SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – After Round 2 of the PREMIER Bankcard PBR Sioux Falls, presented by Cooper Tires, Sage Steele Kimzey trooped into the locker room at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center looking like he’d gotten hit by a bus.

Only in bull riding could that not mean bad news – Kimzey had successfully made the 8-second whistle for the second time in as many days. But his ride on Hector was every bit a fight to the finish, as he was constantly out of position and, quite literally, stuck.

“It was pretty crazy,” he said. “Rope was probably a little too sticky, and as I was kind of getting bucked off, my foot hung in my rope. I was kind of tied in it at two points and didn’t really have a lot of good options, so I just had to keep my hand shut and try hard and try to just get the whistle.

“Really, I felt like I only had two options and neither one of them was very good. You can either hang on and try to get the whistle, or you just jump off. And the way it was, my spur was hung in my rope and my hand was literally glued in my rope, so you don’t really have a good option at that point, so you might as well try to get the whistle.”

The effort earned Kimzey 79.25 points and a hard slam to the dirt, leaving him winded, struggling to his feet and thoroughly roughed up.

For the record: his rope isn’t usually as sticky as it was tonight.

“It was pretty bad tonight,” Kimzey said with a laugh. “It was bad. It was a little too sticky tonight.”

Paired with his Round 1 score – another uncharacteristically low one, 79.5 points – Kimzey is fourth overall in the aggregate with 158.75 points, behind Daylon Swearingen (177.75 points), Clay Guiton (174.75) and Lucas Divino (167.75).

At nearly 20 points behind the leader, Kimzey is essentially a full bull behind. But last weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Paulo Eduardo Rossetto earned the event win going 3-for-4. If Kimzey is the only man to go 4-for-4, it doesn’t matter what his scores are.

“I just need to get two more knocked down,” he said. “At the end of the day, if you ride four here, you’re going to go home with a pile of money and a bunch of world points, too, so that’s still the goal.”

In many ways, Kimzey’s weekend so far in Sioux Falls has been like his 2025 Unleash The Beast season: not what he may have drawn up for himself, but good enough to have him in position for success.

“It’s been kind of a grindy season,” Kimzey said. “I haven’t really had a whole lot of success. I’ve been riding pretty good, not drawing great, not capitalizing on my good draws. Like I said, just kind of been a grind. So I really feel like just staying steadfast in my work and continuing to push forward is kind of the only thing to do at this point. Just keep grinding on and hoping for a breakthrough pretty soon.”

When pointed out that he’s currently ranked No. 3 in the Unleash The Beast standings yet saying he hasn’t had success, Kimzey laughs.

It’s that kind of attitude that won him seven PRCA bull riding world championships. He expects to win every single weekend.

“I expect to be No. 1 in the world and all the things,” he said. “My percentage is pretty decent, but again, it’s a bunch of low-to-medium scores and not really taking care of business like I should. My body’s been a little banged up – feeling good periodically. Just kind of been grindy. Like I said, I haven’t drawn the easiest bulls for the highest scores. It’s just been a little grindy, but I’ve been embracing it, for sure.”

On the home front, Kimzey has had even more balls in the air. He and his wife, Alexis, just moved into a new house and, three weeks ago, welcomed their second son, Stone Valor Kimzey.

“I think it puts more meaning into life,” Kimzey said of fatherhood. “At the end of the day, having our first son, Steele – he’s three now – I think that was a much bigger change in the fact that you go from being a wild, young bull rider to having these oodles of responsibility for not only yourself, but to be the idol of your family and the steadfast leader of your home. It definitely changed more with the first child, but with the second, you look down at your little baby right when they’re born and it brings a whole new meaning to life. That’s definitely where I’m at right now.”

He also, admittedly, isn’t getting a whole lot of sleep right now.

“Coming to these events is kind of like a little mini vacation for me,” he said with a laugh.

UTB events may feel like a vacation to Kimzey, but things are only getting more and more intense as the regular season approaches its end. The PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast are on May 8-18 in Fort Worth, Texas, and Kimzey is 237.75 points behind No. 1 Dalton Kasel, 205.75 points behind No. 2 Brady Fielder, and 43.75 points ahead of No. 4 John Crimber, all of whom are 1-for-2 in Sioux Falls.

Kimzey heads into his Round 3 matchup against Chateau Montelena’s Montana Jacket (3 p.m. ET on RidePass and the PBR’s YouTube channel, X account and app) in the driver’s seat, and he has his eyes on the ultimate prize.

“There’s a bunch of great bull riders over here right now. Dalton, John, Brady – you go down the list, there’s a bunch of really great talent over here, and to have my name in the hat is great,” Kimzey said. “Not in the spot I want to be, but we’ve got a few more events left until Finals and a pile of points at the Finals, so we’ll see where it ends up.”

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media