Professional Bull Riders Returns To CBS Sunday, January 24
(CBS Local)- Professional Bull Riders' (PBR) 2021 season got underway this past weekend in Florida with Brazilian rider Junior Patrik Souza winning the Unleash The Beast: American Roots Edition competition and his countryman Mauricio Moreira earned his first career win on the top tour, taking the PBR Monster Energy Invitational event.
The two winners are part of a change instituted by the tour this year for its events that feature multi-day stops in cities. Each competition has a full 30-rider Round 1 followed by a championship round featuring the Top 12 riders. The event winner is the rider that earns the most points across all of the weekend's competitions. In this case, that is Moreira.
The 27-year-old Souza stepped in to the PBR Monster Energy Invitational on Sunday after two spots opened up in the draw following injuries to reigning world champion Jose Vitor Leme and two-time world champ Jess Lockwood. Souza took advantage of the opportunity, scoring an 86 in his Round 1 ride aboard Slingin Tears and then a career-high 88.25 atop Homegrown in the championship round.
Thanks to his wins Sunday, Souza is just 6.5 points behind event winner Moreira in the rider standings. A trio of Americans sit behind the two Brazilians led by Cole Melancon, who finished second overall in the PBR Monster Energy Invitational completing two successful rides. Cooper Davis follows Melancon after finishing fourth and Keyshawn Whitehorse rounds
out the Top 5 in the standings after finishing fifth over the weekend.
Now, the PBR Pendleton Whiskey Tour gears up for the Greenville Invitational on January 22 and 23 while the Unleash The Beast: American Roots Edition heads to Arcadia, Florida for two days of competition on Saturday, January 23 and Sunday January 24. The championship round on Sunday will be the first broadcast of CBS Television Network of the 2021 season with coverage set to begin at 2:00 p.m. EST. Saturday's Round 1 action is also in the CBS family, airing on CBS Sports Network at 9:00 p.m. EST.
That's just the beginning of the tour's schedule for CBS this year. Unleash The Beast is set to air on CBS the following weekend, January 31 when the competition moves to Okeechobee, FL. Between CBS Sports Network and CBS, PBR will air each of the next five weekends with the exception of February 6 & 7 when the tour has a break in its schedule. You can see the full schedule on PBR's site here.