If last night’s beginning to the 2018 PBR’s 25th Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour was not enough to make you get excited, another round was set to begin inside of Madison Square Gardens again on Saturday night! Just to be able to have this event here this weekend was a huge undertaking as a major winter storm came barrelling through the region on Thursday stranding many athletes, bulls and personnel along its path. After a lot of effort and re-routing, the show managed to go on without a hitch, a huge testament to those folks at the Professional Bull Riders organization, coming together to make sure the 2018 season began on time. Although it may have been blustery cold outside, as soon as the action began inside it tipped the temperature scales towards their breaking points one night ago!
In round one, we were only down one rider, Lachlan Richardson, who was not able to make it to New York in time but would be ready to go here in round two for action once things began on this Saturday night. Another rider, Troy Wilkinson, would not be able to pass his concussion protocol test but would hope to return for round two as well. Just 24-hours ago we were all able to witness J.B. Mauney make his historic 500th career Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour qualified ride making him the third to do so behind Mike Lee and Guilherme Marchi. Along with that ride, there were sixteen others that managed to make it to the whistle as well and we look to see much the same here in round two with the pen of bovine athletes that they will face here on Saturday Night Live in New York City!
Kaique Pacheco Takes Home The Round Two Win Here On Saturday Night
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
As the doors opened up and the fans of the PBR began to file into Madison Square Gardens once again, it was evident that no amount of cold weather temperatures or amount of snow will keep the show from moving forward as planned. As those fans in attendance started making their way to their seats, you could watch around the entire arena how fans were studying the daily program and picking and choosing their favorite match-ups of the second round here tonight. That being said, there would be plenty of good ones to choose from as the match-ups were, at least on paper, ones that would again provide nearly half of the field making qualified rides, either matching or exceeding the seventeen that we saw just 24-hours ago in round one. Only time would tell if the paper could compare with reality as round two began down on the arena floor.
As like always, the energy level is always turned up a few notches when we come to New York City to begin a new season and again it showed in the efforts of the cowboys competing here this weekend as they came out putting out 100% effort each and every ride. All of that determination and gritty effort gave us seventeen rides in round one and here tonight we were able to add fifteen more qualified rides to that list. Although the fans had a ton to cheer about tonight, the biggest roar of the crowd was when Kaique Pacheco’s 87.50 point ride was announced over the in-arena sound system from the arena floor. This huge ride aboard Halpain & Roth’s Little Red Jacket would be good enough to take home the round two win and the whopping 125 world title race points that went along with it. Even though a round win is good it all leads up to who will leave New York with a $100,000 payday and a huge lead in the world standings heading into Chicago tomorrow night!
Mud Duck Splits The High-Marked Bull Score Of Round Two
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
Much like in years past, a lot of the fan focus is not only centered on the cowboys of the Professional Bull Riders but on the amazing bovine athletes that grace the arena floors week in and week out as well. Over the first two nights of action in 2018, that trend continues to gain momentum and PBR bucking bull greats, as well as some newcomers, are raising some eyebrows and quickly making a name for themselves. The only thing missing from the equation would be that the bovine athletes get their own theme songs to be announced to just like the cowboys, but if I know anything about the PBR, that has already been discussed and I am sure it is in the works at some level anyway. Tonight we once again saw a mix of some veteran bucking bulls mixed in with some that were trying to stake a claim on the elite tour for the rest of the season and that dynamic made for some great moments that we will carry over into Championship Sunday tomorrow afternoon inside Madison Square Gardens right here in New York City!
Heading into tonight’s second night of the 2018 season we already were able to witness two fantastic rounds of action as round one and the first 15/15 Bucking Battle of the year happened before our very eyes. Many of the top-tier animal athletes were on display and gave us some huge bull scores just 24-hours ago. In round one, K-C/Jo-Z Bucking Bulls/Spark-lin Acres’ Ram It carried Cooper Davis to the round win and the round one top bull score of 43.50 points. In the 15/15 Bucking Battle Jane Clark / Gene Owens’ Seven Dust earned a 45.75 point bull score after dispatching reigning world champion Jess Lockwood prior to the eight-second buzzer. In tonight’s second round, Broken Arrow Bucking Bulls’ Twinkle Toes and Cornwell Bucking Bulls’ Mud Duck would split the high-marked rides of the round with 44.25 point bull scores respectively!
Complete List Of Round Two Qualified Rides From New York City:
Kaique Pacheco (87.50) Cody Campbell (86.50)
Cooper Davis (86.00) Claudio Montanha Jr. (86.00)
Tanner Byrne (85.50) Cody Teel (85.25)
Cody Nance (85.25) Joao Ricardo Vieira (85.00)
Luciano De Castro (85.00) Eduardo Aparecido(84.50)
Dener Barbosa (84.00) Valdiron de Oliveira (81.25)
Gage Gay (81.00) Troy Wilkinson (80.00)
Guilherme Marchi (68.50)
After two night have been completed here in New York City, the excitement and anticipation of what is to come tomorrow afternoon has generated a buzz like never before. If you all remember, Jess Lockwood left this event as your champion and ended the year as the new PBR World Champion too! That being said, the question remains; Can we see our next PBR World Champion walk out of New York City as the champion of the Buck Off At The Garden to carry on the tradition put forth by Jess Lockwood? After a dominating performance thus far, 2-time PBR World Champion J.B. Mauney could, in fact, be that guy to leave here with that title and make a serious run for a third world title in November. We will all have to wait and see what happens following the conclusion of tomorrow afternoon’s Championship Sunday action inside of the legendary Madison Square Gardens Arena!
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