PUEBLO, Colo. – Seeing riders light up the leaderboard in beautiful Tucson, Arizona, last weekend during the tour’s season-opening event, the 2024 Unleash The Beast campaign is officially underway.

And boy, oh boy, did the riders show up and show OUT!

Storming into Tucson Arena just three weeks after concluding the 2023 PBR Camping World Teams Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, there were some questions as to how many riders would be healthy and prepared to participate in 2024 debut of the world’s biggest bull riding tour after spending the summer competing in the 5-on-5 slate.

Quickly reminding fans and tour personnel alike, the pack put on quite the show during the return of Unleash The Beast competition.

Logging 42 combined qualified rides during the first event of the season, (including 21 in Round 1, 15 in round 2 and six in the short go) riders set the bar rather high, as the total from PBR Tucson was higher than any event from the 2023 season.

Seeing just 38 rides during last year’s showdown in Tucson, the 42-ride mark is actually the most recorded within a premier series event since the tour invaded Tacoma, Washington, April 8-10 during the PBR Wrangler Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, where 52 qualified rides were logged (albeit throughout the course of four rounds, compared to just three last weekend).

We’d have to look all the way back to action inside The Garden January 5-7, 2022, to locate the tour’s last three-round event which eclipsed 42 conversions (45 in New York City).

Featuring 26 different riders to meet the requisite 8, including six who produced perfect 3-for-3 showcases, the tour’s “Welcome Back” event was very much a success whether you ask the riders, the judges or the fans themselves.

After seeing the bulls have the upper hand for a majority of the 2023 Unleash The Beast season, will momentum shift back toward the pack in 2024? Or were the bulls just getting warmed up?

Set to endure another three-week break before getting back at it inside Enterprise Center Dec. 2-3 during PBR St. Louis, riders will look to take advantage of their second 21-plus-day break of quarter four before hitting the ground running throughout December and on.

With the action-packed premier series officially back on tour, we’re taking a quick look back at some of the numerical takeaways from the 2024 Unleash The Beast season-opener in this week’s By the Numbers!

First Go, First Win: After watching 20-year-old Caden Bunch light the PBR Camping World Team Series on fire during its 2023 campaign, bull riding fans shouldn’t be too surprised that the Tahlequah, Oklahoma, native picked things up right where he left them when the 2024 premier series slate began last weekend. While six riders managed to produce perfect 3-for-3 records, five of them were unable to match Bunch’s event-winning efforts. Securing his first-ever UTB event title while making his premier series debut, Bunch ripped off an 86-point ride atop Ah Hell during Friday night’s opening round. When Saturday came around, the talented youngster doubled down, quickly punching his ticket to the short go via an encouraging 88.25-point score dancing with Mighty Mike. Making it look easy all weekend long, Bunch completed his perfect stretch courtesy of a flashy 89.25-point conversion aboard Concho to seal the deal and position himself as the No. 1-ranked rider heading into St. Louis. Taking home a tour-best 125 UTB points for the win, he also netted the largest check of his young career, awarded $41,955 as he continues to make a name for the tour’s spicy group of young talents.

5-of-6: Speaking of youngsters, there were six different riders who made their official Unleash The Beast debut inside of Tucson Arena this past weekend. With Bunch leading the way (3-for-3), five of the six first-timers were able to find the whistle throughout the season-opening showdown as they competed within the biggest tour in the bull riding industry. Stepping up as the only other rider participating in their first UTB event to earn two qualified rides, Paulo Eduardo Rosseto began his premier series career in the ride column, first making the 8 atop Hell Storm for 86 points. Keeping his streak intact, he accepted a 69-point conversion matched against Mikey’s Surprise in Round 2 to ensure his spot in the Championship Round, but was ultimately dispatched in 3.75 seconds during his short round opportunity aboard Night Hawk. Rounding out the first-timers club, John Crimber (1-for-2), Kaiden Loud (1-for-2), Julio Cesar Marques (1-for-2), and Trace Redd (1-for-1) all found success as least once, with Jean Fernandes Pereira coming up just short twice with 6.91 and 5.69-second buckoffs.

R00kie Flashes: While Bunch stole the show with his event-winning ways, there were two other rookie competitors to finish within the Top 6, courtesy of their own perfect weekends, meaning three of the six flawless starts to the 2024 campaign were produced by first-year competitors. While Sage Steele Kimzey has competed on UTB in the past, he’s yet to attend enough events and place high enough at the year-end standings to have his “rookie” season counted in the books. With the 2024 Rookie of the Year Title a possibility, Kimzey got right to work Friday night. Pairing an early-weekend, 86-point conversion with quality 88 and 89-point wins on Saturday, the seven-time PRCA Champion settled for a second-place tie. The final first-year competitor to finish the weekend in perfect fashion hails from the Kansas City Outlaws, but his dance moves definitely predate his time in orange and black. Continuing to stun the world nonetheless, the 22-year-old Brazilian sandwiched an odd 69.5-point ride aboard Coach K with flashy 89 and 89.25-point conversions in the opening round and short go, respectfully. After shining in the 5-on-5 league’s extra outs format, he’s officially 1-for-1 in this year’s Championship Rounds, proving the extra pressure isn’t a threat to the talented youngster.

Pair of 90s: It sure seems like there’s a lot of talk about the young guys lately, eh? Well, thankfully for fans of electric rides, it was a pair of established veterans in Joao Ricardo Vieira and Jose Vitor Leme who provided the sparks in Tucson. While it was JRV who tied Kimzey for second-place honors (thanks to a rank 90-point dance aboard Chateau Montelena’s Montana Jacket in the short round), it was the two-time World Champion who both logged the first score to eclipse the coveted mark while also logging the event’s best score. Going the distance paired with High Wire in Round 3, Leme posted a season-high 90.75-point score, reminding fans why he’s yet again amongst the favorites to be crowned the 2024 World Champion. With the pack producing eight rides of 89 points or higher, combined with 42 total conversions throughout the weekend, it’s clear that the best bull riders in the world were both healthy and amped up to be back to work inside Tucson Arena.

44.5: After seeing the bulls exit a majority of the tour’s 2023 events in the win column, regularly keeping the collective pack off the scoreboard, or really making them earn the 8 when relinquished, weekend one seems to have belonged to the riders after seeing the world’s best bull riders step back into the individual season with flying colors. Featuring plenty of rides in the first and second rounds, the short go offered six conversions in its own right as the riders celebrated and danced their way throughout the opening slate. That said, there were plenty of quality bucking going on down south, including the likes of one Devil’s Revenge, who provided the event’s highest bull score. Dispatching Austin Richardson with ease in a quick 3.85 seconds in Round 2, the young bull logged the second-best bull score of his career on a weekend where zero 45-point efforts were recorded. High Wire, dancing with Jose Vitor Leme, represented the only other bull score to surpass the 44-point mark, while Chateau Montelena’s Montana Jacket (JRV), Night Hawk (Paulo Eduardo Rosseto) and Show Me (Koltin Hevalow) remained the only bovine athletes to go 44 or above.

2024 Hopefuls: Talent from around the world was on full display during the opening weekend, but perhaps some of the most anticipated returns to the individual tour were brought to life in seeing Daylon Swearingen and Dalton Kasel climb back into the chutes. The 2022 World Champion, Swearingen has dealt with some injuries dating back to the inaugural season of 5-on-5 action, documented well throughout the 2023 UTB season and again plaguing the Piffard, New York, native into his second season with the Carolina Cowboys. Working through some things at the 2023 PBR Teams Championship, he was able to get back into the ride column in Las Vegas but wasn’t able to will his checkered flag squad into Championship Sunday. So, when the talented rider went the distance during his Friday night matchup with Buster Moon (82,25 points), fans around the world took a deep breath, as it seems the 24-year-old is finally getting healthy again. While he finished the weekend 1-for-2, now ranked No. 22, he’ll look to- ramp up his efforts as the season continues next month in St. Louis, Missouri. He’ll, of course, be competing against Kasel, one of the most talented riders on tour, who also got back into the ride column this weekend after ending his PBR Camping World Team Series season with the Austin Gamblers on a 10-out buckoff streak. Ranked No. 18 heading into the tour’s next showdown, Kasel also turned in a 1-for-2 performance, able to find the whistle in Round 2 dancing with Savage Love for 84.75 points.

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media