws Head Coach J.W. Hart shared with Matt West on the Merit Street broadcast.
There’s a reason the Kansas City Outlaws have been the hottest team on tour this season.
Well, plenty of reasons, really. And while it’s been Sandro Batista who’s led the team in conversions for most of the summer, it’s Dias who continues to lead the way in eye-popping performances while reminding his team they are 100% a “Championship or bust” unit.
And while the team’s eventual 359.75-176.75 victory over the Nashville Stampede may have gotten lost in the headlines, it wasn’t lost on their team’s skip. Especially not after the team dropped a bit of an unexpected decision to the New York Mavericks the night prior.
“We’re so proud of all the guys. We really stumbled and fumbled the ball last night and we felt like we were lost. We all kind of got together in the locker room last night, we refocused and rededicated ourselves,” Hart added.
"God says ‘when you put your hands on the plow, you don’t look behind you, you forge forward and dig the ditch,' and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Knowing the No. 1 Carolina Cowboys remain their biggest threat when it comes to the 2024 regular season championship honors, if not within the postseason gauntlet itself, means the orange and black contingent didn’t take the rest of the night off to celebrate.
Unfortunately for their regular season championship odds, they dropped a Saturday night finale to the Oklahoma Wildcatters. Thankfully for said same race, the Cowboys suffered defeat to the Austin Gamblers, thus keeping them just one game ahead of Kansas City.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media