SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Down to the wire as the final out on Friday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Daylon Swearingen’s (Piffard, New York) walk-off 90.5-point score swept the Round 1 win of the 10th PREMIER Bankcard PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Sioux Falls Unleash The Beast (UTB) event and his team’s game in the PBR Teams exhibition showcase.

Returning to action after being sidelined for nine events due to injury, two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil) put on a show inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on Friday night, claiming second place and making a statement in his bid for a third PBR individual title.

The opening night of the three-day event in Sioux Falls featured the 13th 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 the Nashville Stampede dominating the last two matchups with the Carolina Cowboys, their hopes of a preseason sweep were dashed as all six riders failed to convert. Swearingen’s momentous end-of-the-night ride aboard Lari's Speck for his team, the highest of Round 1, earned the 2022 World Champion 29 UTB points and moved him from No. 29 to No. 28 as he rolls into Saturday’s second round atop the leaderboard.

With only three regular-season events remaining in the regular season before the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast on May 8-18 in Texas, world leader Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) knocked down his bull on Friday night to extend his lead over No. 2-ranked man Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia) to 49.5 points.

Fielder had a disappointing first night after Velvet Revolver launched him to the ground after a mere 2.98 seconds, while Kasel had the Queen City crowd at full volume with his 88.25-point score on Simon. The qualified ride widened his lead over Fielder and put Kasel into third place on the leaderboard heading into day two of the three-day event.

The No. 3-ranked man in the race for a gold buckle, Sage Steele Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma), gutted out a bumpy ride aboard Seth Wadley’s No Bull, earning an uncharacteristic 79.5 points but still putting him 1-for-1 on a night with only nine qualified rides. The 10 UTB points put Kimzey 195.25 points behind Fielder and 244.75 points behind Kasel.

John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) clings to the No. 4 spot in the world title race despite being thrashed to the ground by El Chapo after 3.05 seconds.

Leme, who won the South Dakota event in 2021, rocketed from the chutes aboard Washita Red for an 88.5-point score and netted 18 UTB points. The two-time MVP for the Austin Gamblers in the separate PBR Teams league moved from No. 31 to No. 30 in the standings.

Leme’s Gamblers teammate, Lucas Divino (Nova Crixas, Brazil), ended Round 1 in fourth place courtesy of an 87.75-point score for his dance with Tijuana Two-Step. The 16 UTB points moved him up two spots in the UTB standings from No. 13 to No. 11.

Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina), who was traded by the Oklahoma Wildcatters to the Carolina Cowboys earlier in the day, shared a fifth-place finish with Texas Rattlers man Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas).

Earning matching 87-point scores, Guiton bested I Hate You while Keeping matched Hector’s power.

Both men earned 14.5 UTB points. Guiton sits at No. 22 while Keeping moved to No. 31.

Action for the PREMIER Bankcard PBR Sioux Falls, presented by Cooper Tires, will continue with Round 2 on Saturday, April 5, at 7:45 p.m. CT.

All four rounds of competition in South Dakota 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 PREMIER Bankcard PBR Sioux Falls, presented by Cooper Tires continues Saturday, April 5.

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 – PREMIER Bankcard PBR Sioux Falls, presented by Cooper Tires
Denny Sanford PREMIER Center – Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Daylon Swearingen, 90.5-0-0-0-90.50-29 Points.
2. Jose Vitor Leme, 88.5-0-0-0-88.50-18 Points.
3. Dalton Kasel, 88.25-0-0-0-88.25-17 Points.
4. Lucas Divino, 87.75-0-0-0-87.75-16 Points.
5. Clay Guiton, 87-0-0-0-87.00-14.5 Points.
(tie). Daniel Keeping, 87-0-0-0-87.00-14.5 Points.
7. Luciano De Castro, 86-0-0-0-86.00-13 Points.
8. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 85-0-0-0-85.00-12 Points.
9. Sage Steele Kimzey, 79.5-0-0-0-79.50-10 Points.
Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0-0.00
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Anderson de Oliveira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Leonardo Castro, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Dener Barbosa, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0-0.00
Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Elizmar Jeremias, 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
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Joao Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Hudson Bolton, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Ethan Winckler, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Bruno Carvalho, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Joao Lucas Campos, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Caden Bunch, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Murilo Henrique de Oliveira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Flavio Zivieri, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Briggs Madsen, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Vitor Manoel Dias, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Eric Henrique Domingos, 0-0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media