As we look ahead to another stop on the 2018 PBR’s 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour here in Sacramento, California we will see much the same look to the roster that we saw one week ago in Oklahoma City. Much like last week, where we saw twelve alternates join the ranks, we will again see ten of those coming back for their second event of the 2018 season. Just a short seven days ago, many of those twelve took full advantage of the opportunity that was placed in front of them to earn a few championship points while one took home is first career Unleash The Beast tour round win in dominating fashion!
Even before the first round begins here on Friday night, there was some other major news that came down the pipeline which would begin to spark rumors from one extreme to the other regarding one of the most iconic bull riders in recent memory. It was announced two days ago that 2-time PBR World Champion J.B. Mauney would, once again, miss another event due to his nagging groin injury that he reaggravated in Denver at a Velocity level event earlier this year. Compounding the announcement would be the information that would begin the rumors as he will be undergoing an MRI scan to determine the extent of the injury, making many believe that a retirement announcement is not too far behind.
Jose Vitor Leme Begins His Weekend In Sacramento With A Round One Win
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
Once the doors opened and the lights began to shine bright, the energy among the top bull riders in the world was radiating throughout the entire arena as the anticipation for the round one performance had a full head of steam. Again this weekend, CEO Sean Gleason extended a personal invitation to a couple lucky riders and mixed in many alternates as well to fill the thirty-five spots here in California. Many top-tier bull riders are still out of action due to injuries, rehab and personal decisions which have been talked about in groves over the past month or so as we lead up to the beginning of the season earlier this month.
Over the past three weekends, we have seen some amazing totals coming out of the events, making nearly 50% of the bull rides going the cowboy’s way as qualified rides! Much the same would be expected here, especially in round one, as the same general make-up of cowboys and bovine athletes would compete against each other once again. Many new faces are gracing us with their appearances which are making for an exciting start to the 2018 season. Earlier tonight in round one, we would see seventeen of the thirty-five bull riders here make qualified rides and carry scores over into tomorrow night’s second round but that being said, only one man, Jose Vitor Leme, would be able to call himself “King of the Hill” after taking home the round win with an 87.25 point ride atop Flying U / Cindy Rosser’s Reindiction, sending him into tomorrow night’s action sitting in the number one position!
Complete Round One List Of Qualified Rides From Sacramento:
Jose Vitor Leme (87.25) Ryan Dirteater (86.75)
Ramon de Lima (86.75) Cooper Davis (86.25)
Valdiron de Oliveira (86.00) Stetson Lawrence (85.75)
Luciano De Castro (84.75) Cody Nance (84.50)
Cody Teel (83.50) Fabiano Vieira (82.75)
Derek Kolbaba (82.50) Dener Barbosa (82.25)
Claudio Montanha Jr. (82.25) Marco Eguchi (82.00)
Kaique Pacheco (81.25) Tye Chandler (80.25)
Silvano Alves (80.00)
Valdiron de Oliveira Makes Good On His Opportunity Here In Sacramento
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Many of the contestants here this weekend are trying to take full advantage of their chance to be on the elite tour, earning enough points to stay above the cut line that comes following the fifth event of the season. For those cowboys sitting within the top thirty, they are safe, while all the others have a nervous time ahead of them knowing they could be dropped from the tour and have to earn their way back. A few of the ten alternates that are here this weekend will have a great shot at staying on tour with a good showing here in Sacramento, so each and every one in the locker room knew it was now or never to make a move as time winds down to the first cut of the season.
Last week it was PBR SEO Sean Gleason’s invitee Juan Contreras who would come into the Unleash The Beast Tour with guns blazing to earn his first round win in his first ever event attended, securing his spot on the elite tour for possibly the remainder of the year, sending him to his first PBR World Finals this November in Las Vegas! Tonight, we would again see a few of these athletes take advantage and walk away from round one with qualified rides with Valdiron de Oliveira being the top dog out of the invitees and alternates, earning an 86.00 point score in tonight’s first round performance!
Now that the 2018 Wrangler Long Live Cowboys Classic is officially kicked off, we begin to look forward to the next two nights of action-packed bull riding with four grueling rounds yet to go before we can close out this event here in Sacramento. After a great round one earlier tonight, we will see two rounds each of the next two nights, giving some of these cowboys a total of five ride attempts in three days. Tomorrow we will see the second round as well as another edition of the must-see 15/15 Bucking Battle followed by the third and championship rounds of action on Sunday afternoon. We once again see 10 alternated and/or invited riders here this weekend, giving each of them another chance to earn some much-needed world title race points that will keep them on tour for many more weeks to come!
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