Kaique Pacheco 2018 Billings Recap
PBR Competition Committee approved a special format for the event this past weekend. Since the three-day event also involved a separate 15/15 Bucking Battle, it was devised to protect riders who could be attempting as many as five bulls in three days. It was an attempt to lessen the number of bulls a rider may potentially get on over the course of a three-day weekend when there are weeks with back-to-back 15/15 Bucking Battles.
The riders that competed in the 15/15 Bucking Battle Saturday night did not attempt a long-round bull earlier in the evening; Round 1 was split across Friday and Saturday night. Round 2 and the event championship round was Sunday afternoon. PBR opened the field to the 60 highest-ranking riders in the world standings to fill the void.
Kaique Pacheco followed up his Tacoma event win by riding 3 for 3 and finishing second in Billings. Kaique earned points in all three rounds totaling 362.50 and has now improved his standings position to fourth in the world with 1,925 points. Pacheco also rode his 15 / 15 Bucking Battle bull Saturday night and shared the event win, his third of the season. With his fifth career bucking battle championship, Kaique now has the most 15 / 15 victories in PBR history.
Pacheco worked his way through a career worst slump in February and is currently amid a career best conversion rate of 14 rides over his last 16 attempts. In his last four events, Kaique has improved 17 standings positions, his average event finish is 3rd, and his riding percentage has been an astounding 87.5%.
Up Next for PBR’s Premier Series: the 25th PBR: Unleash the Beast heads to Columbus, OH and the Columbus Invitational presented by Cooper Tires at the Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University. The 16th stop in the 2018 season gets under way Saturday April 28th at 6:45 PM ET and concludes with the championship round Sunday April 29th at 1:45 PM ET. The top 15 riders will compete in the season’s sixth installment of the 15 / 15 Bucking Battle Saturday night as well.
CBS Network will air the 15 / 15 Bucking Battle Sunday April 29th at 1:00 pm ET
CBS Sports Network will air the championship round Sunday April 29th at 8:00 pm ET.
PBR’s streaming service RIDEPASS will air round one Saturday night at 6:30 PM ET and conclude with the championship round Sunday April 29th at 1:45 PM ET. ON – DEMAND replay is available 8:00 am next day at Ridepass.com.
Please check your local listings for programming confirmation.