Last night began with 41 of the world’s best bull riders as they came into the Thomas & Mack Arena striving to become the next Professional Bull Riders Last Cowboy Standing, all while marching up the world standings leader board. That being said, the Brazilian bull riders were looking to continue their dominance from previous years as they have been the ones to capitalize on many of the happenings in this wonderful city. Along with that storyline that we all would watch throughout the two-day event there would be another major one that would take center stage once the daysheet was reviewed by the thousands of fans watching in attendance and live at home, that being that 21 of the 41 contestants here this weekend would be participating in their first ever Last Cowboy Standing event, giving half of the contestants a chance to walk out of here an event champion on their first try!
In round one, just 24 hours ago, things started off with a bang but quickly quieted down throughout the remainder of the round with the first two riders making it to the eight-second buzzer with only nine others completing the same task the rest of the night. Many were expecting to see a few more qualified rides made but the way things played out gave the top twenty in the world standings a second life for a chance to leave Las Vegas as an event champion when slates are wiped clean here tonight. The only way that accumulative scores would come into play is if we were to go all five rounds without a definitive champion, then the overall ride score total would come into play. We will be able to answer all of those questions in just a couple short hours as the final rounds of the 2018 Last Cowboy Standing was about to take place!
Kaique Pacheco Dominates The Day’s Events In Las Vegas
Photo Credit: Andy Watson/ Bull Stock Media
Coming into tonight’s final rounds of action there were twenty-five bull riders that knew they all had a chance to walk away with a slew of world title race points and a chance at causing some major havoc atop of the leaderboard. After round one, there were eleven cowboys who would walk out of the Thomas & Mack Arena knowing they had done what they had to do to advance and another fourteen that would be walking out thanking their lucky stars that they were sitting high enough in the world standings to be invited back after bucking off early. As the time came for the doors to open for night number two, every one of those in the locker room knew that the task of covering a bull to move on would not be an easy one once the second round of action would begin down on the arena floor on Saturday night but came in with clear minds to see how each would fair.
Tonight would start off much better than it did just 24 hours ago as the twenty-five strong began taking their turns climbing aboard their bovine counterparts in hopes of making it to the eight-second buzzer that was needed to move on starting earlier tonight. Once round two began, the energy and excitement could be felt throughout the entire arena as the bull riders would look to take the upper hand moving forward. Things would begin to take shape as twelve of the twenty-five would do just enough to advance to the next round, which is four more than those competing last year could do. For those twelve, the time to face the truth had come as the eliminator pen would face them in round three. The bovine athletes included in this round would include Sweet Pro’s Bruiser and Sky Harbor just to name a couple and with the likes of those names no one would be surprised that we would tell you only three would advance that would shape up one of the best final rounds that we have ever seen at a PBR Major event in the 25 year history of the organization when Cooper Davis, Jose Vitor Leme, and Kaique Pacheco would face off on our way to crowning an event champion here in Las Vegas!
Complete Breakdown Of Round Two Qualified Rides From Las Vegas:
Koal Livingston (89.00) Cooper Davis (89.00)
Valdiron de Oliveira (87.75) Cody Nance (87.25)
Jose Vitor Leme (86.75) Matt Triplett (85.25)
Luciano De Castro (85.00) Eduardo Aparecido (85.00)
Silvano Alves (84.50) Tanner Byrne (83.75)
Keyshawn Whitehorse (82.50) Kaique Pacheco (82.25)
Round Three Qualified Rides:
Kaique Pacheco (92.75) Jose Vitor Leme (89.75)
Cooper Davis (88.50)
Round Four Qualified Rides:
Kaique Pacheco (88.50)
Kaique Pacheco Is Crowned The 2018 PBR Last Cowboy Standing
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
After a long and grueling two days of Professional Bull Riding action, it was time to see the final match-ups that would determine who would walk out with a huge amount of world title race points and quite possibly the new number one man in the world. This year, the Last Cowboy Standing event would go all the way to the fourth round to allow us to be able to officially name an event champion as we made our way back home to the Thomas & Mack Arena on the beautiful University of Nevada Las Vegas campus where three of the very best to ever grace the arena floor would put on a display of athleticism that one would expect to see at this level of competition. Once things were all said and done, it would come down to the very last ride in round four to let us close the doors on the 2018 event and crown a new Last Cowboy Standing.
Earlier tonight, a world champion, a World Finals event champion and Rookie of the Year along with a two-time Last Cowboy Standing event champion would all face off in one epic final round of action for all the fans watching live and from their homes across the country. After three rides only one would be able to make it to the eight-second buzzer which would give him the title and the new number one spot in the world standings and it would be deja vu for the Iceman Kaique Pacheco as he would be able to claim his third such win here in Las Vegas in dominating style keeping the Brazilian stronghold in Sin City. Pacheco would be the only man that would be able to cover all four of his bucking bulls that were placed underneath of him over the two nights of action that would bring him 940 points highlighted by his huge 92.75 point ride against Sweet Pro’s Bruiser that lit the crowd on fire for the rest of the evening. In true Brazilian fashion, hats flew through the air and the rush of the country’s athletes filled the arena floor to help Kaique Pacheco celebrate his 2018 Last Cowboy Standing event title!
Although the first half of the 2018 Professional Bull Riders 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour and the Last Cowboy Standing is in the books, the action here this weekend in Las Vegas is far from over as we all wait for history to be made in this very building tomorrow afternoon. The first event of the new World Champions Rodeo Alliance organization kicked off earlier this afternoon with eight top-tier athletes in each of the traditional rodeo events competed to see who would be able to come back tomorrow afternoon as we watched eight turn to four. The Rodeo Round-Up will be there live to witness all of the excitement and see who will make history and take home a huge chunk of money upon the conclusion of the action. That being said, be sure to check back right here tomorrow night for a complete event recap story to see if your favorite rodeo athletes will be able to make history by walking away with the first WCRA event title!
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