Over the last two weekends of Professional Bull Riding 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour action, I have had to take a couple of steps backward due to internet issues and prior work obligations that had me traveling out of town. I can honestly say that I have missed bringing you all the recaps of the action from the arena floors but vow to get back on track here this weekend as we round out the first half of the 2018 season with the Last Cowboy Standing event here in Las Vegas! Many of the thirty-five contestants here this weekend are just hoping to get to the end of Saturday night without sustaining any other injuries while others are looking to finish the half all while going out with a blaze of glory while climbing up the world standings leaderboard as we head into the long summer break.
Every year, this PBR Major event signifies that the much-needed time off is upon all of the contestants that travel across the country week in and week out putting on displays of pure athleticism at every stop we make throughout the year. This year is unlike almost any other year, however, as a majority of the top ten bull riders in the world standings have sustained pretty scary injuries that time will be needed to bring them back to as close to 100% as they can be heading into the second half of the season. Even as the last event before the summer break is upon us, we still see some key players still sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right time to have their injuries fixed or just taking the extra time needed to come back after the summer break. That being said, it is time to say hello to the 2108 edition of the Last Cowboy Standing, the third PBR Major of the season!
Cooper Davis Brings Home The Top Score In Round One
Photo Credit: Andy Watson / Bull Stock Media
After months of hype and anticipation, it was finally time for the festivities to begin inside of the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas once again. Not only would the western industry fans be subject to some of the best bull riding action tonight and tomorrow, but the formation of the World Champions Rodeo Alliance or WCRA will hold its first event in conjunction beginning tomorrow afternoon. All of the action can be watched in its entirety on the new Ride Pass digital media platform that began with the watch-only feature for tonight’s action earlier this evening and will continue over the next two days as well. As we began the action down on the arena floor earlier tonight, we were all witness to some of the most heart-pounding bull riding action available as round one of the 2018 Last Cowboy Standing would take center stage and would set up for an amazing final day of action tomorrow night!
After all of the pomp and circumstance was concluded, it was time to focus on the main attraction of the night, watching the top thirty-five bull riders in the world compete against each other to earn an invitation into tomorrow night’s final rounds that would give us our new 2018 Last Cowboy Standing champion! From the get-go, all watching could tell that these guys came in ready to dominate and secure one of the 25 spots available for round two, just 24-hours from now. After all was concluded, there would be 11 of the 35 that would manage to make the needed eight seconds to earn a qualified ride, leaving 14 open spots remaining to fill out the needed 25. Tonight, Cooper Davis would conquer Paige Stout Bucking Bulls’ Comets Patrol to earn the top score in round one with an 88.75 point effort while the others did just enough to advance as well themselves!
Complete Breakdown Of Round One Qualified Rides From The Last Cowboy Standing:
Cooper Davis (87.75) Guilherme Marchi (87.25)
Kaique Pacheco (86.25) Matt Triplett (86.00)
Jose Vitor Leme (85.25) Luciano De Castro (84.75)
Koal Livingston (84.75) Ryan Dirteater (84.00)
Silvano Alves (83.00) Colten Jesse (82.75)
Lucas Divino (82.50)
As I talked about earlier, this event is the third PBR Major event of the 2018 season and gives us a chance to see how the top bull riders in the world stack up against each other throughout the weekend’s festivities. That being said, there is a specific format that must be followed that will guarantee the fans watching all of the action a full night of bull riding, at least through the second round, and then the numbers will quickly dwindle down from there. This weekend’s event will have about the same feel as the Iron Cowboy did earlier in the year when it made its way to the AT&T Cowboy Stadium. Almost all of the time the open and available spots that must be filled for the round two performance are never completely taken by those that obtain qualified rides in round one.
In The Iron Cowboy event, the riders are paired up into groups much like a bracket-style format with minimal changes that are hardly noticeable. Each pairing needs to out-ride the other, either by earning a higher score or by outlasting their opponent by time if neither ride to move on. Then it is a ride or go home much like what we will see tomorrow night. In this weekend’s Last Cowboy Standing, it is just a little bit different as the remaining 25 positions that cannot be filled through qualified rides will be taken according to where they sit in the current world standings, making it much more likely to be able to advance if you are within the top 20 in the world coming into tonight’s first round of action. Once we get through round two tomorrow night, one must make a qualified ride in order to advance on to subsequent rounds where only 8 were able to do just that and move to round three just one year ago when the Ice Man Kaique Pacheco would eventually take home the 2017 title!
Now that round one of the 2018 Last Cowboy Standing is behind us, it is time to turn our attention to what we will see over the course of the next two days as we get ready to close out the first half of the Professional Bull Riders 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour with a bang. As we talked about earlier, this will be a history-making two days as we conclude the Last Cowboy Standing event but also welcome a new look into our professional rodeo and bull riding worlds with the first event of the newly formed World Champions Rodeo Alliance. You can catch all of the action from the first round of the WCRA event on Ride Pass earlier on in the day and continue to stick around for round two of the Last Cowboy Standing later on tomorrow night but the coverage does not stop there. Sunday will be the finals of the WCRA event that will also be aired on Ride Pass that will close out the first half of the Unleash The Beast 2018 season in spectacular fashion!
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