By the Numbers: No. 7 Andrew Alvidrez parlays 3-for-3 slate into first win of 2025
Missouri Thunder veteran put on a show in Naptown, securing his first win since 2022.
By James Youness
FORT WORTH, Texas – When the final moments of the Ariat PBR Indianapolis, presented by Cooper Tires, concluded, the weekend belonged to Andrew Alvidrez and the Missouri Thunder.
Before signing a couple dozen autographs for friends, families and fans in the stands following his first Unleash The Beast win since December 2022, he was met with nearly 20 handshakes on his way to his adoring crowd.
Not just from riders, either. We’re talking about security detail, stock contractors and all sorts of tour personnel who not only understood how big the win was for Alvidrez, but who appreciate the cowboy for the man he is and how he approaches things inside the arena.
Sure, he took care of business.
But when you consider how much of a gentleman he is and has been to tour personnel and arena workers around the country, it was a bit of a full circle moment when they congratulated him for the big win, as they know just how hard he’s been grinding behind the scenes.
“Resist comfort, you know? Comfort kills. You constantly have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. If you’re comfortable on the back of a bull, you’re probably not doing it right,” he told Kate Harrison with a laugh via PBR’s YouTube livestream.
“That’s what it is – This is my life, every single day. I’m trying to get better: Whether it’s bull riding, being a man or more importantly, being a cowboy.”
Becoming the tenth different rider to win an event title so far during the 2025 campaign, it’s become apparent that a bit of parity is ricocheting throughout the premier series circuit this time around.
Yet, for as much as we enjoyed watching Cassio Dias dominate last season, claiming roughly one third of the year’s contests, it’s been fun seeing the love spread around.
Getting his work weekend off to a fiery start on Friday night, making the 8 aboard The Player as he helped his Missouri Thunder improve to 2-0 all-time in Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World, action during their rivalrous series against the Kansas City Outlaws, he began his successful slate with an encouraging 87.5-pointer.
Eventually out-pacing runner-up Koltin Hevalow by 6.25 points in the overall aggregate, we wouldn’t have guessed the Seminole, Texas, native exited Gainbridge Fieldhouse with his first win of the season after seeing him settle for an 80-point ride in Round 2.
But with no re-ride flags being thrown for the unideal dance, Alvidrez was forced to keep the mark and charge up his batteries for the exclusive short round.
Charge them up, he did, as he went on to rip off not only the highest score of the weekend, but the highest of his career, as he gracefully bested Nobody for a rather rank 92.5 points.
Collecting a sincere 133 UTB points, he found himself occupying the No. 7 rank and one hell of a smile as he made his way back to the locker room.
Sure, he’s earned himself a spot in the Top 10.
But for a cowboy who’s hunting down a gold buckle, he’s staying the course, doing the same things which allowed him to grind out a win in Indy.
“To be honest, nothing changes. I love what I do. I ride bulls for a living, you know? I come from the oil fields and this beats the oil field, so I’m grateful,” he concluded via the RidePass on Pluto TV stream.
Far removed from those days, he’s quickly reminded the bull riding industry just how spicy of a contender he remains despite his “decent” start to the season leading into Indianapolis.
One of just two men to produce 3-for-3 records in Naptown, he very much accelerated his odds of continuing the dance inside AT&T Stadium as the most recent veteran to rid themselves of a several-year title drought.
Representing his first premier series win in 27 months, this was BIG.
And if we remember correctly, he ended up winning two-straight the last time he entered the winner’s circle (including consecutive stops in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Albany, New York, during the 2023 season).
Knowing he just cleaned up inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, it appears he excels most operating in eastern time zones.
13 showcases down – 10 to go. Which means the drama will only continue to stack up week over week as the world’s best bull riders attempt to position themselves for a run at the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast.
And with another Tuesday comes another edition of By the Numbers as we take a closer look at Andrew Alvidrez’s scoreboard-shattering conversion, Koltin Hevalow’s second-straight Top 5 and tons of other outlying numerals from last weekend’s showcase in Indianapolis, Indiana!
92.5: Tying John Crimber for the highest-scored ride of the season during his short round dance with Nobody, Alvidrez couldn’t have dreamed up a better conclusion to the Ariat PBR Indianapolis, presented by Cooper Tires, as he truly lit up the scoreboard with said rank dance. Honestly, hearing Alvidrez reply to being asked which bull he wanted to select during the draft with a quick and short “Nobody,” we weren’t sure if he was cracking a quick joke, alluding to the pen’s bull power. But it was quickly revealed he had merely done his homework, knowing EXACTLY which bull he wanted a chance at.
Serving as the highest-scored ride of the 28-year-old’s career, the spicy dance was one of four qualified rides to take place during Championship Saturday’s short go, which marks only the second time all season the pack has produced an even four conversions. The weird part about said total is that we watched the pack double down on that figure in back-to-back fashion, as Week 13’s four-pack of rank rides marks the second-straight week the tour has witnessed four rides, with a combination of one, two, three or five successful attempts comprising of the other 11 showcases this year.
Back-2-Back: His Kansas City Outlaws may have dropped a second-straight decision to their in-state rival Missouri Thunder, watching the red and yellow contingent claim the Show Me State Showdown hardware during the Midwestern meet-up – but that isn’t phasing a guy like Koltin Hevalow, as the 21-year-old has turned in consecutive Top 5 finishes after securing a flashy runner-up effort in Indianapolis.
Joining Alvidrez as the only other man to stay perfect on the weekend, Hevalow pieced together 84, 84.5 and 85.25-point conversions to bring home a much needed 82 UTB points as he cracked the Top 12 for the first time since blazing into the season with third-place effort in Tucson, Arizona. Officially riding a four-out ride streak throughout his past four long round sessions, which includes perfect 2-for-2 slates in both Salt Lake City, Utah, and Indianapolis, he’s been the definition of solid lately. However, it was his dance with Doze You Down in the short go which represented his first championship round conversion of the season, and ultimately the reason he was able to secure himself the No. 12 rank ahead of this weekend’s Michelob ULTRA PBR Jacksonville. Now 14-for-32 on the season, he remains tied with a few other riders for the fourth-most rides attempted in 2025.
Career-First Top 3: Rounding out the podium Saturday night when competition concluded, Elizmar Jeremias collected the first Top 3 finish of his career as the top-scored man to go 2-for-3. One of six guys to produce matching 2-for-3 efforts, Elizmar began the weekend in stunning fashion: by winning the Round 1 honors via an impressive 88.75-pointer aboard Mike’s Motive.
Serving as the Brazilian’s fourth-best conversion within UTB competition, he was off to quite the start on night one. However, he wouldn’t settle for just one encouraging ride. Saving his best for last, he joined Alvidrez as the only other cowboy to produce a 90, eventually scored a rank 90.75 points atop Hoobastank as he inked the highest-marked ride of his entire career! Taking home $18,562 and 83 UTB points, he jumped from the No. 31 rank up to the No. 23 spot, now 10-for-30 on the season as he looks to make a push for the Top 20 this weekend in Jacksonville. Add in a pair of fifth-place finishes earlier this season from showcases in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Wichita, Kansas, and he’s up to three Top 5 results on the year.
348.75-169: Ending the opening night’s festivities by nearly setting a new Monster Energy Team Challenge record, the Missouri Thunder produced a whopping 348.75-point aggregate as just the second team to manage a 4-for-6 slate within the exciting new series. Coming up just 1.5 points short of the Texas Rattlers for the all-time record, who posted a 350.25-point total against the Austin Gamblers in Houston, Texas, last month, it was clear Ross Coleman and Luke Snyder had their guys ready to ride Friday night.
So much so that Boudreaux Campbell nearly tied Elizmar Jeremias for the Round 1 honors after scoring a rank 88.25 points for his 8-second journey atop Judgement Day. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, who’s now 14-for-28 on the year and up to the No. 14 rank, technically got the party started, leading the way for his team with a quality 86.25 points. But it was ultimately Campbell’s mark which stirred something inside the rest of his lineup. If one of the tour’s cutline-lurkers could manage such a sincere effort, you bet your ass the other guys who have already been thriving this season could, too. Exactly what Andrew Alvidrez and Felipe Furlan did during two of the squad’s final outs. Scored 87.5 and 86.75 points, respectively, they put the finishing touches on an eventual 348.75-169 final as the Thunder officially captured the three-game series thanks to a 2-0 advantage after initially defeating Kansas City a few weekends prior in Sacramento, California.
Kansas City may have had 2024 World Champion Cassio Dias atop the chutes as their stand-in coach (with J.W. Hart and Guilherme Marchi travelling to Brazil for this week’s PBR Teams Combine), but the All-World talent wasn’t able to secure a win during his coaching debut. However, the aforementioned Koltin Hevalow was able to kickstart his eventual podium finish in a big way, logging his highest score of the weekend, 85.25 points, dancing with Whiskey Business. Sandro Batista also got his 2-for-3, seventh-place result going Friday night by earning 83.75 points for surviving the requisite 8 aboard Bayou Bad Boy. After capturing a 3-1 series advantage over Missouri, alongside the 2024 regular season championship, this simply just isn’t the same version of the Outlaws we’ve seen, or will likely see, this summer when the PBR Camping World Team Series ramps up its fourth season of camaraderie-driven action. For now, Missouri owns bragging rights in this series.
