NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event in North Little Rock, Arkansas, got underway Saturday night, Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) and Cort McFadden (Novice, Texas) rode supreme, tying for the Round 1 win at PBR Little Rock.

Kasel, who rides for the Austin Gamblers in the separate PBR Teams league, and the Oklahoma Wildcatters’ McFadden both logged 87.75-point rides to collect 23 points apiece in the race for the 2025 PBR World Championship and accompanying $1 million bonus.

Kasel conquered Feeds Red River (Blake Sharp/Huff Bulls), while McFadden outlasted Magic Hunter (Martinez Bucking Bulls, LLC).

With both riders chasing their first gold buckle this May, Kasel climbed from No. 5 to No. 4 in the Unleash The Beast standings, now 203.5 points behind No. 1 Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia). McFadden remained No. 12 in the world, inching within 373.42 points of the top spot.

Fielder solidified his spot atop the standings by tying for 13^th in Round 1 of the event inside Simmons Bank Arena. The Texas Rattler rode Bittersweet (Martinez Bucking Bulls, LLC) for 83.75 points, collecting 8 Unleash The Beast points. Fielder now leads No. 2 Sage Steele Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma), who was bucked off by That’ll Play (D&H Cattle Company) in 3.83 seconds, by an increased 135.25 points.

The opening night of the two-day event in the Natural State also featured the ninth installment of the Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World, an extension of the PBR Teams league that brings head-to-head, team-vs.-team bull riding games to the sport’s elite individual tour.

The Missouri Thunder completed their 3-0 clean sweep of the Kansas City Outlaws during the 2025 pre-season Show-Me Showdown with a 3.5-point win against their in-state rival.

With each team converting just once in six attempts, Thunder rider Boudreaux Campbell’s (Crockett, Texas) 84.75-point ride atop Cutter (Barthold & Eldred) proved enough to beat the 81.25-point score put up by the Outlaws’ Koltin Hevalow (McAlester, Oklahoma) on The Player (Blake Sharp).

Campbell’s score positioned him 11^th in Round 1, earning him 9 Unleash The Beast points, as he remained No. 31 in the standings. Hevalow left Simmons Bank Arena with 8 Unleash The Beast points and is now No. 18 in the world.

Returning to the top of the event leaderboard, Texas Rattler Claudio Montaha Jr. (Ribeirao dos Indios, Brazil) and Carolina Cowboy Adriano Salgado (Batatais, Brazil) tied for third.

The duo’s matching 87.5-point rides earned each contender 16.5 Unleash The Beast points as they conquered Hunter (Dozier Cattle Co./Martinez Bucking Bulls) and Whiplash (Blake Sharp/CB and Traci Lee/Richardson Land & Cattle), respectively.

Montanha and Salgado retained their respective No. 16 and No. 26 world rankings.

Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was the Austin Gamblers’ Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil).

Barbosa earned 15 Unleash The Beast points after outlasting Hoka Hey (Blake Sharp/Chris Utz/Carey Brothers) for 87.25 points, retaining his world No. 19 rank.

Action for the 2025 PBR Little Rock will conclude with Round 2 and the championship round on Sunday, March 9. Action gets underway at 1:45 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com and PBR.com.

Both nights of competition in North Little Rock will be 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. The stream for PBR Little Rock continues on Sunday, March 9.

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 Little Rock
Simmons Bank Arena – North Little Rock, Arkansas 
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Dalton Kasel, 87.75-0-0-87.75-23 Points.
(tie). Cort McFadden, 87.75-0-0-87.75-23 Points.
3. Claudio Montanha Jr., 87.5-0-0-87.50-16.5 Points.
(tie). Adriano Salgado, 87.5-0-0-87.50-16.5 Points.
5. Dener Barbosa, 87.25-0-0-87.25-15 Points.
6. Leonardo Castro, 87-0-0-87.00-13 Points.
(tie). Alan de Souza, 87-0-0-87.00-13 Points.
(tie). Bruno Carvalho, 87-0-0-87.00-13 Points.
9. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 86-0-0-86.00-11 Points.
10. João Ricardo Vieira, 85.75-0-0-85.75-10 Points.
11. Boudreaux Campbell, 84.75-0-0-84.75-9 Points.
12. Clay Guiton, 84.5-0-0-84.50-8 Points.
13. Brady Fielder, 83.75-0-0-83.75-8 Points.
(tie). Elizmar Jeremias, 83.75-0-0-83.75-8 Points.
15. Kaique Pacheco, 83-0-0-83.00-8 Points.
16. Koltin Hevalow, 81.25-0-0-81.25-8 Points.
17. João Lucas Campos, 79.75-0-0-79.75-7 Points.
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0.00
Sage Steele Kimzey, 0-0-0-0.00
Luciano De Castro, 0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0.00
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0.00
Sandro Batista, 0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00
Anderson de Oliveira, 0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0.00
Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
Grayson Cole, 0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0.00
Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Martins Costa, 0-0-0-0.00
Ramon de Lima, 0-0-0-0.00
Casey Roberts, 0-0-0-0.00
Carlos André de Oliveira, 0-0-0-0.00
Maikon Calixton Rocha, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media