ARLINGTON, Texas – One week ago, Cassio Dias (Sao F. de Sales, Brazil) was in the hospital following a nasty wreck in the first phase of PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast. This afternoon, inside AT&T Stadium on Championship Sunday, he stood supreme, completing his dominant season to be crowned the 2024 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Champion and Rookie of the Year.
Dias is now just the second rider in history to win the two coveted honors in the same season.
“It’s God. It’s God. It’s God,” Dias said from the dirt with the glittering World Champion buckle in his hands. “He promised me I’d be a World Champion someday, and here I am.”
The 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast began with Eliminations, where Dias’s World Championship dreams were nearly derailed. Dias began the first stage of the newly reformatted World Finals with a 560.5-point lead over No. 2 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas). After going a perfect 2-for-2 through the opening rounds and growing his lead atop the standings, Dias was thrown down hard and stomped on in Round 3, transported to the hospital for observation after sustaining a multitude of injuries.
Crimber caught momentum at that exact moment. In Rounds 3 and 4 of Eliminations, the teenage phenom tied for the high-marked ride. As a result, Crimber earned 73 more Unleash The Beast points than Dias did, allowing him to close within 487.5 points of the top spot as the generational talent was on a quest to become the youngest PBR World Champion in history.
As the focus turned to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys for the Championship, Dias made waves, obtaining the necessary medical clearance and returning to action, keen to conclude his season with a PBR World Championship. In his return, Dias donned a special article of apparel, wearing the chaps of the late Lane Frost.
Once Dias and Crimber stepped boot inside AT&T Stadium, a battle for the ages began to unfurl.
In Round 1 of the Championship on Saturday night, Crimber made his presence known. After earning a re-ride, Crimber converted atop Skippy (Skippy & Linda Johnson/Hookin’ W Ranch) for 88 points, the fourth-best score of Round 1. Dias, however, was unable to keep pace, brought down in a close 7.64 seconds by Mike’s Motive (Blake Sharp/High Voltage/Wetzel/Knott).
As a result, Crimber inched within 447.5 points of the top spot.
The standings then went unchanged in Round 2 as both Dias and Crimber bucked off. Dias was bested by Big Chew (Hillcrest Bucking Bulls/Gene Baker/Richardson Land & Cattle Co.) in 3.05 seconds, while Fierce’s Dirtnap (Blake Sharp/UB Bucking Co./Fierce Firearms) got the better of Crimber in a swift 0.88 seconds.
The PBR World Championship and accompanying $1 million bonus then all came down to two rounds of competition inside AT&T Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
For Crimber, both outs were must-ride situations; the 18-year-old needed to be perfect to complete his come-from-behind surge, and he started with a ride for the record books.
In Round 3, Crimber took on Big Bank (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell/Delmas/Williams). Nodding with confidence, Crimber burst into the arena, remaining in perfect time with the powerful animal athlete as the crowd erupted in cheer. While the out was reviewed, Crimber was deemed to have made the 8, awarded a mammoth 95 points.
The score is now tied for the 10th-highest ever at the PBR World Finals and highest-marked ride by a teenager at bull riding’s most prestigious event.
Dias was quick to respond, dominating Ricky Vaughn (WinRock/D&H Cattle/Buck Cattle) in the next out for a commanding 92.5 points.
The pair of 90-point rides led Crimber and Dias to finish first and second, respectively in Round 3, with Crimber earning 40 more points than Dias to climb within 407.5 points of the No. 1 spot.
In the Round 4 draft, Dias and Crimber architected the showdowns to determine the 2024 PBR World Champion. Crimber quickly chose Hang ‘em High (Bryan T/ Smith/Doss Cattle), while Dias elected to take on Chiseled (Flinn/D&H Cattle Co.).
Crimber took to the chutes for his matchup with Hang ‘em High, and with the raucous crowd on the edge of their seats, he burst from the chutes, but in uncharacteristic form hit the dirt in just 2.83 seconds.
While Dias was still waiting to ride, Crimber’s buckoff clinched him both the World Championship and Rookie of the Year honor. To conclude his record season, Dias made the 8 aboard Chiseled for 79.5 points, finishing the 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast seventh overall and earning 130 Unleash The Beast points.
In his first World Finals, Crimber finished second, but the 379 Unleash The Beast points were not enough to complete his come-from-behind surge.
Dias finished the World Championship and Rookie of the Year race 238.5 points ahead of No. 2 Crimber.
In the PBR’s 31-year history, Dias is the 22nd different rider – and ninth Brazilian – to claim the PBR World Champion gold buckle. His title is the 14th time a rider from Brazil has won what’s been called the most difficult individual championship in professional sports.
Throughout 2024, Dias earned $1,555,707.33, including $1,048,600 for his career-first PBR World Championship.
Seven-time PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) champion Sage Steele Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma) won the 2024 PBR World Finals in his second appearance at the prestigious event.
“Man, this is special,” Kimzey said. “This year’s been rough. To come in and cap it off in front of this great crowd, it doesn’t get better. Hats off to Cassio Dias. He’s an absolute animal. Seeing him come back from injury inspired me. Him winning the gold buckle is no accident”.
Kimzey was sensational in Round 1, riding Jersey Tuff (McClellan/Lidgard/Hart) for 89 points, the third-best score of the round. The reserved Oklahoman then stumbled in Round 2, tossed by Army Slasher (Bernard Tallman/Farris) in 1.2 seconds.
Kimzey was then flawless on Championship Sunday. After riding Preachers Kid (K-C Bucking Bulls/RD Cattle) for 91 points in Round 3, he cemented the World Finals win by covering Let’s Roll (Stoltzfus/Bob & Jerry Adams/BS Cattle Co.) for 89.5 points in the final round.
The golden finish earned Kimzey $411,200 and 537 Unleash The Beast points. He concluded the season No. 7 in the Unleash The Beast Standings.
In the bull pen, Man Hater (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) was crowned the 2024 YETI PBR World Champion Bull, earning the accompanying $100,000 bonus.
The honor was bestowed upon the animal with the highest average bull score from their eight highest-scored outs logged during the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series and 2024 Unleash The Beast regular-season, and two outs at the 2024 PBR World Finals.
The powerful animal athlete clinched his first-ever World Championship with a mammoth 47.25-point out during Round 3 of the Championship, earned for his 2.53 seconds of work against Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil).
Man Hater finished a commanding 1.02 points ahead of No. 2 Red Demon (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell/Delmas/Williams).
Red Demon, however, did not leave AT&T Stadium empty-handed, named the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Finals and earning a $25,000 bonus as the animal athlete who posted the top combined score across his three outs logged during the 2024 PBR World Finals.
The bovine athlete first bucked during Round 2 of Eliminations, marked 45.5 points for his 5.07 seconds of work against Crimber. He again lit up the scoreboard inside Cowtown Coliseum when he was awarded 45 points for his 1.96-second buckoff of Dawson Branton (Jefferson, Oregon) in Round 4 of Eliminations.
Red Demon then bucked a cut above the rest inside AT&T Stadium for the Championship. Bucking in Round 3, Red Demon posted the high-marked bull score of the World Finals when he was awarded a mammoth 48.5 points for his 1.54-second buckoff of Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas).
The three outs led Red Demon to conclude the World Finals with an unrivaled 46.33-point average.
Elsewhere in the bull pen, Cool Whip (Julian/Staci Addison/D&H/Crooked W) made history, snapping three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker’s (Julion Moreno Bucking Bulls) record 42-out buckoff streak from 2013, as he logged his 43rd consecutive buckoff in premier series competition in Round 3 of the Championship.
Cool Whip broke the record in a quick 1.18 seconds of work against Claudio Montanha Jr. (Ribeirao dos Indios, Brazil) in Round 3.
Blake Sharp was crowned the 2024 PBR Stock Contractor of the Year. The honor was Sharp’s second consecutive, first earning the honor in 2023 when he dethroned Chad Berger, who had won the award the past nine consecutive seasons.
Crimber earned the Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award for the top-marked ride of the 2024 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast when he won Round 3 compliments of his career-best 95-point ride on Hang ‘em High.
Dias won the Mason Lowe Award, presented annually to the bull rider who records the highest-scored ride during the PBR Unleash The Beast regular season. Dias earned the honor for his 94.75-point ride aboard Man Hater in Los Angeles, California, in mid-February. The ride helped clinch Dias his fourth of what would be seven Unleash The Beast regular-season event wins.
Jake Gardner (Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada) was awarded the Glen Keeley Award for the first time in his career. This award goes to the Canadian bull rider earning the most Unleash The Beast points during the season.
PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast event. PBR RidePass is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv. Click here for on-demand PBR programming.
Stay tuned to PBR.com for the latest news and results and be sure to follow the organization on all social media platforms at @PBR.
PBR Unleash The Beast
2024 PBR World Finals – Championship
AT&T Stadium – Arlington, Texas
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Round 4-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Sage Steele Kimzey, 89-0-91-89.5-269.50-537 Points.
2. John Crimber, 88-0-95-0-183.00-379 Points.
3. Brady Fielder, 89.75-0-0-90.25-180.00-357 Points.
4. Kaiden Loud, 89.5-0-89.75-0-179.25-198 Points.
5. Kaique Pacheco, 0-89-0-88.75-177.75-177 Points.
6. Silvano Alves, 0-88.75-0-85.5-174.25-144 Points.
7. Cassio Dias, 0-0-92.5-79.5-172.00-130 Points.
8. Dener Barbosa, 0-73-0-88.25-161.25-108 Points.
9. Thiago Salgado, 0-90-0-0-90.00-109 Points.
10. Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-89.25-89.25-54 Points.
11. Eduardo Aparecido, 0-89-0-0-89.00-46 Points.
(tie). Dalton Kasel, 0-89-0-0-89.00-46 Points.
(tie). Caden Bunch, 0-89-0-0-89.00-46 Points.
14. Alan de Souza, 0-0-87-0-87.00-37.5 Points.
(tie). Cort McFadden, 87-0-0-0-87.00-37.5 Points.
16. Julio Cesar Marques, 0-0-0-81.5-81.50-28 Points.
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Leonardo Castro, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-0.00
JaCauy Hale, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Shane Scott, 0-0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Keeping, 0-0-0-0-0.00
2024 PBR Unleash The Beast Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5’s, Points, Total Winnings)
1. Cassio Dias, 25, 7, 10, 1,830.33, $1,555,707.33
2. John Crimber, 23, 1, 11, 1,591.83, $595,165.33
3. Eduardo Aparecido, 23, 2, 5, 1,060.00, $332,409.81
4. Dalton Kasel, 21, 1, 9, 995.00, $233,129.00
5. Alan de Souza, 23, 2, 7, 952.50, $223,616.81
6. Kaiden Loud, 23, 1, 5, 897.00, $358,742.33
7. Sage Steele Kimzey, 14, 1, 3, 856.00, $466,983.83
8. Brady Fielder, 25, 2, 6, 851.16, $277,086.81
9. Kaique Pacheco, 17, 0, 5, 708.33, $178,639.33
10. Koltin Hevalow, 26, 1, 6, 625.50, $142,768.00
11. Thiago Salgado, 16, 1, 3, 599.00, $184,661.67
12. Austin Richardson, 8, 2, 3, 533.50, $193,437.00
13. João Ricardo Vieira, 21, 1, 4, 504.00, $108,401.67
14. Caden Bunch, 19, 2, 3, 476.83, $130,264.17
15. Daylon Swearingen, 24, 0, 2, 461.00, $91,274.00
16. Cort McFadden, 17, 0, 2, 429.50, $114,135.00
17. Leonardo Castro, 13, 1, 2, 422.50, $143,407.14
18. Julio Cesar Marques, 24, 0, 3, 411.32, $52,893.00
19. Cody Jesus, 16, 0, 3, 338.50, $62,003.00
20. Alex Cerqueira, 24, 0, 3, 337.50, $49,025.00
21. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 18, 0, 3, 328.66, $46,760.33
22. Silvano Alves, 18, 0, 0, 288.50, $49,275.00
23. Wingson Henrique da Silva, 15, 1, 3, 272.83, $63,151.00
24. Vitor Losnake, 22, 0, 2, 272.50, $35,248.14
25. Felipe Furlan, 20, 0, 2, 256.00, $39,389.00
26. Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 23, 0, 1, 240.00, $34,680.00
27. Clay Guiton, 10, 0, 3, 238.66, $34,232.33
28. Dener Barbosa, 10, 0, 0, 238.50, $46,523.33
29. Boudreaux Campbell, 23, 0, 1, 233.50, $25,143.00
29. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 25, 0, 2, 233.50, $29,815.31
31. Ednélio Almeida, 24, 0, 2, 231.00, $22,479.50
32. Wyatt Rogers, 18, 0, 2, 225.50, $30,183.81
33. Jesse Petri, 22, 0, 0, 216.00, $24,553.00
34. Andrew Alvidrez, 15, 0, 2, 211.33, $37,491.81
35. Mason Taylor, 14, 0, 1, 207.50, $31,418.33
36. Jose Vitor Leme, 6, 0, 1, 200.00, $25,913.67
37. Bob Mitchell, 25, 0, 2, 196.00, $16,978.48
38. Conner Halverson, 24, 0, 1, 194.00, $19,005.29
39. Ezekiel Mitchell, 17, 0, 2, 185.50, $26,652.00
40. Kyler Oliver, 12, 0, 2, 178.33, $27,849.67
41. Marco Rizzo, 7, 0, 2, 147.83, $24,738.48
42. Callum Miller, 15, 0, 1, 147.50, $21,500.00
43. Luciano De Castro, 14, 0, 0, 137.33, $14,353.33
44. Eli Vastbinder, 16, 0, 0, 105.83, $4,550.00
45. Dawson Branton, 10, 0, 0, 105.00, $26,243.33
