SALT LAKE CITY – On the second sold-out night in Salt Lake City, Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil) rode supreme, delivering a perfect 3-for-3 performance to win the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event inside Delta Center to climb from No. 37 to No. 18 in the heated race for the 2025 PBR World Championship.

The momentous win puts Aparecido 341 points behind world leader Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia) and 236.5 points behind No. 2 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) at a pivotal point in the season. Fielder had a less-than-ideal weekend, going 1-for-3, while Crimber also struggled in Utah, going 0-for-2.

Collecting his first elite series win of the 2025 season, the veteran rider who competes for the Arizona Ridge Riders in the separate PBR Teams league also led the team in defeating the Oklahoma Wildcatters during Friday night’s Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World.

Keeping the energy flowing into Saturday night, the 34-year-old Brazilian finished in the Top 5 of Round 2 courtesy of an 86.5-point ride aboard Buckaroo, punching his ticket into the championship round.

Confidently selecting the resilient Ricky Vaughn as his opponent in the final round of the night, Aparecido was the last man out. Watching from the wings was seven-time World Champion Sage Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma), who held the lead.

Bursting from the chutes, Aparecido clung to the massive animal as it twisted and leaped higher and higher in the air. The moment Aparecido hit the ground, his signature smile spread across his face. Fans inside the Delta Center erupted as his 90.25-point score was announced and he clinched the win, bumping Kimzey into second place.

“I will never forget this,” remarked Aparecido as the event concluded. “I don’t need good luck. Every day, I put God first, so I am super proud about this event. This is for my family, and thank you to the great fans.”

In addition to a check for $44,787.50, Aparecido earned 127 Unleash The Beast points.

The only other man to go 3-for-3 over the weekend in Salt Lake was 30-year-old Kimzey. 

Kimzey, who rides for the Austin Gamblers in the separate PBR Teams League, conquered No Man’s Land in Round 2 for 86.25 points.

Selecting Playmate as his final opponent in hopes of his first UTB win of the season, Kimzey battled it out until the very end, earning 91 points - the highest ride score of the weekend.

With the second-place finish, Kimzey earned 100 UTB points to hold strong at No. 6 in the world.  

Despite his best efforts down to the wire on Saturday night, Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil) finished the weekend in third place overall after going 2-for-3.

Having hit the ground in 3.2 seconds on Friday night, Barbosa, who also rides for the Austin Gamblers, knew he had to hit the gas on Saturday if he wanted to be atop the leaderboard.

Besting Oyster Creek Brawler for 87.25 points to share the Round 2 win as Saturday began, he then selected King Tut as his final opponent.

Coming in just shy of 90 points at 89.75, he earned 17 UTB points and moved from No. 24 to No. 17.

Completing the trifecta of Austin Gamblers in the Top 5 in Salt Lake City, Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) ended the weekend as the No. 4 man in the world standings after going 2-for-3 to finish fourth.

Kasel gritted out his matchup with Benjamin Ranklin for 86 points on Friday and then upped the ante early on Saturday against Mr. Wilson for 87.25 points in Round 2.

His selection of Gene’s Best in the championship round, however, didn’t go his way, as the muscular bovine dispatched him after 6.36 seconds.

Kasel earned 53 UTB points on the weekend to move up one spot from No. 5 to No. 4.

2024 Salt Lake City champion, 21-year-old Koltin Hevalow (McAlester, Oklahoma), earned his path into the final round courtesy of an 87.75-point ride aboard Body Roc in Round 1 and an 85-point ride aboard Lil Loco in Round 2.

All eyes were on the Kansas City Outlaw as he prepared to face his selected bovine counterpart, Army Slasher, in the championship round.  

Launching through the air in perfect form right out of the gate, to the dismay of fans, he hit the ground after just 4.86 seconds.

Hevalow went 2-for-3 on the weekend, earning 42 UTB points for a fifth-place finish that pushed him from No. 27 to No. 24.

In the bull pen, Hard Core Slinger was unrivaled, anointed the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event. Bucking in Round 1, the talented animal athlete was awarded a stellar 45.5-point bull score for his 5.42-second buckoff of Paulo Eduardo Rossetto (Colorado, Brazil).

The PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the Ariat PBR Indianapolis, presented by Cooper Tires, the 13th event of the 2025 season, on Friday, Feb. 14, and Saturday, Feb. 15.

Both days of competition in Salt Lake City were available LIVE and FREE on PBR’s X channel (https://x.com/PBR), RidePass on Pluto TV, PBR’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@pbr), PBR’s mobile app (https://qrco.de/bdtdKp), and PBR’s app on connected TVs, including Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku and Google TV.

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

PBR Unleash The Beast – PBR Salt Lake City
Delta Center -Salt Lake City, Utah
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Eduardo Aparecido, 87-86.5-90.25-263.75-127 Points.
2. Sage Steele Kimzey, 83.25-86.25-91-260.50-100 Points.
3. Dener Barbosa, 0-87.25-89.75-177.00-74 Points.
4. Dalton Kasel, 86-87.25-0-173.25-53 Points.
5. Koltin Hevalow, 87.75-85-0-172.75-42 Points.
6. Leandro Zampollo, 85.75-86.75-0-172.50-38 Points.
7. Sandro Batista, 88.25-0-82.75-171.00-40 Points.
8. Brady Fielder, 88.5-0-0-88.50-33 Points.
9. Felipe Furlan, 88-0-0-88.00-19.5 Points.
(tie). Alan de Souza, 88-0-0-88.00-19.5 Points.
11. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-87.25-0-87.25-22 Points.
12. Boudreaux Campbell, 87-0-0-87.00-13.5 Points.
13. João Ricardo Vieira, 86.75-0-0-86.75-12 Points.
14. Andrew Alvidrez, 0-86.5-0-86.50-14.5 Points.
15. Clay Guiton, 0-86-0-86.00-12 Points.
16. Austin Richardson, 0-85.75-0-85.75-11 Points.
17. Luciano De Castro, 85.25-0-0-85.25-8.3333 Points.
(tie). Cort McFadden, 85.25-0-0-85.25-8.3333 Points.
(tie). Anderson de Oliveira, 85.25-0-0-85.25-8.3333 Points.
20. Claudio Montanha Jr., 85-0-0-85.00-8 Points.
21. Kaiden Loud, 0-84.75-0-84.75-9 Points.
22. Bob Mitchell, 0-82.5-0-82.50-8 Points.
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00
Adriano Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0.00
Leonardo Castro, 0-0-0-0.00
Elizmar Jeremias, 0-0-0-0.00
Dawson Branton, 0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0.00
Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 0-0-0-0.00
Rogério Venâncio, 0-0-0-0.00
Miguel de Jesus, 0-0-0-0.00
Callum Miller, 0-0-0-0.00
Everton Natan da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00
JaCauy Hale, 0-0-0-0.00
Guilherme Valleiras, 0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Martins Costa, 0-0-0-0.00
Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0.00
Dustin Herman, 0-0-0-0.00
Bruno Carvalho, 0-0-0-0.00
Kase Hitt, 0-0-0-0.00
Hagen Braswell, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media