Dramatic event highlighted by the final three riders going for 90 and the high-marked bull score of 2020
By Kacie Albert
Guthrie, Okla. – As the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, wound to a close Sunday afternoon May 17, 2020, the world’s Top 35 bull riders, and some of the rankest bucking bulls on the planet, punctuated the historic closed-to-fans Unleash The Beast event with a championship round that won’t soon be forgotten.
In the waning moments of the third weekend at the closed-to-fans Lazy E Arena, on a day where the bulls were ferociously feisty, the final three riders erupted for monstrous 90-point rides and one bovine athlete posted the high-marked bull score of the entire 2020 season.
As one of two riders to go a flawless 3-for-3, Lucas Divino (Nova Crixas, Brazil) rode supreme to win the PBR Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, collecting $18,250 and a crucial 102 world points.
With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Divino selected world No. 2 Chiseled (Flinn/D&H Cattle Co.), a frontrunner for the year’s YETI PBR World Champion Bull honor and known to propel riders to big scores.
As the last rider out, and with the event title on the line, Divino reached the 8-second whistle and recorded his own 90-point ride, marked a massive 90.75 points.
After beginning the event ranked No. 12 in the world, Divino catapulted inside the Top 10. He is now ranked No. 7 in the world, 458.5 points behind No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil), whose event ended early after injuring his right lower ribs in Round 1.
While Chiseled’s five PBR outs prior to matching up with Divino had all resulted in buckoffs, his last trip resulting in a qualified ride was Rubens Barbosa’s (Iaciara, Brazil) Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award-winning, 95.75-point ride aboard the bull during Round 4 of the 2019 PBR World Finals.
Prior to that trip, Chiseled’s three PBR outs leading into the record-setting PBR World Finals ride were all scored in excess of 90 points.
First in the streak was two-time PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood’s(Volborg, Montana) 93-point trip aboard the bull earlier that season in Springfield, Missouri, followed by 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis’ (Jasper, Texas) 92.75-point, event-winning ride in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Eduardo Aparecido’s (Gouvelandia, Brazil) Round 1-winning, 91.25-point effort earlier in the 2019 PBR World Finals.
In the rounds prior to Divino’s matchup with Chiseled, he first posted an 84.25-point ride atop Eye of the Storm (McCoy Ranches), the fourth-best score of Round 1, then rose to the top of the event leaderboard courtesy of his 82.25-point effort aboard Buck Norris (Owens/Wyatt/Smith) in the second round.
While Divino notched the third consecutive 90-point ride in the championship round, event runner-up Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil) was the rider who began the impressive streak of clutch rides.
Cerqueira, the only other rider to go a perfect 3-for-3, reached the final round after covering Spit Out The Bone (Cord McCoy/Double R) for 84.75 points in Round 1, and re-ride bull Cinnamon Kat (Payson Parker/D&H Cattle Co.) for 78.75 points in Round 2.
With the second pick in the championship round bull draft, Cerqueira selected three-time World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.), and he reached the 8-second whistle for a head-turning 91.25 points, tying for the championship round win. It was the high-marked ride of his career, and his first-ever 90-point ride on the elite Unleash The Beast
For his career-best finish on the premier series, Cerqueira left Lazy E Arena with a check for $14,625 along with 78 world points. He skyrocketed 26 positions in the world rankings, climbing from No. 48 to No. 22.
In third place, and the final rider to go for 90 in the championship round, was Stetson Lawrence (Williston, North Dakota).
Rebounding from a Round 1 buckoff aboard Top Shelf (D&H Cattle Co./Gordon/OK Corralis), Lawrence first found success in Round 2 when covering then world No. 18 bull Lil 2 Train (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) for 88 points.
Facing Sky Harbor (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Wilks Ranch), son of the legendary bucker Pearl Harbor (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/H&C Bucking Bulls), in the championship round, Lawrence was picture perfect as he gritted to the 8-second mark, scored 91.25 points.
The 90-point effort, the second-best of Lawrence’s career on the premier series, is his first since 2018 when he covered Wild Goose (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.) for 90 points in Anaheim, California.
Lawrence’s third-place finish propelled him to a $12,125 payday and earned him 61 world points. He rose 10 positions in the world standings, climbing from No. 27 to No. 17, now within 97.5 points of the Top 10.
The finish comes amidst a string of successes for Lawrence.
Last weekend at the Lazy E, the North Dakotan delivered a 2-for-3 performance, recording his then-season-best Unleash The Beast effort when he concluded the event fourth. The Top-5 finish earned Lawrence 35.5 world points, and allowed him to gain 10 positions in the world standings, as he rose from No. 37 to No. 27.
Fourth was Cody Teel (College Station, Texas).
The 2012 PRCA Champion’s event was highlighted by his first 90-point ride of the season, a 90-point, Round 2-winning ride aboard Milk Man (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.), who Teel had faced four previous times.
While Milk Man bested the Texan in one of those meetings, Teel reached the whistle four times, including last weekend, when he covered the Canadian-born bull for 89.75 points in the championship round of the PBR Cooper Tires Invitational, presented by Ariat.
Teel’s fourth-place finish earned him $8,500 and 37 world points, rising from No. 24 to No. 21 in the world.
Like Lawrence, Teel’s Top-5 finish also comes on the heels of a successful weekend in Logan County on May 9-10.
Ranked No. 55 prior to the PBR Cooper Tires Invitational, presented by Ariat, and given a berth at Lazy E Arena via his 2019 finish in the world standings, Teel needed to crack the premier series’ Top 35 threshold or face being cut. Rising to the occasion, he went 2-for-3 to finish second, earning $14,375 and an ever-important 68 world points, catapulting him 31 positions in the world standings, rising from No. 55 to No. 24.
In fifth was three-time PBR World Champion Silvano Alves (Pilar do Sul, Brazil) who continued to etch his name in the PBR record books.
Going 2-for-3, notching 82.75-point rides on Sidewinder (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.) and Western Skies (Cord McCoy/Twisted T/Ladd/Murphy), the Brazilian veteran logged the 414th and 415th rides of his elite tour career.
After surpassing two-time PBR World Champion Chris Shivers (Jonesville, Louisiana) for fifth-most rides all-time last weekend, Alves is now within 14 rides of tying Valdiron de Oliveira (Balcimo, Brazil) for fourth in the league history books. Shivers logged 412 rides in his career, while Oliveira reached the 8-second whistle 429 times.
PBR’s 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi (Tres Lagoas, Brazil) leads the league with 635, followed by two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney (Statesville, North Carolina) with 528, and 2004 World Champion Mike Lee (Decatur, Texas) with 525.
Alves’s latest rides netted him $4,250 and 36 world points, allowing him to crack into the Top 35. Ranked No. 49 in the world prior to the event, Alves is now No. 32, 15.34 points inside the threshold.
While the championship round ended with the cowboys on top, Sunday’s event began with dominating bull power.
Smooth Over (Hart Cattle/GT Bucking Bull) delivered the high-marked bull score of the 2020 season, capturing the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the event honor. In powerfully dispatching Andrew Alvidrez (Seminole, Texas) in a swift 4.34 seconds, Smooth Over was marked a monstrous 47.5 points – the only out this year on the Unleash The Beast in excess of 47 points
Beginning the event ranked outside of the Top 20 in the YETI World Champion Bull race, Smooth Over is now firmly ranked inside the Top 10. Rising to No. 7 in the world, with a 44.71-point average bull score, Smooth Over is now within 1.04 points of No. 1 Air Support (Braun/Cooper).
Fans can relive all the action from the PBR Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Monday, May 18, on RidePass at RidePass.com or via the mobile app.
While the PBR Unleash The Beast will now take a two-week break, scheduled to return next on July 20-21 for the PBR Last Cowboy Standing Major at Cheyenne Frontier Days, PBR Commissioner Sean Gleason announced groundbreaking news marking a return of the sport to competition in June.
PBR will launch a new 40-hour televised team competition, The PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge, set to take place at South Point Arena in Las Vegas from June 5-28 with closed-to-fan events. The competition will then culminate in a championship weekend that will welcome fans to events at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on July 10-12, debuting new fan safety protocols for ticketed events during the Coronavirus pandemic. For all the latest news on the PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge stay tuned to PBR.com.
PBR Unleash The Beast
PBR Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol
Lazy E Arena – Guthrie, Oklahoma
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Lucas Divino, 84.25-82.25-90.75-257.25-102 Points.
2. Alex Cerqueira, 84.75-78.75-91.25-254.75-78 Points.
3. Stetson Lawrence, 0-88-91.25-179.25-61 Points.
4. Cody Teel, 0-90-0-90.00-37 Points.
5. Silvano Alves, 82.75-0-82.75-165.50-36 Points.
6. Mason Taylor, 88.75-0-0-88.75-32 Points.
7. Amadeu Campos Silva, 87.5-0-0-87.50-16 Points.
8. Cody Casper, 0-86.75-0-86.75-14 Points.
9. Joao Henrique Lucas, 0-86.5-0-86.50-12 Points.
10. Matt Triplett, 0-86-0-86.00-9 Points.
By Kacie Albert
Guthrie, Okla. – As the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, wound to a close Sunday afternoon May 17, 2020, the world’s Top 35 bull riders, and some of the rankest bucking bulls on the planet, punctuated the historic closed-to-fans Unleash The Beast event with a championship round that won’t soon be forgotten.
In the waning moments of the third weekend at the closed-to-fans Lazy E Arena, on a day where the bulls were ferociously feisty, the final three riders erupted for monstrous 90-point rides and one bovine athlete posted the high-marked bull score of the entire 2020 season.
As one of two riders to go a flawless 3-for-3, Lucas Divino (Nova Crixas, Brazil) rode supreme to win the PBR Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, collecting $18,250 and a crucial 102 world points.
With the first pick in the championship round bull draft, Divino selected world No. 2 Chiseled (Flinn/D&H Cattle Co.), a frontrunner for the year’s YETI PBR World Champion Bull honor and known to propel riders to big scores.
As the last rider out, and with the event title on the line, Divino reached the 8-second whistle and recorded his own 90-point ride, marked a massive 90.75 points.
After beginning the event ranked No. 12 in the world, Divino catapulted inside the Top 10. He is now ranked No. 7 in the world, 458.5 points behind No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil), whose event ended early after injuring his right lower ribs in Round 1.
While Chiseled’s five PBR outs prior to matching up with Divino had all resulted in buckoffs, his last trip resulting in a qualified ride was Rubens Barbosa’s (Iaciara, Brazil) Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award-winning, 95.75-point ride aboard the bull during Round 4 of the 2019 PBR World Finals.
Prior to that trip, Chiseled’s three PBR outs leading into the record-setting PBR World Finals ride were all scored in excess of 90 points.
First in the streak was two-time PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood’s(Volborg, Montana) 93-point trip aboard the bull earlier that season in Springfield, Missouri, followed by 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis’ (Jasper, Texas) 92.75-point, event-winning ride in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Eduardo Aparecido’s (Gouvelandia, Brazil) Round 1-winning, 91.25-point effort earlier in the 2019 PBR World Finals.
In the rounds prior to Divino’s matchup with Chiseled, he first posted an 84.25-point ride atop Eye of the Storm (McCoy Ranches), the fourth-best score of Round 1, then rose to the top of the event leaderboard courtesy of his 82.25-point effort aboard Buck Norris (Owens/Wyatt/Smith) in the second round.
While Divino notched the third consecutive 90-point ride in the championship round, event runner-up Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil) was the rider who began the impressive streak of clutch rides.
Cerqueira, the only other rider to go a perfect 3-for-3, reached the final round after covering Spit Out The Bone (Cord McCoy/Double R) for 84.75 points in Round 1, and re-ride bull Cinnamon Kat (Payson Parker/D&H Cattle Co.) for 78.75 points in Round 2.
With the second pick in the championship round bull draft, Cerqueira selected three-time World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.), and he reached the 8-second whistle for a head-turning 91.25 points, tying for the championship round win. It was the high-marked ride of his career, and his first-ever 90-point ride on the elite Unleash The Beast
For his career-best finish on the premier series, Cerqueira left Lazy E Arena with a check for $14,625 along with 78 world points. He skyrocketed 26 positions in the world rankings, climbing from No. 48 to No. 22.
In third place, and the final rider to go for 90 in the championship round, was Stetson Lawrence (Williston, North Dakota).
Rebounding from a Round 1 buckoff aboard Top Shelf (D&H Cattle Co./Gordon/OK Corralis), Lawrence first found success in Round 2 when covering then world No. 18 bull Lil 2 Train (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) for 88 points.
Facing Sky Harbor (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Wilks Ranch), son of the legendary bucker Pearl Harbor (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/H&C Bucking Bulls), in the championship round, Lawrence was picture perfect as he gritted to the 8-second mark, scored 91.25 points.
The 90-point effort, the second-best of Lawrence’s career on the premier series, is his first since 2018 when he covered Wild Goose (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.) for 90 points in Anaheim, California.
Lawrence’s third-place finish propelled him to a $12,125 payday and earned him 61 world points. He rose 10 positions in the world standings, climbing from No. 27 to No. 17, now within 97.5 points of the Top 10.
The finish comes amidst a string of successes for Lawrence.
Last weekend at the Lazy E, the North Dakotan delivered a 2-for-3 performance, recording his then-season-best Unleash The Beast effort when he concluded the event fourth. The Top-5 finish earned Lawrence 35.5 world points, and allowed him to gain 10 positions in the world standings, as he rose from No. 37 to No. 27.
Fourth was Cody Teel (College Station, Texas).
The 2012 PRCA Champion’s event was highlighted by his first 90-point ride of the season, a 90-point, Round 2-winning ride aboard Milk Man (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.), who Teel had faced four previous times.
While Milk Man bested the Texan in one of those meetings, Teel reached the whistle four times, including last weekend, when he covered the Canadian-born bull for 89.75 points in the championship round of the PBR Cooper Tires Invitational, presented by Ariat.
Teel’s fourth-place finish earned him $8,500 and 37 world points, rising from No. 24 to No. 21 in the world.
Like Lawrence, Teel’s Top-5 finish also comes on the heels of a successful weekend in Logan County on May 9-10.
Ranked No. 55 prior to the PBR Cooper Tires Invitational, presented by Ariat, and given a berth at Lazy E Arena via his 2019 finish in the world standings, Teel needed to crack the premier series’ Top 35 threshold or face being cut. Rising to the occasion, he went 2-for-3 to finish second, earning $14,375 and an ever-important 68 world points, catapulting him 31 positions in the world standings, rising from No. 55 to No. 24.
In fifth was three-time PBR World Champion Silvano Alves (Pilar do Sul, Brazil) who continued to etch his name in the PBR record books.
Going 2-for-3, notching 82.75-point rides on Sidewinder (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.) and Western Skies (Cord McCoy/Twisted T/Ladd/Murphy), the Brazilian veteran logged the 414th and 415th rides of his elite tour career.
After surpassing two-time PBR World Champion Chris Shivers (Jonesville, Louisiana) for fifth-most rides all-time last weekend, Alves is now within 14 rides of tying Valdiron de Oliveira (Balcimo, Brazil) for fourth in the league history books. Shivers logged 412 rides in his career, while Oliveira reached the 8-second whistle 429 times.
PBR’s 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi (Tres Lagoas, Brazil) leads the league with 635, followed by two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney (Statesville, North Carolina) with 528, and 2004 World Champion Mike Lee (Decatur, Texas) with 525.
Alves’s latest rides netted him $4,250 and 36 world points, allowing him to crack into the Top 35. Ranked No. 49 in the world prior to the event, Alves is now No. 32, 15.34 points inside the threshold.
While the championship round ended with the cowboys on top, Sunday’s event began with dominating bull power.
Smooth Over (Hart Cattle/GT Bucking Bull) delivered the high-marked bull score of the 2020 season, capturing the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the event honor. In powerfully dispatching Andrew Alvidrez (Seminole, Texas) in a swift 4.34 seconds, Smooth Over was marked a monstrous 47.5 points – the only out this year on the Unleash The Beast in excess of 47 points
Beginning the event ranked outside of the Top 20 in the YETI World Champion Bull race, Smooth Over is now firmly ranked inside the Top 10. Rising to No. 7 in the world, with a 44.71-point average bull score, Smooth Over is now within 1.04 points of No. 1 Air Support (Braun/Cooper).
Fans can relive all the action from the PBR Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol, starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Monday, May 18, on RidePass at RidePass.com or via the mobile app.
While the PBR Unleash The Beast will now take a two-week break, scheduled to return next on July 20-21 for the PBR Last Cowboy Standing Major at Cheyenne Frontier Days, PBR Commissioner Sean Gleason announced groundbreaking news marking a return of the sport to competition in June.
PBR will launch a new 40-hour televised team competition, The PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge, set to take place at South Point Arena in Las Vegas from June 5-28 with closed-to-fan events. The competition will then culminate in a championship weekend that will welcome fans to events at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on July 10-12, debuting new fan safety protocols for ticketed events during the Coronavirus pandemic. For all the latest news on the PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge stay tuned to PBR.com.
PBR Unleash The Beast
PBR Lucas Oil Invitational, presented by U.S. Border Patrol
Lazy E Arena – Guthrie, Oklahoma
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Lucas Divino, 84.25-82.25-90.75-257.25-102 Points.
2. Alex Cerqueira, 84.75-78.75-91.25-254.75-78 Points.
3. Stetson Lawrence, 0-88-91.25-179.25-61 Points.
4. Cody Teel, 0-90-0-90.00-37 Points.
5. Silvano Alves, 82.75-0-82.75-165.50-36 Points.
6. Mason Taylor, 88.75-0-0-88.75-32 Points.
7. Amadeu Campos Silva, 87.5-0-0-87.50-16 Points.
8. Cody Casper, 0-86.75-0-86.75-14 Points.
9. Joao Henrique Lucas, 0-86.5-0-86.50-12 Points.
10. Matt Triplett, 0-86-0-86.00-9 Points.
