Last season’s champion, John Crimber, entered the third week of competition of the Unleash the Beast tour in first place with a small lead over Dalton Kasel. Crimber had already one round and this weekend in St. Louis he earned his second victory of the season. He went 3 for 3 on the weekend and two 90 point riders on Sunday gave him more than enough points to walk away on top again. This allowed him to open up a substantial lead over Kasel who did not have a great weekend in Missouri.
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Headlined by two round-winning, 90-point rides on Championship Sunday inside Enterprise Center, teenage phenom John Crimber (Decatur, Texas) won his second PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event of the 2025 season by going 3-for-3 at PBR St. Louis, presented by Michelob ULTRA, in Missouri.
2024 PBR Camping World Team Series MVP Crimber has now won two of the first three elite series events in the individual Unleash The Beast season.
The 19-year-old superstar, who first rode to the winner’s circle at the season-launch event in mid-November in Tucson, Arizona, got off to a strong start in Round 1 on Saturday night in St. Louis, covering Mighty Mike (Braun Bucking Bulls) for 89.25 points.
The young gun then overtook the top spot on the event leaderboard in Round 2 on Sunday, recording the first monster 90-point ride of the tour stop by navigating three direction changes atop Whiskey Trip (Lari Crane/Gene Owen) for 91.25 points.
With the first selection in the championship round bull draft, Crimber chose UTZ BesTex Smokestack (Black Sharp/Chris Utz/Carey Brothers). The decision paid dividends as Crimber made a big correction in the early seconds of the ride to make the requisite 8. He was scored an event-best 91.5 points to clinch the victory.
Crimber earned $54,075, in addition to 154 points as he more than quintupled his lead over No. 2 Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) in the early season standings. While Crimber, who rides for the Florida Freedom in the separate PBR Teams league, traveled to St. Louis with a mere 32.5-point lead, he is now 172 points in front.
“I’ve got to give all the glory to God; He’s the one who put me in this situation,” Crimber said. “I believe in Him and trust in Him every time I get on.”
The reigning PBR Teams Champion Austin Gamblers’ Kasel went 1-for-3 to tie for 13th inside the home of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. Kasel’s 88-point ride on Fringe Minority (Sterk Bucking Bulls) in Round 1 netted him 14.5 Unleash The Beast points.
As the only other rider to go a perfect 3-for-3, Julio Cesar Marques (Tatui, Brazil) was second in St. Louis, collecting 91.5 Unleash The Beast points.
Marques, a member of the 2024 PBR Teams regular-season Champion Kansas City Outlaws, rode Smoke City (Hilton Bull Co.) for 85.5 points in Round 1 and Ghost Face (Bierma Rodeo Inc./Coopers/Scruggs Bucking Bulls) for 87.5 points in Round 2 to punch his ticket to the championship round.
The reserved Brazilian then punctuated his outing in St. Louis with an 89.25-point effort atop Bueno (Blake Sharp/Huff Bulls) in the final round to cap a career-best weekend.
In the race for this season’s gold buckle, Marques catapulted from No. 30 to No. 6 in the standings, inching within 231.5 points of No. 1 Crimber.
Third was the Texas Rattlers’ Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas).
Keeping earned 60.5 Unleash The Beast points via his 88-point ride atop Big X (Blake Sharp/Hanks/Wade) from Round 1 and 86.75-point score aboard Wooderson (Blake Sharp/UB Bucking Company) from Round 2.
Keeping, the penultimate out on Sunday, needed 87.75 points to take the lead before Crimber’s final out but lost his rope at the 7.76-second mark on Baldy (Blake Sharp/UB Bucking Company/Huff Bulls).
Unranked prior to the event, Keeping is now firmly ranked inside the Top 15, currently No. 13 and 275.5 points behind top-ranked Crimber.
Fourth was Anderson de Oliveira (Novo Mundo, Brazil).
Oliveira rode Feeds Red River (Blake Sharp/Huff Bulls) for 86.5 points in Round 1 before topping Whiskey Business (Blake Sharp/UB Bucking Company) for 87.5 points in Round 2. While he was initially centered on Doze You Down (Premier Livestock/Rafter KL) in the final round, he was ultimately unseated at the 4.37-second mark.
Leaving St. Louis with 46.5 Unleash The Beast points, Oliveira climbed from No. 14 to No. 8 in the 2025 World Championship standings, propelled within 246 points of the top spot.
Rounding out the Top 5 in fifth was Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil).
The newest member of the Austin Gamblers collected 38.5 Unleash The Beast points for his 86.25-point ride on Casper (Crescent City Bucking Bulls/Lari Crane/Gene Owen) and 87.25-point conversion on Mr. Right Now (Silent 7/Hilton Bull Co.).
Barbosa rose four spots in the standings, elevated from No. 13 to No. 9. He is now 252.5 points behind No. 1 Crimber.
In the bull pen, reigning YETI PBR World Champion Bull Man Hater (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) bucked supreme, anointed the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event. The powerful bovine was marked an unrivaled 48.25 points for his 3.1 seconds of work against Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina) in the championship round.