As we are set to begin the St. Louis Invitational event tonight, we can not help but to look back at the season that we have seen so far this year and wonder if ore memorable moments will make their way across the television screens in homes across the world. After the first cut of the season was made the look of the locker room changed substantially as many contestants finally made their way up to the Unleash The Beast Tour from the Velocity and Touring Pro events and began to make the most of their opportunities. Tonight, even more will make their first attempts underneath a whole new level of energy as they see what they can do against the high caliber of bovine athletes that they will face here in St. Louis at the St. Louis Invitational. It will be fun to watch them as they begin their journey on the top level tour here at the PBR!
The beginning of this weekedn’s event in St. Louis will bring a historic moment for the fans of professional bull riding and the Professional Bull Riders organization as a whole with the launch of the much anticipated Ride Pass platform. As the top 35 bull riders in the world compete for the St. Louis Invitational event title, a few of them are competing for their lives in order to even stay on tour past next weekend’s event in Arlington, Texas. Along with all the notable names that are known in households across the world, a few new names will appear for the first time in round one later tonight. We have seen several times over the past few weeks many of the new faces begin to make a name for themselves and they look to continue that trend here again as round one awaited them in St. Louis.
Ueberson Duarte Makes His PBR Debut
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
Just as many of the most notable names began their Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour career’s, they all started the exact same way as all of the newcomers are doing here this year before our very eyes in St. Louis. We have seen numerous times already this year the insurgence of those quietly earning world title race points with consistently putting down solid rides, and in some cases, winning rounds and event titles while they are at it. It is a very exciting time for the sport of professional bull riding as we welcome riders from across the globe, bringing a new look and feel to the events so far in 2018. Things will begin to look a little different but any one of the cowboys know and understand that they are not safe if they can not earn qualified rides on a continuous basis on this top-level tour.
Anytime that there is a new bull rider that makes an appearance on the Unleash The Beast Tour we all keep our eyes on them more than normal to see how they react and respond to the pressures of being there with their idols they have watched for years. Tonight, one of those making their debut is a friend of mine and one that I have had the honor of announcing for several times on amateur tours over the last few summers. Ueberson Duarte has been on a hot streak as of late and has finally earned a spot on a tour that he has been taking aim at for several years. In round one he would attempt to tame Blake Sharp / Sharp Farm & Cattle’s High Roller giving all he had to give to make a statement to those others on tour. Unfortunately, he would come up a little short at any points in round one after making the eight-second buzzer, earning an 82.50 point score that would send him into round two tomorrow afternoon with the mindset of that a ride would, without a doubt, give him his first shot at a championship round appearance.
Derek Kolbaba Brings Home The Round One Win In St. Louis
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
Everyone came to the Scottrade Center with the hopes and anticipation of watching a majority of the best bull riders in the world make qualified rides, setting up for a shootout tomorrow afternoon to be able to make it back to the championship round. While looking over the draw list for tonight’s performance everyone expected to see the cowboys to come out on top by the time the round one performance was completed but that was far from reality as we quickly saw once the round began. One by one the cowboys would fall by the wayside leaving a few stragglers that would manage to make the elusive eight-second buzzer here on a Saturday night underneath the lights in St. Louis. We talked about the newcomers earlier on and tonight they would take center stage and become the stars that they deserve on a night where rides were few and far between.
Once things got started, the fans watching live and on the new Ride Pass digital platform were left scratching their heads in amazement, wondering what was happening down on the arena floor. By the time we reached intermission and the top ten in the world standings, we were only at six qualified rides and hoping that the last ten would be able to turn the tides a bit towards the cowboys way by the end of the night. That hope was once again quickly dashed as we ended the round with a mere ten qualified rides, sending us into tomorrow afternoon’s round two wide open for the chances to still make the championship round with a good score in one round. Tonight, Derek Kolbaba would come out atop of the others after riding Blake Sharp / Sharp Farm & Cattle / Rio Rojo Cattle Co, LLC’s Cyclone to an 87.50 point score to take home the 100 world title race points!
Complete Break Down Of Qualified Rides In Round One For St. Louis
Derek Kolbaba (87.50) Brennon Eldred (86.50)
Paulo Lima (86.25) Keyshawn Whitehorse (86.25)
Luciano De Castro (85.50) Tanner Byrne (83.00)
Lindomar Lino (82.75) Ramon de Lima (82.50)
Ueberson Duarte (82.50) Guilherme Marchi (61.25)
Now that the first night is in the books here in St. Louis and the inaugural edition of the new Ride Pass digital access platform is completed, we can all sit back and ponder what we just witnessed during the past two hours of action inside of the Scottrade Center. Even though only ten qualified rides were being made adn the bull scores were not anything spectacular they were still putting out solid performances that would be too much for a majority of the cowboys to handle here on Saturday Night Live. As we look ahead to tomorrow’s second round, it will be a wide open sprint to see who can cash in and claim one of the five championship round spots that are still up for grabs with one qualified ride. We will all have to wait and see togehter on exactly ow things will shake out as we headd out of St. Luois on the trail to the second major of the season next weekend in Arlington, Texas for the Iron Cowboy event at AT&T Stadium!
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