LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On the day he signed a four-year extension with the 2024 Champion Austin Gamblers in the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams league, World No. 2 Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) continued to ride red-hot Friday evening in Louisville, Kentucky, winning Round 1 of the PBR Unleash The Beast’s Kubota PBR Louisville, to inch within 129 points of the top rank in the race for the 2025 PBR World Championship and accompanying $1 million bonus. 

Less than one week after winning his second premier series event of 2025 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Kasel, travelled to Kentucky determined to continue his momentum. 

Paired with El Chapo (Lucky Blue Crab/Gene Owen), Kasel dominated the powerful animal athlete for an unrivaled 89.5 points to win Round 1 – his PBR-leading ninth round win of the season – and surge to an early lead in the two-day event concluding Saturday night. 

Kasel earned a crucial 28 Unleash The Beast points and climbed within 129 points of No. 1 Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia). 

The Texas Rattlers’ Fielder tied for 15th in the opening round to earn 8 Unleash The Beast points. He rode Bull Light (Chestnut Dreams/Davis Rodeo Ranch) for 84.25 points. Courtesy of the out, Fielder extended his ride streak to 10 outs. 

 On Friday night, PBR’s best bull riders rode at a torrid 47.61% riding percentage, going 20-for-42. 

The opening night of the two-day event in the Bluegrass State also featured the tenth 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 Nashville Stampede obliterated the Carolina Cowboys 256-85.5, winning the second iteration of the Smoky Mountain Showdown. 

The Stampede registered scores from Cody Jesus (Window Rock, Arizona), Caden Bunch (Tahlequah, Oklahoma) and Anderson de Oliveira (Novo Mundo, Brazil).

Jesus rode Bad Intentions (K-C Bucking Bulls/TCB Ranch) for 86.5 points to tie for fifth in Round 1 and earn 14 Unleash The Beast points. He rose from unranked to No. 59 in the standings. 

Bunch conquered Home Slice (K-C Bucking Bulls) for 85.25 points. Tying for ninth in the round, the Oklahoman garnered 10 Unleash The Beast points, climbing from No. 58 to No. 54 in the standings.
 
As the final rider to cover for the Stampede, Oliveira outlasted Down to Fly (Flying S/Dozier Cattle Co.) for 84.25 points. He tied for 14th in Round 1, earned 8 Unleash The Beast points and rose from No. 18 to No. 16 in the standings. 

Carolina Cowboys' newcomer Murilo Henrique de Oliveira (Pereira Barreto, Brazil) prevented his squad from suffering a scoreless defeat by riding Smooth Criminal (Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls) for 85.5 points. With the eighth-best score of Round 1, Oliveira collected 12 Unleash The Beast points, propelled from unranked to No. 61 in the standings. 

Returning to the top of the event leaderboard, Arizona Ridge Rider Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil) was second. 

Barbosa bested Lights Out (Blake Sharp/Henry Wilson/Hanks) for 89 points. He earned 18 Unleash The Beast points for the silver showing Friday night inside the KFC Yum! Center and climbed one spot in the World Championship race from No. 19 to No. 18. 

Teenage phenom and Florida Freedom star John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) was third. 

Crimber dominated his re-ride draw Constant Payne (Flying S/Kasel/Payne) with ease, marked 88.5 points to earn 17 Unleash The Beast points. Looking to reclaim the world No. 1 rank which he held for the first nine weeks of the season, Crimber remained No. 4 in the standings, honing within 224.5 points of No. 1 Fielder. 

Julio Cesar Marques (Tatui, Brazil) was fourth. 

The Kansas City Outlaws sensation made the requisite 8 aboard Freedom Fighter (K-C Buking Bulls) for 87 points. Earning 16 Unleash The Beast points Friday night in the Bluegrass State, Marques rose from No. 16 to No. 15 in the World Championship hunt.

Rounding out the Top 5 and tying for fifth alongside the Nashville Stampede’s Jesus was Leonardo Castro (Cassilandia, Brazil) and Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina). Both delivered 86.5-point rides to earn 14 Unleash The Beast points. 

The New York Mavericks’ Castro rode Chute Boss (Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls) to climb from No. 22 to No. 20 in the standings, while the Oklahoma Wildcatters’ Guiton topped WinRocks Headache (Gene Owen Bucking Bulls) to maintain his world No. 27 rank. 

Action for the 2025 Kubota PBR Louisville will conclude with Round 2 and the championship round on Saturday, March 15. Action gets underway at 6:45 p.m. ET. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com and PBR.com, and at the KFC Yum! Center Box Office.

Both nights of competition in Louisville 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 Kubota PBR Louisville continues 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
Kubota PBR Louisville
KFC Yum! Center – Louisville, Kentucky 
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Dalton Kasel, 89.5-0-0-89.50-28 Points.
2. Dener Barbosa, 89-0-0-89.00-18 Points.
3. John Crimber, 88.5-0-0-88.50-17 Points.
4. Julio Cesar Marques, 87-0-0-87.00-16 Points.
5. Leonardo Castro, 86.5-0-0-86.50-14 Points.
(tie). Clay Guiton, 86.5-0-0-86.50-14 Points.
(tie). Cody Jesus, 86.5-0-0-86.50-14 Points.
8. Murilo Henrique de Oliveira, 85.5-0-0-85.50-12 Points.
9. Luciano De Castro, 85.25-0-0-85.25-10 Points.
(tie). Cort McFadden, 85.25-0-0-85.25-10 Points.
(tie). Caden Bunch, 85.25-0-0-85.25-10 Points.
12. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 85-0-0-85.00-8 Points.
(tie). Bruno Carvalho, 85-0-0-85.00-8 Points.
14. Mason Taylor, 84.5-0-0-84.50-8 Points.
15. Brady Fielder, 84.25-0-0-84.25-8 Points.
(tie). Anderson de Oliveira, 84.25-0-0-84.25-8 Points.
17. Boudreaux Campbell, 83.25-0-0-83.25-8 Points.
18. Felipe Furlan, 82.5-0-0-82.50
(tie). João Ricardo Vieira, 82.5-0-0-82.50-8 Points.
20. Leandro Zampollo, 80.25-0-0-80.25-8 Points.
Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0.00
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00
Elizmar Jeremias, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0.00
Adriano Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0.00
Dawson Branton, 0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00
Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 0-0-0-0.00
Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0.00
Ethan Winckler, 0-0-0-0.00
Grayson Cole, 0-0-0-0.00
Eli Vastbinder, 0-0-0-0.00
Aaron Williams, 0-0-0-0.00
Briggs Madsen, 0-0-0-0.00
Eric Henrique Domingos, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media