ST. LOUIS – In front of a raucous Saturday night crowd in St. Louis, Sage Steele Kimzey (Strong City, Oklahoma) rode supreme, winning Round 1 of the elite Unleash The Beast’s PBR (Professional Bull Riders) St. Louis, presented by Michelob ULTRA, cracking the Top 15 in the race for the 2025 PBR World Championship.

Kimzey lit up the scoreboard, leading the contingent of 16 riders who converted on the opening night of action inside Enterprise Center, when he dominated Mike’s Motive (Blake Sharp/High Voltage/Wetzel/Knott) for 89.75 points.

The golden finish garnered the seven-time PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) World Champion a crucial 28 Unleash The Beast points. He surged from No. 21 to No. 11 as he chases his first PBR World Championship this May.

“It’s weird not to be at NFR (National Finals Rodeo), but all the chips are in the middle of the table for a PBR World Finals title,” Kimzey said.

Atop the standings, No. 1 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) extended his lead courtesy of a fourth-place finish in Round 1.

The teenage phenom and reigning PBR Camping World Team Series MVP covered Mighty Mike (Braun Bucking Bulls) with ease, marked 89.25 points. Crimber garnered 16 Unleash The Beast points, growing his lead to 34 points over No. 2 Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas).

Kasel prevented Crimber from gaining too much ground by tying for fifth in the opening round. The reserved Texan covered Fringe Minority (Sterk Bucking Bulls) for 88 points to net 14.5 points in the race for this season’s gold buckle.

Returning to the top of the event leaderboard, Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil) and Thiago Salgado (Navirai, Brazil) tied for second in Round 1, each earning 17.5 Unleash The Beast points for their matching 89.5-point rides.

Aparecido topped Wild Card (Blake Sharp/UB Bucking Company), while Salgado outlasted Damaged Goods (Hilton Bull Co.).

Veteran Brazilian Aparecido rose from No. 9 to No. 7 in the standings, now 119 points back of No. 1 Crimber. Salgado also gained notable ground, climbing from No. 19 to No. 13 and moving within 148 points of No. 1 Crimber.

Rounding out the Top 5 and tying for fifth alongside Kasel was Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas).

Keeping earned 14.5 Unleash The Beast points for his 88-point ride on Big X (Blake Sharp/Hanks/Wade). He surged from unranked to No. 33 in the Unleash The Beast standings.  

Action for the 2025 PBR St. Louis, presented by Michelob ULTRA, will conclude with Round 2 and the championship round on Sunday, Dec. 8. Action gets underway at 1:45 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com and PBR.com.

Both nights of competition in St. Louis will be available LIVE and FREE on RidePass on Pluto TV, PBR’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@pbr), PBR’s mobile app (https://qrco.de/bdtdKp), and PBR’s app on connected TVs, including Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku and Google TV. The stream for PBR St. Louis, presented by Michelob ULTRA, continues on Sunday, Dec. 8.

PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of PBR UTB events and is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv.

PBR Unleash The Beast
PBR St. Louis, presented by Michelob ULTRA
Enterprise Center – St. Louis, Missouri 
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Sage Steele Kimzey, 89.75-0-0-89.75-28 Points.
2. Eduardo Aparecido, 89.5-0-0-89.50-17.5 Points.
(tie). Thiago Salgado, 89.5-0-0-89.50-17.5 Points.
4. John Crimber, 89.25-0-0-89.25-16 Points.
5. Dalton Kasel, 88-0-0-88.00-14.5 Points.
(tie). Daniel Keeping, 88-0-0-88.00-14.5 Points.
7. Clay Guiton, 86.75-0-0-86.75-12.5 Points.
(tie). Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 86.75-0-0-86.75-12.5 Points.
9. Mason Taylor, 86.5-0-0-86.50-10 Points.
(tie). Anderson de Oliveira, 86.5-0-0-86.50-10 Points.
(tie). Marco Rizzo, 86.5-0-0-86.50-10 Points.
12. Kaique Pacheco, 86.25-0-0-86.25-8 Points.
(tie). Dener Barbosa, 86.25-0-0-86.25-8 Points.
14. Brady Fielder, 85.75-0-0-85.75-8 Points.
15. Julio Cesar Marques, 85.5-0-0-85.50-8 Points.
16. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 84.75-0-0-84.75-8 Points.
Jose Vitor Leme, 0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0.00
Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00
Dawson Branton, 0-0-0-0.00
Luciano De Castro, 0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Elizmar Jeremias, 0-0-0-0.00
Sandro Batista, 0-0-0-0.00
Rogério Venâncio, 0-0-0-0.00
Leonardo Castro, 0-0-0-0.00
Adriano Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00
Cort McFadden, 0-0-0-0.00
Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0.00
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0.00
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00
Alex Cerqueira, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Henrique da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00
Wingson Henrique da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00
Vitor Losnake, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0.00
Bob Mitchell, 0-0-0-0.00
JaCauy Hale, 0-0-0-0.00
Nick Tetz, 0-0-0-0.00
Dustin Martinez, 0-0-0-0.00
Heitor Santos Ferreira, 0-0-0-0.00

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media