NAMPA, Idaho – World leader Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) closed out a perfect 3-for-3 performance on Saturday evening at the Progressive PBR Nampa inside the Ford Idaho Center to win his fifth PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event of the 2025 season.
Kasel, who competes for the Austin Gamblers in the separate PBR Teams league, is in contention for his very first world title as the heated race for the 2025 PBR World Championship comes down to the wire.
“I’m very grateful and blessed, the Lord’s been absolutely amazing,” Kasel said from the dirt after his elite series win. “I think I’m just riding better. Bull riding can get pretty hard if you make it too hard. If you keep it simple it’s easy. I’m thankful I’m in this spot to possibly win a gold buckle but it’s all going to work out how the Lord has it planned out.”
With just one regular-season event remaining before the PBR World Finals in Texas on May 8-18, Kasel hit the gas to extend his lead over world No. 2 Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia) to 187 points. Fielder lost ground in the championship race over the weekend in the Gem state by going 0-for-2 and not making it through to the final round.
No. 3 ranked Florida Freedom man, John Crimber (Decatur, Texas), who went 1-for-2 last week in Billings, Montana, did not compete in Nampa, now sitting 480.5 points behind Kasel.
World No. 4, and Kasel’s fellow Austin Gamblers teammate, Sage Steele Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma) went 1-for-2 on the weekend, hitting the ground hard on Friday night after Tijuana Two-Step dispatched him but converting for a solid 86.5 points aboard Black Panther on Saturday night. Earning 14 UTB points for his weekend overall, Kimzey sits 4.75 points behind Crimber headed into next weekend’s event in Tacoma, Washington.
Arizona Ridge Riders captain, No. 5 ranked Luciano De Castro (Guzolandia, Brazil), who went 3-for-3 and finished in first place in Billings last week, had a 1-for-2 weekend as well. Capitalizing on his Friday night ride aboard Buckshot for 83.75 points, he came off suddenly at 3.63 seconds on Saturday night as Regulator twisted through the air.
After conquering Whip on Friday night for a five-way tie for third at 87 points, Kasel continued the momentum early on Saturday with an 89.25-point ride aboard Peanut to take the lead of the event and register his 13th round win of the season.
Sitting atop the leaderboard for the seventh time this season heading into the championship round, Kasel was temporarily unseated as the event leader when 2018 PBR World Champion Kaique Pacheco rocketed across the arena on his championship partner Big Chili for 86.5 points to take the lead.
Stretching on the back of the chutes as Ezekiel Mitchell (Rockdale, Texas) and Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina) both bucked off and Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil) got a re-ride, Kasel, who won the Nampa event in 2019 as a rookie, was stoic.
Sailing through the air aboard his final partner pick, Manaba, 26-year-old Kasel netted an 88.5-point score. Grinning from ear-to-ear, he shook the powerful bovine owner’s hand and strolled off the dirt to await Leme’s final ride.
Needing an 89.25-point score, two-time PBR Champion and fellow Austin Gambler Leme clung to Light’s Out with all his might but his 88.25-point score was not enough to take the win away from Kasel.
In addition to a check for $52,213.33, Kasel earned 151 Unleash The Beast points.
Although Leme was hopeful for the Nampa title, his rocket-fueled championship round attempt clinched second place.
After an 87-point score Friday night on Buckaroo, the two-time world champ became a man on a mission to bolster himself up the standings as the season comes to a dramatic end.
Starting Saturday aboard Rank Hank knowing he had to gain ground, Leme netted 88.25 points before heading into his final out of the weekend.
Selecting the resilient Ricky Vaughn as his final opponent in hopes of his second UTB win of the 2025 season, Leme was given a re-ride and the drama unfolded down to the wire.
With the second-place finish, Leme earned 101 UTB points and launched from No. 27 to No. 19 in the world.
Completing the trifecta of Austin Gamblers topping the leaderboard in Idaho, Pacheco finished the weekend in third place overall after going 3-for-3.
After a rough Friday night where his pairing with HomeBru resulted in a less than ideal 78.75-point score, he recovered with an 87.25-point ride on Puckered Up to sit at No. 5 on the event leaderboard.
After being unceremoniously unseated by Kasel after taking the lead in the championship round, Pacheco earned 70 UTB points and moved from No. 10 to No. 8 in the UTB standings.
Mitchell, who was signed to a one-day contract by the Texas Rattlers to compete in Friday night’s Monster Energy Team Challenge game, ended the weekend as the No. 43 man in the world standings after going 2-for-3 to finish fourth.
Besting both his Friday and Saturday night matchups, Mitchell moved into the final round sitting at No. 3 on the event leaderboard.
The championship round didn’t go his way, as Mike’s Motive dispatched him after 1.76 seconds.
Mitchell earned 52 UTB points on the weekend.
Rounding out the Top 5 of the Progressive PBR Nampa event was 19-year-old Carolina Cowboys athlete Guiton.
Showcasing perfect form throughout the opening rounds of the two-day weekend, Guiton conquered Washita Red in Round 1 for 86 points and Bookers Bandit in Round 2 for 86.5 points.
Sitting at No. 4 on the event leaderboard heading into the final round of the weekend, Rockville dramatically dashed his hopes of an event win after 2.49 seconds.
Guiton went 2-for-3 on the weekend, earning 42 UTB points for a fifth-place finish, which pushed him from No. 11 to No. 10.
In the bull pen, Twisted Magic and Slick Rick were unrivaled, anointed the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bulls of the Event after recording matching 44.5-point bull scores. Bucking in Round 2, Twisted Magic bested Fielder at 5.12 seconds, while Slick Rick took down Joao Lucas Campos (Porto Feliz, Brazil) in the championship round at 3.58 seconds.
The PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to the Tacoma Dome for the PBR Tacoma on Saturday, April 26, at 6:45 p.m. PT and Sunday, April 27, at 1:45 p.m. PT. The end of Round 1 in Tacoma will also feature the final game of the 2025 Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World, as the New York Mavericks take on the Florida Freedom.
All three rounds of competition in Washington 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.
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 – Progressive PBR Nampa Ford Idaho Center – Nampa, Idaho Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points) 1. Dalton Kasel, 87-89.25-88.5-264.75-151 Points. 2. Jose Vitor Leme, 87-88.25-88.25-263.50-101 Points. 3. Kaique Pacheco, 78.75-87.25-86.5-252.50-70 Points. 4. Ezekiel Mitchell, 87-86.75-0-173.75-52 Points. 5. Clay Guiton, 86-86.5-0-172.50-42 Points. 6. Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 85.5-75-0-160.50-23.5 Points. 7. Callum Miller, 89.25-0-0-89.25-34 Points. 8. Thiago Salgado, 88.25-0-0-88.25-23 Points. 9. Bruno Carvalho, 87-0-0-87.00-18 Points. (tie). João Lucas Campos, 87-0-0-87.00-18 Points. 11. Austin Richardson, 86.75-0-0-86.75-13 Points. 12. Sage Steele Kimzey, 0-86.5-0-86.50-14 Points. (tie). Eduardo Aparecido, 0-86.5-0-86.50-14 Points. 14. Adriano Salgado, 85.5-0-0-85.50-9.5 Points. 15. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 85.25-0-0-85.25-8 Points. 16. Leonardo Castro, 0-84-0-84.00-12 Points. 17. Luciano De Castro, 83.75-0-0-83.75-8 Points. 18. Daniel Keeping, 83-0-0-83.00-8 Points. 19. Alan de Souza, 0-82-0-82.00-11 Points. 20. Felipe Furlan, 74.75-0-0-74.75 Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0.00 Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0.00 Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0.00 Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0-0.00 Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0.00 Dener Barbosa, 0-0-0-0.00 Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0.00 Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-0.00 Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00 Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0.00 João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00 Hudson Bolton, 0-0-0-0.00 Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0.00 Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0.00 Leandro Zampollo, 0-0-0-0.00 Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0-0.00 Trace Redd, 0-0-0-0.00 Conner Halverson, 0-0-0-0.00
