PITTSBURGH – With a monster 90-point ride, the fourth in a thrilling Championship Round, 2024 World Champion Cassio Dias (São F. de Sales, Brazil) captured his first Unleash The Beast (UTB) event title since 2024 Saturday night in Pittsburgh to win the U.S. Border Patrol PBR Pittsburgh presented by Ariat.
Dias completed his first multi-ride weekend of the season in the win column as one of four riders to produce a perfect slate inside the home of the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
The gritty Brazilian cowboy began his weekend on Friday night with an 89.20-pointer atop Hoobastank before improving to a flawless 2-for-2 in Round 2. To start his Saturday, Dias topped Magic Touch for 89.40 points to earn his first round win of the season and clinch the top spot in the championship round.
Storming onto the dirt with a vengeance to finish his 3-for-3 slate, Dias saved his best for last, besting Freedom Fighter for a weekend-best 91.70 points to climb atop the shark cage and grace a sold-out PPG Paints Arena crowd with his patented Lane Frost-inspired dance.
Dias earned 154 UTB points for his first win of the season, advancing to the No. 7 rank.
Leandro Zampollo (Pirassununga, Brazil) finished second in Pittsburgh. Holding the top spot on the event leaderboard until Dias’ walk-off finale, Zampollo used a pair conversions aboard Rockville (88.45 points) and Krispy Kreme (87.85 points) to earn his spot in the short go.
Staying perfect as one of seven riders to go the distance in Saturday’s championship round, he scored 88.40 points atop UTZ BesTex Smokestack to solidify his runner-up result as one of five-consecutive riders to meet the requisite 8 in the short round.
Zampollo was awarded 96.5 UTB points for his second-place finish and improved to the No. 9 rank courtesy of his best finish of the season.
Fellow Brazilian Luciano De Castro (Guzolandia, Brazil) was the first man to double down Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena. Scored 86.95 points aboard Bullistic in Round 2 to assume the top spot on the leaderboard at the time, the veteran understood he needed a quality finish as an alternate invite to be on tour next weekend and came up big in the clutch.
Lasting all 8 seconds dancing with Nobody in Round 3, Castro earned his first 90-point effort of the season with a 90.95-point strike to round out the podium.
More importantly for solidifying his spot on the premier series next weekend, Castro netted a crucial 80 UTB points to end the weekend ranked No. 21 overall.
As the fourth and final man to stay perfect in Pittsburgh, Kase Hitt (Dickson, Oklahoma) took advantage of his career-first appearance within a UTB short round.
Parlaying his opening round ride on Always Been Crazy (83.20 points) in the second round aboard Tchoupitoulas (84.85 points), the 21-year-old found himself with the sixth selection in Saturday’s short round bull draft.
Opting into a showdown with Eyes On Me, he let his riding do the talking the rest of the way. Ending the event in fourth place, a career-best finish, Hitt took home 52.5 UTB points and now occupies the No. 37 rank.
Felipe Furlan (Sales Oliveira, Brazil) rounded out the Top 5 as the top-scoring man amongst riders to go 2-for-3 on the weekend. Furlan netted 53 UTB points courtesy of successful trips atop Eyes on Me (89.25 points) in Round 1 and Splash Tide (90.05 points) in the championship round.
The Top 3-ranked bulls in the World Championship bull race were in action during Saturday’s short round and didn’t hold back.
However, it was Man Hater who produced the event’s highest bull score, marked 46.05 points after sending Cort McFadden (Novice, Texas) flying in the air 5.55 seconds into his attempt to claim another Bull of the Event honor.
No. 1 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) and No. 2 Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) were held rideless on the weekend yet remain atop the UTB standings. Crimber leads Kasel by 22 points.
The PBR Unleash The Beast next prepares to invade Jacksonville, Florida’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for the Progressive PBR Jacksonville Feb. 20-21.
Unleash The Beast – U.S. Border Patrol PBR Pittsburgh presented by Ariat
PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Cassio Dias, 89.2-89.4-91.7-270.30-154 Points.
2. Leandro Zampollo, 88.45-87.85-88.4-264.70-96.5 Points.
3. Luciano De Castro, 86.4-86.95-90.95-264.30-80 Points.
4. Kase Hitt, 83.2-84.85-88.4-256.45-52.5 Points.
5. Felipe Furlan, 89.25-0-90.05-179.30-53 Points.
6. Sage Steele Kimzey, 88.35-0-90-178.35-43 Points.
7. Cort McFadden, 90.6-87.4-0-178.00-51 Points.
8. Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-86.5-89.25-175.75-34 Points.
9. Alex Cerqueira, 86.65-87.5-0-174.15-32 Points.
10. Jose Vitor Leme, 88.65-0-0-88.65-18 Points.
11. Jess Lockwood, 87.75-0-0-87.75-14 Points.
12. Brady Fielder, 87.45-0-0-87.45-12 Points.
13. Koltin Hevalow, 0-85.75-0-85.75-13 Points.
14. Ezekiel Mitchell, 85.7-0-0-85.70-9 Points.
15. Bob Mitchell, 0-85.45-0-85.45-12 Points.
16. Thiago Salgado, 0-85.15-0-85.15-11 Points.
17. Julio Cesar Marques, 83.8-0-0-83.80-8 Points.
18. Bruno Carvalho, 0-83.45-0-83.45-9 Points.
19. Daniel Keeping, 82.3-0-0-82.30-8 Points.
20. Kaique Pacheco, 82.1-0-0-82.10-8 Points.
Dalton Kasel, 0-0-0-0.00
John Crimber, 0-0-0-0.00
Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-0-0-0.00
Marco Rizzo, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaiden Loud, 0-0-0-0.00
Callum Miller, 0-0-0-0.00
Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0.00
Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-0-0.00
Afonso Quintino, 0-0-0-0.00
Alan de Souza, 0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0.00
Hudson Bolton, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0.00
Cleber Henrique Marques, 0-0-0-0.00
Alison dos Santos, 0-0-0-0.00
Alex Junior da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00
Grayson Cole, 0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0.00
Elijah Jennings, 0-0-0-0.00
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0.00
Caic Cassio Carvalho, 0-0-0-0.00
2026 Professional Bull Riders Unleash The Beast Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5's, Points, Total Winnings)
1. John Crimber, 9, 1, 3, 444.00, $89,933.33
2. Dalton Kasel, 8, 2, 4, 422.00, $119,573.33
3. Clay Guiton, 8, 0, 4, 409.50, $89,715.48
4. Sage Steele Kimzey, 8, 1, 2, 362.00, $73,964.29
5. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 9, 1, 4, 341.00, $83,055.00
6. Julio Cesar Marques, 8, 0, 3, 320.00, $67,055.48
7. Cassio Dias, 9, 1, 1, 291.00, $55,707.14
8. Brady Fielder, 9, 1, 2, 277.00, $73,350.00
9. Leandro Zampollo, 8, 0, 3, 275.50, $49,729.29
10. Marco Rizzo, 9, 1, 2, 268.00, $80,290.00
11. Alex Cerqueira, 9, 0, 2, 252.50, $42,133.33
12. Kaiden Loud, 9, 0, 2, 230.00, $35,230.00
13. Jess Lockwood, 5, 1, 1, 215.00, $65,075.00
14. Cort McFadden, 6, 0, 1, 213.00, $22,990.48
15. Koltin Hevalow, 9, 0, 1, 189.50, $34,283.33
16. Callum Miller, 8, 0, 2, 179.00, $22,097.14
17. Bruno Carvalho, 4, 0, 0, 144.50, $1,600.00
18. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 9, 0, 0, 141.00, $11,200.00
19. Claudio Montanha Jr., 9, 0, 1, 139.00, $15,757.14
20. Thiago Salgado, 8, 0, 0, 136.50, $19,750.00
21. Luciano De Castro, 7, 0, 1, 129.00, $17,807.14
22. Eduardo Aparecido, 9, 0, 1, 119.00, $26,840.00
23. Daylon Swearingen, 7, 0, 0, 116.50, $14,700.00
24. Daniel Keeping, 8, 0, 0, 115.50, $15,700.00
25. Lucas Divino, 7, 0, 1, 114.00, $11,650.00
26. Afonso Quintino, 9, 0, 0, 112.00, $8,507.14
27. Alan de Souza, 8, 0, 0, 108.00, $9,550.00
28. Maverick Smith, 8, 0, 1, 106.50, $14,225.00
29. Kade Madsen, 5, 0, 0, 106.00, $3,150.00
30. Kaique Pacheco, 9, 0, 0, 104.50, $7,925.00
31. Jose Vitor Leme, 6, 0, 0, 100.50, $15,650.00
32. Andrew Alvidrez, 9, 0, 0, 96.00, $13,350.00
33. Manoelito de Souza Junior, 4, 0, 1, 95.00, $15,850.00
34. Bob Mitchell, 6, 0, 0, 90.00, $14,100.00
35. Hudson Bolton, 7, 0, 0, 77.00, $9,250.00
36. Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 9, 0, 0, 74.00, $8,950.00
37. Kase Hitt, 6, 0, 1, 70.50, $7,932.14
38. Alison dos Santos, 5, 0, 0, 54.00, $3,900.00
39. Felipe Furlan, 4, 0, 1, 53.00, $10,157.14
40. João Ricardo Vieira, 6, 0, 0, 42.00, $2,900.00
41. Cleber Henrique Marques, 9, 0, 0, 38.50, $7,933.33
42. Heitor Santos Ferreira, 4, 0, 0, 29.50, $3,500.00
43. Alex Junior da Silva, 3, 0, 0, 29.00, $1,150.00
44. Wyatt Rogers, 5, 0, 0, 27.00, $1,450.00
45. Andy Guzman, 4, 0, 0, 22.00, $2,600.00
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media