Australian riders competed in just two of the four PBR events scheduled this weekend. There are now only three weekends left before PBR Finals Week kicks off and we still have a bunch of riders who have a chance at making it to Las Vegas.
We are still waiting for the PBR Canada results to be added into the system so the World Rankings listed below may change slightly.
2019 PBR Australia Monster Energy Tour
Clermont’s Aaron Kleier produced a timely win at the 2019 Queanbeyan Invitational to re-build a buffer between himself and his championship rivals.
Click here to read my full report from Queanbeyan.
The riders covered 31.58% of their bulls on Saturday night which is slightly above the 2019 average of 30.75%. On what was a cool Southern Tablelands night, the bulls averaged a score of 41.11 points. This mark is 0.34 below the season average.
The win earned Aaron Kleier 170 World Points which moved him back up into 18th place in the PBR World Standings.
With his runner up finish, Cliff Richardson picked up 90 points and jumped up two spots into 38th place with 670 points.
Brady Fielder holds down the 33rd position on 850 points, Cody Heffernan is 45th on 522.5 points, and Lachlan Richardson sits 47th on 455 points.
The No. 37 ranked Colten Jesse sits on the bubble with 686.66 points.
Here are the updated PBR World Standings.
2019 PBR Unleash The Beast Tour
Kurt Shephard was the lone Aussie rider competing in the USA this weekend.
The Atherton cowboy added a fourth straight Top-15 finish on the PBR’s premier series after finishing in eighth-place in Minneapolis.
He got his weekend off to a great start. Chiseled in Stone from Thompson Rodeo Livestock left the chute and looked to the right before reversing back to the left. Shephard was marked 84.25 points and finished the round splitting 11th at the end of Round 1.
Shephard’s Round 2 opponent was Call The Law from Jo Z Bucking Bulls and K Bar C. It looked a favourable draw on paper, and it proved to be, with the left-hander covering the bull for 85.75 points. It took his aggregate total to 170 points.
With the fifth selection in the Minneapolis Championship Round draft Shephard selected Home Grown from Eno Bucking Bulls.
He couldn’t handle the big Canadian bull, who turned back to the left but had a bit too much power for the Aussie. The buck off was recorded at 4.18 seconds with the bull marked 43.75 points.
The finish earned Shephard 20 points. He climbs up to 41st in the PBR World Standings, and he sits just over 100 points shy of a World Finals berth.
Brazil’s Alan de Souza was the only rider to finish the event 3-for-3, and he recorded his first premier series event win.
Here are the Full Results from Minneapolis.
Stay tuned to Ride The Rage for full coverage of this week’s PBR action.