Starting lineups, draw revealed for 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Eliminations Day 2
Ever-dramatic, opening-session action continues inside Cowtown Coliseum Friday, May 9!
By James Youness
FORT WORTH, Texas – One Eliminations round down, three to go as the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast wasted no time treating a sold-out Cowtown Coliseum crowd via rank rides, nasty wrecks and everything cowboy Thursday night.
Knowing the average age of the Top 5 contenders on the event leaderboard when the action concluded was 21.2 years very much suggests several of the tour’s ever-electric young riders showed up and showed out in a big way during the opening go.
A combination of the premier series pack shaking out some opening night jitters mixed with a rather feisty set of bucking bull efforts produced just 10 (10-for-45: 22.22%) Round 1 conversions. Which is a bit of an exclamation mark when we remember the tour averaged nearly double that mark throughout the 23-event regular season slate.
Of course, each the five riders who punched their tickets via Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour-related avenues bucked off Thursday, which didn’t help the equation considering they combined for an 0-for-5 mark.
But honestly, we can’t blame the new kids on the block, as just about everybody else who gave it a go suffered a similar fate.
Thankfully several young guns like Kaiden Loud, John Crimber, Hudson Bolton and company still managed to put on quite the show, tying for the opening round honors while putting veterans across the board on notice.
The 60 UTB points and shared round win may have the greatest implications on Crimber’s place in the world title race, who’s now just 423 UTB points back from No. 1 Dalton Kasel and 297 UTB points No. 2 Brady Fielder.
In fact, of the tour's Top 10-ranked men which entered the opening slate, No. 3 Crimber was the only one to convert.
Which paved the way for Clay Guiton to earn himself a spot in said grouping, breaking into the No. 9 spot after collecting a solid 28 UTB points for his seventh-place effort in Round 1.
Besting Rock ‘n Roll during his outright World Finals debut, he used some motivation attained watching from the sidelines during the 2024 season-culminating showdown (which he was forced to miss after suffering a season-ending injury earlier in the campaign).
Yet, the idea that Loud is now officially 4-for-5 all-time within the postseason’s Eliminations rounds (combining his 3-for-4 effort in 2024 with his spicy start in Round 1) suggests this could be the breeding ground for a dark horse contingent.
Matching Crimber and Bolton’s 88-point marks, Loud did his talking aboard Woody as the first to set the session-setting bar en route to climbing the UTB ranks, up six spots from the No. 20 spot to his new No. 14 rank.
Moving six spots isn’t an easy feat following any single round.
But it shows just how jam-packed riders ranked between No. 10 and No. 28 or so are.
Which is also quite the reminder of how crucial these first four rounds are, as the Top 15-ranked riders in the UTB standings following the Eliminations rounds will automatically qualify to compete inside AT&T Stadium May 17-18 during the Championship (joined by the Top 5 riders in the Eliminations aggregate who haven’t already secured a spot inside Jerry World).
And after seeing 2025 PBR Rookie of the Year contender Hudson Bolton step into his first World Finals ride via his best Kaiden Loud impression, who he ended up tying courtesy of his own 88-point masterpiece, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t claim one of those initial 20 spots.
Applying some pressure to fellow first-year Anderson de Oliveira, Bolton climbed within 58.33 points of the current first-year standings leader, who bucked off Tigger Thursday night.
More importantly for Bolton’s odds of securing a spot inside AT&T Stadium, he improved two spots in the UTB standings, up from the No. 26 rank to No. 24 as he prepares for his Round 2 showdown with Fringe Minority, who he selected with one of the first picks in last night’s bull draft.
Speaking of, the tour prepares to welcome fans to “Bull Town” Friday night, which will feature a special retirement ceremony for the elegant Ridin’ Solo during opening ceremonies before paving way for an INSANE 21 rematches.
After witnessing just four double-down scenarios on Thursday, it’s clear several of the circuit’s talents have opted into dances with familiar foes, so tonight’s crowd should expect a few more conversions than night one.
But the sun has risen in the Lone Star State, so we’re onto Day 2 in the Fort Worth Stockyards as the Western sports world continues to usher in the opening weekend’s slate.
And with just two men doctoring out of the second go, with Oliveira and Michael Lane set to miss Round 2, we've got 43 cowboys ready to lay it all on the line!
Between dozens of favorable matchups around the bend and the rankest pen of bulls on the planet preparing to perform, we can only assume the ever-chaotic race for the 2025 PBR World Championship will only further add fuel to the dramatic endgame sprint.
Lineups and draw are in for the second of four 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Eliminations rounds, so we’re taking a closer look at Friday night’s rider-selected matchups, rematches and everything you need to know ahead of the weekend’s opening slate!
With the premier series continuing to invade Fort Worth, Texas, May 9-11, we’re breaking down starting lineups for competition inside Cowtown Coliseum (With coverage set to begin at 7:45 p.m. CT via PBR’s YouTube channel, the PBR App and RidePass).
ELIMINATIONS DAY 2 STARTING LINEUPS Dener Barbosa vs. Hawk *Felipe Furlan vs. Cool Whip Marcus Mast vs. Ridin’ Salty Bob Mitchell vs. Dark Thoughts Bruno Carvalho vs. Pegasus Dawson Branton vs. Rip *Thiago Salgado vs. Haymaker Vinicius Pinheiro Correa vs. DirtyBru Boudreaux Campbell vs. Doze You Down Mason Taylor vs. Mercy Ethan Winckler vs. Night Hawk Leandro Zampollo vs. Magic Potion Daniel Keeping vs. Mike’s Magic Joao Ricardo Vieira vs. Army Slasher Afonso Quintino vs. Say When Ashton Sahli vs. Ghost Face *Adriano Salgado vs. Hang ‘em High *Daylon Swearingen vs. Lar’s Speck Derek Kolbaba vs. Whiskey Trip *Elizmar Jeremias vs. Alakazam *Julio Cesar Marques vs. Umm *Jose Vitor Leme vs. Flapjack *Sandro Batista vs. Nefarious *Koltin Hevalow vs. Baldy Alan de Souza vs. Coal Train Claudio Montanha Jr. vs. Magic Touch *Kaiden Loud vs. Rockville Hudson Bolton vs. Fringe Minority *Austin Richardson vs. Man Hater *Lucas Divino vs. Exodus Eduardo Aparecido vs. Red Demon Leonardo Castro vs. Blowhard *Clay Guiton vs. Eyes On Me *Kaique Pacheco vs. Ricky Vaughn *Andrew Alvidrez vs. Big Bank *Keyshawn Whitehorse vs. Manaba Cort McFadden vs. Pay Pal *Paulo Eduardo Rossetto vs. Preachers Kid *Luciano De Castro vs. Fire Zone Sage Steele Kimzey vs. Black Harbor John Crimber vs. Walk Hard *Brady Fielder vs. Nobody *Dalton Kasel vs. Top Dollar *Denotes Rematch
REMATCHES Adriano Salgado vs. Hang ‘em High (87.75 points in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 89.75 points in Fort Worth, Texas) Andrew Alvidrez vs. Big Bank (1.9 seconds in Fort Worth, Texas) Austin Richardson vs. Man Hater (5.92 seconds in Louisville, Kentucky) Brady Fielder vs. Nobody (3.96 seconds in Louisville, Kentucky; 91.5 points in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) Clay Guiton vs. Eyes On Me (1.44 seconds in Albuquerque, New Mexico; 87 points in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) Dalton Kasel vs. Top Dollar (89.75 points in Louisville, Kentucky) Daylon Swearingen vs. Lari’s Speck (90.5 points in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) Elizmar Jeremias vs. Alakazam (2.3 seconds in Albuquerque, New Mexico) Felipe Furlan vs. Cool Whip (2.15 seconds in Sacramento, California) Jose Vitor Leme vs. Flapjack (91.5 points in Glendale, Arizona; 91.5 points in Fort Worth, Texas) Julio Cesar Marques vs. Umm (5.2 seconds in Tulsa, Oklahoma) Kaiden Loud vs. Rockville (2.6 seconds in Greensboro, North Carolina; 3.71 seconds in St. Louis, Missouri; 86.75 points in Albuquerque, New Mexico; 88 points in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Kaique Pacheco vs. Ricky Vaughn (86 points in Jacksonville, Florida; 89 points in Nampa, Idaho; 93 points in Indianapolis, Indiana) Keyshawn Whitehorse vs. Manaba (7.88 seconds in Eugene, Oregon; 84.5 points in Fort Worth, Texas) Koltin Hevalow vs. Baldy (7.17 seconds in Fort Worth, Texas; 85.25 points in Salt Lake City, Utah) Lucas Divino vs. Exodus (2.95 seconds in Louisville, Kentucky) Luciano De Castro vs. Fire Zone (2.5 seconds in Wichita, Kansas; 90 points in Houston, Texas) Paulo Eduardo Rossetto vs. Preachers Kid (2.63 seconds in Fort Worth, Texas) Sandro Batista vs. Nefarious (6.98 seconds in Ontario, California) Thiago Salgado vs. Haymaker (1.81 seconds in Austin, Texas)
OUT DUE TO INJURY/OTHER Anderson de Oliveira (injury) Michael Lane (injury)
FOLLOW ALONG This weekend’s 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Eliminations in Fort Worth, Texas, is set to continue Friday, May 9 at 7:45 p.m. CT as the world’s most talented bull riders duke it out inside Cowtown Coliseum during the second of four action-packed showcases!
The Eliminations stage will continue Saturday, May 10 at 7:45 p.m. CT with third round before the fourth and final slate dawns Sunday, May 11 at 1:45 p.m. CT.
The stream for Eliminations begins Friday, May 9 at 7:45 p.m. CT. New this year, The Cowboy Channel will also stream the opening four rounds of action, with coverage beginning at 8 p.m. CT.
