NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – After going 0-for-8 in championship rounds this season, Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) broke through Sunday afternoon at the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to capture his second premier series victory of the season and vault to No. 2 in the race for the 2025 PBR World Championship.

“This is amazing,” Kasel said on the dirt after his walk-off win. “The Lord’s given me this talent; I just can’t do anything without Him. It’s really humbling. I’m just so thankful I have my wife and daughter with me.” 

Kasel traveled to the Natural State ranked No. 5 in the race for this season’s gold buckle and accompanying $1 million bonus, leading the tour in round wins and average ride score but still searching for championship round success.

The reserved Texan, who rides for the Austin Gamblers in the separate PBR Teams league, first struck Saturday night when he tied for the Round 1 win, covering Feeds Red River (Blake Sharp/Huff Bulls) for 87.75 points.

Kasel furthered his stronghold on the top spot in the event standings as championship Sunday got underway, besting Walk Hard (Ace of Spades/McGuire/Martinez) for 89.5 points.

With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Kasel elected to go head-to-head with Yahoo (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.). While Kasel was initially deemed to have bucked off the bull at the 5.6-second mark, he challenged the call and was awarded a re-ride, with PBR’s officials determining the bull fouled himself, resulting in the buckoff.

Kasel returned to the chutes to climb aboard Feeds Red River, needing a score of 87 points or more to clinch the win. Remaining in perfect time with the powerful animal athlete, Kasel reached the requisite 8 with ease, awarded 89 points to clinch the event win in walk-off form as the electric crowd erupted in raucous cheer. 

The win marked the second of Kasel’s career in North Little Rock, first victorious inside Simmons Bank Arena in 2023, and his second of the 2025 season, first riding his way to the winner’s circle in Wichita, Kansas, in December.

In addition to a check for $50,062.50, Kasel earned a crucial 138.5 Unleash The Beast points. He surged from No. 5 to No. 2 in the world, propelled within 149 points of No. 1 Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia).

The Texas Rattlers’ Fielder retained his world No. 1 rank by tying for third inside Simmons Bank Arena.

Fielder rode Bittersweet (Martinez Bucking Bulls, LLC) for 83.75 points in Round 1, Dark Thoughts (Blake Sharp/Henry Wilson) for 88.5 points in Round 2 and Eyes on Me (Blake Sharp/Hanks) for 89 points in the championship round, making it nine qualified rides in a row.

The affable Australian’s bronze showing garnered him 69 Unleash The Beast points.

Returning to the top of the event leaderboard, Keyshawn Whitehorse (McCracken Spring, Utah) was second.

The Arizona Ridge Riders standout punched his ticket to the championship round via an 86-point ride on Casper (Crescent City Bucking Bulls/Lari Crane/Gene Owen) in Round 1 and an 86.5-point ride aboard Peanut (D&H Cattle Company) in Round 2.

The 2018 PBR Rookie of the Year then punctuated his time in Arkansas with a monster 91.5-point ride on Nobody (Snyder Family/Gene Owen Bucking Bulls) in the championship round, the only 90-point ride of the tour stop and Whitehorse’s highest-marked ride since 2020. 

Netting 99 Unleash The Beast points, Whitehorse surged from No. 11 to No. 6 in the standings, inching within 340 points of No. 1 Fielder.

As the final rider to cover all three of his bovine athlete opponents, the Texas Rattlers’ Claudio Montanha Jr. (Ribeirao dos Indios, Brazil) tied for third alongside Fielder.

Montanha earned his scores on Hunter (Dozier Cattle Co./Martinez Bucking Bulls) for 87.5 points in Round 1, Mr. Vaquero (Lone Star BBG/D&H Cattle/Buck Cattle) for 85.5 points in Round 2, and Hoobastank (Blake Sharp/Hanks) for 88.25 points in the final round.

With the podium showing, Montanha earned 69 Unleash The Beast points. He climbed from No. 16 to No. 12 in the standings and now trails No. 1 Fielder by 421.5 points.

Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was Bruno Carvalho (Alvares Florence, Brazil) after competing in his first championship round of the season.

The Arizona Ridge Rider covered Sizmagraf (Rafter DK/Eldred Cattle) for 87 points in Round 1 and Manaba (Joe & Nina Webb/Julian/D&H Cattle Co.) for 87.5 points in Round 2 before being tossed by Tchoupitoulas (Hart Cattle Co./Hale) in 6.28 seconds in the final round.

Carvalho left Arkansas with 44 Unleash The Beast points and rose from unranked to No. 44 in the world.

In the bull pen, reigning YETI PBR World Champion Bull Man Hater (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) dominated, winning his PBR-best 10^th YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event honor at PBR Little Rock. The animal athlete, currently No. 1 in the world, was marked an unrivaled 46.5 points for his 2.51 seconds of work against the Florida Freedom’s Elizmar Jeremias (Anapu, Brazil).

Both nights of competition from North Little Rock were available LIVE and FREE on PBR’s X account (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 PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to the KFC Yum! Center for the Kubota PBR Louisville. The event will begin at 7:45 p.m. ET on Friday, March 14, and 6:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 15.

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, 87.75-89.5-89-266.25-138.5 Points.
2. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 86-86.5-91.5-264.00-99 Points.
3. Brady Fielder, 83.75-88.5-89-261.25-69 Points.
(tie). Claudio Montanha Jr., 87.5-85.5-88.25-261.25-69 Points.
5. Bruno Carvalho, 87-87.5-0-174.50-44 Points.
6. Dener Barbosa, 87.25-86.5-0-173.75-36 Points.
7. Alan de Souza, 87-82.5-0-169.50-27 Points.
8. Elizmar Jeremias, 83.75-85.25-0-169.00-21 Points.
9. Koltin Hevalow, 81.25-84.75-0-166.00-20 Points.
10. Kaique Pacheco, 83-73.5-0-156.50-10 Points.
11. Kaiden Loud, 0-89.75-0-89.75-29 Points.
12. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-88.75-0-88.75-16.5 Points.
(tie). Daylon Swearingen, 0-88.75-0-88.75-16.5 Points.
14. Cort McFadden, 87.75-0-0-87.75-23 Points.
15. Adriano Salgado, 87.5-0-0-87.50-16.5 Points.
16. Sandro Batista, 0-87.25-0-87.25-13 Points.
17. John Crimber, 0-87-0-87.00-12 Points.
(tie). Leonardo Castro, 87-0-0-87.00-13 Points.
19. Eduardo Aparecido, 0-86.75-0-86.75-11 Points.
20. Felipe Furlan, 0-86.5-0-86.50-9 Points.
21. João Ricardo Vieira, 85.75-0-0-85.75-10 Points.
22. Sage Steele Kimzey, 0-85-0-85.00-8 Points.
23. Boudreaux Campbell, 84.75-0-0-84.75-9 Points.
24. Clay Guiton, 84.5-0-0-84.50-8 Points.
25. Bob Mitchell, 0-84-0-84.00-8 Points.
26. João Lucas Campos, 79.75-0-0-79.75-7 Points.
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
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0.00
Anderson de Oliveira, 0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0.00
Leandro Zampollo, 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

2025 PBR Unleash The Beast Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5’s, Points, Total Winnings)
1. Brady Fielder, 14, 2, 7, 789.50, $167,449.17
2. Dalton Kasel, 14, 2, 6, 640.50, $170,245.83
3. Sage Steele Kimzey, 14, 1, 3, 601.25, $123,079.17
4. John Crimber, 14, 2, 5, 556.00, $141,846.67
5. Luciano De Castro, 15, 1, 3, 505.83, $94,923.33
6. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 15, 0, 2, 449.50, $76,815.00
7. Andrew Alvidrez, 14, 1, 3, 440.75, $101,912.50
8. Lucas Divino, 16, 2, 3, 428.00, $109,065.00
9. Kaique Pacheco, 15, 0, 3, 426.50, $58,340.00
10. Austin Richardson, 16, 1, 3, 405.50, $80,690.00
11. Sandro Batista, 15, 0, 2, 387.33, $57,445.83
12. Claudio Montanha Jr., 16, 0, 2, 368.00, $40,752.50
13. Cort McFadden, 16, 0, 2, 355.08, $45,982.50
14. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 15, 0, 1, 336.25, $44,937.50
15. Alan de Souza, 12, 0, 1, 324.00, $18,815.00
16. Julio Cesar Marques, 16, 1, 2, 318.83, $74,856.67
17. Koltin Hevalow, 16, 0, 3, 317.00, $46,504.17
18. Anderson de Oliveira, 14, 0, 2, 316.33, $40,823.33
19. Dener Barbosa, 16, 0, 2, 304.00, $37,170.83
20. Elizmar Jeremias, 15, 0, 3, 288.00, $43,762.50
21. Kaiden Loud, 15, 0, 2, 282.00, $46,859.17
22. Leonardo Castro, 15, 0, 2, 276.75, $30,058.33
23. Eduardo Aparecido, 14, 1, 2, 268.00, $55,504.17
24. Felipe Furlan, 9, 0, 2, 254.00, $45,516.67
25. Derek Kolbaba, 11, 1, 2, 252.00, $61,356.67
26. Adriano Salgado, 16, 0, 2, 240.83, $33,680.00
27. Clay Guiton, 15, 0, 1, 207.50, $22,125.00
28. João Ricardo Vieira, 15, 0, 0, 204.00, $17,800.00
29. Jose Vitor Leme, 8, 1, 1, 200.50, $58,183.33
30. Leandro Zampollo, 9, 0, 0, 199.00, $4,283.33
31. Daylon Swearingen, 10, 0, 0, 189.50, $13,800.00
32. Boudreaux Campbell, 16, 0, 1, 184.33, $15,852.50
33. Daniel Keeping, 8, 0, 1, 160.00, $15,700.00
34. Dawson Branton, 13, 0, 0, 148.50, $12,600.00
35. Hudson Bolton, 5, 0, 1, 147.00, $15,340.00
36. Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 9, 0, 2, 143.00, $17,166.67
37. Mason Taylor, 14, 0, 1, 142.83, $11,950.00
38. Thiago Salgado, 10, 0, 1, 138.50, $17,800.00
39. Miguel de Jesus, 2, 0, 0, 115.50, $2,600.00
40. Rogério Venâncio, 13, 0, 0, 94.58, $2,200.00
41. Alex Cerqueira, 11, 0, 0, 79.00, $1,490.00
42. Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 9, 0, 0, 67.00, $3,408.33
43. Ethan Winckler, 4, 0, 0, 63.50, $6,825.00
44. Bob Mitchell, 6, 0, 0, 45.00, $1,300.00
45. Guilherme Valleiras, 2, 0, 0, 44.50, $2,100.00

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media