As the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour rolls into another busy weekend, the top 35 bull riders in the world will be faced with a brand new look in the great state of Virginia! For the first year ever, the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational would be hosted by the great fans on the east coast as we were set to kick off round one in Fairfax, Virginia inside of the beautiful Eaglebank Arena. This will be the first time in the 25 year history that this venue will play host to the Unleash The Beast Tour, but that being said, the east coast city is far from being new to the port of professional bull riding as it has played host to numerous BlueDEF and Velocity Tour stops in the past years. This weekend will start a run of a couple of new events to round out the 2018 season and we are lucky enough to have some partners and team members in attendance to witness the history being made and to bring us all the details that emerge from Fairfax, Virginia!
Even though this weekend’s event is thousands of miles from home, we are pushing forward with our partnership with the Fans of PBR and have some members of that organization on site to bring us exclusive photos and storylines throughout the weekend. As round one drew closer to beginning, everyone involved with the PBR organization was ready to give all of the fans watching live exactly what they had been waiting years to see in their very hometown and the energy was undeniable as things started to happen quickly down on the arena floor earlier tonight! As the doors opened to the Eaglebank Arena everyone was hoping to see a fantastic round one performance as they were ready to cheer on their favorite cowboys and/or bovine athletes that would be working right before their very eyes!
Marco Eguchi And Derek Kolbaba Split The Round One Win In Fairfax
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
Earlier tonight the thunder of hooves could be felt across Fairfax, Virginia as the top bull riders in the world brought the Toughest Sport on Dirt rolled into town to bring the Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour home for the first time ever! The moment that the doors opened and the excited fans began pouring through the Eaglebank Arena doors, everyone knew that tonight would be the night that history would be made in their hometown, no matter what the outcome would be a short few hours later. After a rough weekend in Atlantic City last weekend, a few of the top-ranked bull riders would be out of action for the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational which would leave some of those with a chance to perform under the big lights and earn some precious world title race points for their efforts.
Once the action began down on the arena floor, the fans were treated to what they were hoping to see as round one marked the history books on Saturday night in front of a nearly sold-out crowd. Looking to change the tides of last weekend the bull riders in the locker room were hoping to fair much better than they did just seven days ago. We could all tell from the very start that we would be treated to a special night of action as the bull power was amped up and the scoreboard began to light up with qualified rides early on. When things were all said and done, there were fourteen of the thirty-five bull riders that would be able to carry score over into tomorrow afternoon’s Championship Sunday performance but no one could beat the efforts of two that would split the round win on Saturday night. Both Marco Eguchi and Washington State’s Derek Kolbaba would outlast all others to split the round win with solid 87.25 point rides, which would give Eguchi his second consecutive round one win in as many weeks.
Complete Breakdown Of Round One Qualified Rides From Fairfax:
Marco Eguchi (87.25) Derek Kolbaba (87.25)
Matt Triplett (86.50) Luciano De Castro (86.25)
Cooper Davis (86.25) Cody Nance (86.00)
Jose Vitor Leme (85.75) Valdiron de Oliveira (85.75)
Sean Willingham (85.75) Kaique Pacheco (85.50)
Keyshawn Whitehorse (85.50) Joao Ricardo Vieira (85.00)
Cody Jesus (82.00) Alisson De Souza (80.00)
Bucking Bulls Go A Perfect 15 In Tonight’s 15/15 Bucking Battle
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
When they say that a moment in time can change the look and feel of whatever is happening at the moment would not be any truer than what we had to sit and watch for ourselves in tonight’s 15/15 Bucking Battle. Tonight would be the ninth time that we would see an extra round like this throughout the year and is usually set up to have a least a few qualified rides, giving the top fifteen guys in the world standing a chance to earn some extra world title race points. Tonight, however, that was far from what would happen as we saw compete bovine athlete domination from start to finish as the top fifteen bull riders in the world looked completely defeated as we closed out Saturday Night Live in Fairfax, Virginia. That being said, only one man would even make it past the seven-second mark with tow others able to make it to the halfway mark of the required eight-second ride.
Coming into the 15/15 Bucking Battle earlier tonight, seven of the teen competing came into the round after earning a qualified ride in round one just moment before, hoping to carry that momentum with them into the final round to close out night one of this new event. As the reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Beger looked at the match-ups earlier in the evening he was excited and expected to see at least four or five rides but was shocked when that did not happen. After the event, he would make a statement and express his shock while telling the media and PBR staff, “The stars didn’t line up tonight and every one of these guys are capable of riding any one of these bulls. It just didn’t line up.” After ending the night on a horrible note, the bull riders are hoping to bring positive thoughts and vibes into Championship Sunday tomorrow afternoon as we look to crown the 2018 U.S. Border Patrol Invitational event champion!
Following a fantastic round one performance followed by a dismal 15/15 Bucking Battle where we were not able to see any qualified rides, the anticipation of what is to be expected tomorrow afternoon is busting at the seams as the fans here in Fairfax, Virginia wait to finish off a history-making weekend here inside of the beautiful Eaglebank Arena. We will have a team there live once again as we continue to carry on our partnership with our friends from The Fans of the PBR to bring you all of the breaking news, photos, and storylines that may arise throughout Championship Sunday as we look to crown our first ever Monster Energy Unleash The Beast event champion from Fairfax, Virginia!
It is quite easy to follow all the breaking news and excitement with the Rodeo Round Up simply by copying this website into your favorites in your web browser for easy one-click access to event statistics. You can also like and follow us on Facebook here, or by liking and following us on Instagram at @rodeoroundup and on Twitter at @therodeoroundup. You can have easy access to all of the video interviews Jason does from all the events across the country as well by simply clicking the link HERE to be transferred to the Rodeo Round Up’s Youtube channel as well! Jason has also made it easy for you to be a part of his interviews by opening up a listener comment line. If you have a question for a certain rodeo star simply call in and leave your name, where you are from, who the question is for and what your question is and he will do his best to get it answered for you during his interviews.
Leave a Reply