ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Pit was electric on Friday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Paulo Eduardo Rossetto (Colorado, Brazil) put on a show, winning Round 1 of the 27th annual PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational, Unleash The Beast (UTB) event. 

Launching from the chutes aboard Mr. Demon, the 27-year-old earned the first of the round’s two 90-point rides. His 90.75-point score netted 29 UTB points. Rossetto, who rides for the Missouri Thunder in the separate PBR Teams league, moved from No. 12 to No. 10 as he rolls into Saturday’s second round atop the leaderboard. 

With just four regular-season events left before the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast May 8-18 in Texas, world leader Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) had a less-than-ideal night, bucked off by Crazy Party at 5.61 seconds. Hoping to gain ground on Kasel’s 42.5-point lead in the UTB standings, world No. 2 Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia) clung to Hang ‘em High but was no match for the powerful bovine, hitting the dirt at 3.64 seconds. 

The opening night of the three-day event in Albuquerque featured the 12th 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.

Despite Texas dominating the last matchup with Austin, their hopes of a repeat were dashed. The Gamblers clinched the win in the penultimate rivalry matchup by a narrow .25 points.  

Austin’s score was courtesy of Ramon de Lima’s (Rio Branco, Brazil) matchup with Baldy, earning an 87.25 ride score. The win for his team also netted the 34-year-old a tie for fifth place in the round with teenage phenom John Crimber (Decatur, Texas). 

Veteran rider Joao Ricardo Vieira (Itatinga, Brazil) was the lone man to convert for the Rattlers on Friday night. His 87-point ride on Skippy put him in seventh place on the leaderboard, earning 13 UTB points to move up one spot from No. 29 to No. 28. 

The other 90-point ride of the night was courtesy of Arizona Ridge Rider man Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil), who won the event in 2024. Tasked with King Tut, Aparecido sailed through the air with ease as the crowd erupted. His 90.5-point ride earned 19 UTB points and moved him up one spot from No. 24 to No. 23. 

Aparecido’s Arizona teammate and 2018 PBR Rookie of the Year Keyshawn Whitehorse (McCracken Spring, Utah) earned 17 UTB points for his third-place-yielding 88.5-point score aboard Bamboozle. 

Whitehorse’s ride moved him up one spot from No. 9 to No. 8 in the standings.

Joao Lucas Campos (Porto Feliz, Brazil) sits at No. 4 on the event leaderboard as he heads into Saturday courtesy of an 88.25-point ride aboard Tchoupitoulas. The Florida Freedom man claimed 16 UTB points for his successful matchup. 

Rounding out the Top 5 was Lima and Crimber with matching 87.25-point rides. Crimber bested Whiplash earlier in the night. 

Both men earned 14.5 UTB points. Crimber holds tight to the No. 4 rank in the gold buckle race. 

Action for the PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational will continue with Round 2 on Saturday, March 29, at 6:45 p.m. MT. 

All four rounds of competition in New Mexico 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 the PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational continues Saturday, March 29.

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 Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational
The Pit – Albuquerque, New Mexico 
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 90.75-0-0-0-90.75-29 Points.
2. Eduardo Aparecido, 90.5-0-0-0-90.50-19 Points.
3. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 88.5-0-0-0-88.50-17 Points.
4. João Lucas Campos, 88.25-0-0-0-88.25-16 Points.
5. John Crimber, 87.25-0-0-0-87.25-14.5 Points.
(tie). Ramon de Lima, 87.25-0-0-0-87.25-14.5 Points.
7. João Ricardo Vieira, 87-0-0-0-87.00-13 Points.
8. Kaiden Loud, 86.75-0-0-0-86.75-12 Points.
9. Hudson Bolton, 86.5-0-0-0-86.50-11 Points.
10. Alan de Souza, 85.5-0-0-0-85.50-10 Points.
11. Clay Guiton, 83-0-0-0-83.00-9 Points.
12. Bruno Carvalho, 81-0-0-0-81.00
Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Sage Steele Kimzey, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Luciano De Castro, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Anderson de Oliveira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Dener Barbosa, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Elizmar Jeremias, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Leonardo Castro, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Adriano Salgado, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Felipe Furlan, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Ethan Winckler, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Callum Miller, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Braidy Randolph, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Teigan Gray, 0-0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media