The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) brought 35 of the world’s best bull riders and the world’s best-bucking bulls to the world’s most famous arena to start the 2020 Unleash The Beast season with a bang.

The energy of the 2020 season opener was electric and that transferred over to the riders who notched 20 rides in the first round with several high-scoring rides that will make this weekend interesting to watch unfold.

 The youngest two-time World Champion – and reigning World Champion – Jess Lockwood appears to have made a wish and was granted a wish when he was paired with Birthday Cake (0-1) notching an 88.25 point ride after the 8-second whistle. The ride can be watched here.

The Buck Off at The Garden also saw the return of 2018 World Champion bull rider Kaique Pacheco –sidelined for a majority of the 2019 season — who was paired with Viper (6-2) able to knock out 8-seconds and tie for third in the round with an 88.25 point for his effort against a bull that did not make it easy on the world champion.

Mason Taylor a Rookie of the Year contender for most of the 2019 season opened the round when paired with Game On (0-1) when the chute opened and opening the round with Mason answering every jump of the bull to the 8-second whistle to earn 85.00 points to build his confidence heading to the bonus round 15/15 matchup.

The round winning ride came from Eduardo Apareciedo who was matched up with Midnight Rock (2/1) who was able to hang with everything the bull threw at him to the tune of 89.50 points when the 8-second whistle blew allowing him to earn $6,500.00 and earned 30 world points with the round victory. The ride can be viewed here.

The first round sets the bar rather high for the following two rounds and championship round for the riders to match in the proceeding rounds of this event.

The 15/15 bucking battle followed the exciting and action-packed first round of action inside The Garden and both the bulls and riders continued to deliver the excitement throughout the bonus round.

The 15/15 Bucking Battle pits the top 15 bull riders in the world against the top 15 bulls at the event and the first bonus round saw the first 90-point ride of the 2020 season posted.

Mason Taylor of Maypearl, TX was matched with Bill The Butcher (0-1) for the bonus round and appears to have carried forward the momentum of knocking out his first matchup and was able to make it look like poetry in motion with this bull. The judges appeared to agree as they awarded Taylor the first 90-point ride of the 2020 season which secured the bonus round victory along with 50 world points and a $7,500 check.

 Cooper Davis who came into the bonus round seeking to redeem himself from bucking off from Little Bob (0/1) in round one and would be paired up with Little 2 Train (0/1) that would reward Cooper Davis from Jasper, TX with 89.50-points to claim second in the bonus round and 40 world points and $5,500.00.

Derek Kolbaba who was paired with Sugar Boom Boom (0-1) and the Kolbaba who looked like he found the right seat for the 8-seconds of the ride and posted an 89.25-point ride to earn third place in the bonus round. So far based on his 2-for-2 showing thus far in New York earning the Walla Walla, WA cowboy 46 world points and $6,000. His finish in the bonus round along with a solid top-five finish in round one based on an 88-point ride on Harold’s Genuine Risk (0-1). It has also vaulted the veteran rider to tie for the top spot in the world so far with Lachlan Richardson of Australia.

Fans can relive all of round one action exclusively on RidePass. The PBR digital subscription-based network that can be accessed via the RidePass mobile App or by accessing RidePass.com Round two action will air on RidePass starting at 6:45 PM ET tonight along with action from round two being aired on CBS Sports Network starting at 8:00 PM ET. Bull stats were found on ProBullStats.com

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