LEXINGTON, Ky. – When the dust settled Saturday night inside Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina) emerged the supreme competitor, delivering a perfect 3-for-3 performance to win the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour’s PBR Lexington.

Vastbinder first struck in Round 1 when he bested Back Drop (J-M/Dennis Davis Bucking Bulls) for 82.5 points. The reserved North Carolinian then punched his ticket to the championship round when he rode Hollywood (Chicken Hill Buckin Bulls) for 85 points in Round 2.

As the championship round readied to get underway, Vastbinder, the 2021 PBR Rookie of the Year, was tasked with Buz (Dana White/DD Bucking Bulls). In what proved to be a perfect pairing, Vastbinder conquered the bull for a final round-best 84 points, proving to be enough to clinch the event win.

Courtesy of the golden finish, Vastbinder garnered a crucial 134 points in the race for the 2025 PBR Velocity Tour Championship.

As the only other rider to cover all three of his bovine athlete opponents, Ezekiel Mitchell (Rockdale, Texas) was second, netting 92.5 Velocity Global points.

Mitchell rode Arnold Palmer (Chicken Hill Buckin Bulls) for 87 points in Round 1 and Misery Company (KR Bucking Stock/LTG Bucking Bulls) for 83 points in Round 2 before punctuating his time in the Bluegrass State with an 80-point ride atop Knockin Boots (Richardson Land & Cattle Co.) in the championship round.

Ethan Winckler (Winnie, Texas), who rides for the Carolina Cowboys in the separate PBR Teams league, and Alex Marcilio (Macaubal, Brazil) tied for third.

Winckler and Marcilio were tied for the event lead entering the final round.

For Winckler, he sat atop the scoreboard courtesy of his Round 1-winning 87.5-point score on Whip (Richardson Land & Cattle Co.) and 85.5-point effort aboard Tuff Nuff (J.C. Knapp Rodeo Co.) in Round 2. Marcilio surged to the top of the leaderboard following his 85.5-point ride on Gucci Time (Cross 33 Cattle/Daylon Swearingen) from Round 1 and Round 2-winning 87.5-point trip atop Sava (Kevin Foreman Bucking Bulls).

Surging young gun Winckler was denied the event win when he was upended by Wings of a Prayer (J-M/Dennis Davis Bucking Bulls) in 1.64 seconds in the championship round, while Marcilio fell short after being tossed by Coach Cliff (LH Cattle Co./2T Cattle Co./Broke Spur Ranch) in 4.52 seconds.  

Winckler’s bronze showing at PBR Lexington earned him 68 Velocity Global points, while Marcilio took home 71 Velocity Global points.

Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was Maverick Smith (Cabool, Missouri).

The New York Mavericks rider covered Angel’s Envy (CCL Bucking Bulls/Lone Star/Cornwell Bucking Bulls) for 87 points in Round 1 and LP’s Hitman Harris (TDS/Buentello Bucking Bulls 2) for 83.5 points in Round 2. His event ended short of the requisite 8, bucked off by Walking Tall (Waymore Bucking Bulls) in 2.45 seconds in the final round.

Smith earned 42 Velocity Global points.

The PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour next travels to Tallahassee, Florida, on March 14-15 and Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 15.

PBR Tallahassee at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center begins at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, March 14, and 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 15. PBR Knoxville at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center gets underway at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 15.

PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour events and is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv.

PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour
PBR Lexington
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Kentucky  
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3- Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Eli Vastbinder, 82.5-85-84-251.50-134 Points.
2. Ezekiel Mitchell, 87-83-80-250.00-92.5 Points.
3. Ethan Winckler, 87.5-85.5-0-173.00-68 Points.
(tie). Alex Marcilio, 85.5-87.5-0-173.00-71 Points.
5. Maverick Smith, 87-83.5-0-170.50-42 Points.
6. Brody Robinson, 85.5-84-0-169.50-37 Points.
7. Cody McCandless, 81.5-83-0-164.50-23 Points.
8. Alex Junior da Silva, 77.5-83.5-0-161.00-13.5 Points.
9. Jean Carlos de Souza, 79.5-80-0-159.50-4 Points.
10. Cash Keeling, 76-82-0-158.00-10 Points.
11. Flavio Zivieri, 87.5-0-0-87.50-24 Points.
12. Everton Natan da Silva, 0-86.5-0-86.50-18 Points.
13. Alex Cerqueira, 0-85.5-0-85.50-16.5 Points.
14. Alex Cantoral, 0-85-0-85.00-14.5 Points.
15. Callum Miller, 0-84.5-0-84.50-12.5 Points.
(tie). Brandon Chambers [2], 0-84.5-0-84.50-12.5 Points.
17. Eric Henrique Domingos, 0-84-0-84.00-10.5 Points.
18. Christian Clay Oliveira, 83.5-0-0-83.50-13 Points.
19. Carlos Garcia, 0-83-0-83.00-8 Points.
20. Wallace Vieira de Oliveira, 82.5-0-0-82.50-11.5 Points.
21. Junior Patrik Souza, 82-0-0-82.00-10 Points.
22. Conner Halverson, 0-81.5-0-81.50-8 Points.
(tie). Lucas Fideles Souza, 0-81.5-0-81.50-8 Points.
24. Francisco Morales, 72-0-0-72.00
Zane Cook, 0-0-0-0.00
Jaxton Mortensen, 0-0-0-0.00
Michael Lane, 0-0-0-0.00
Guthrie Long, 0-0-0-0.00
Manoelito de Souza Junior, 0-0-0-0.00
Brandon Chambers [1], 0-0-0-0.00
Dustin Herman, 0-0-0-0.00
Max Castro, 0-0-0-0.00
João Paulo Fernandes, 0-0-0-0.00
Caleb Cantrell, 0-0-0-0.00
Michael Phillips, 0-0-0-0.00
Darren Wagler, 0-0-0-0.00
Luke Parkinson, 0-0-0-0.00
Thomas Hudson, 0-0-0-0.00
Adam Belcher, 0-0-0-0.00
Hayden Harris, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media