The Billings stop, scheduled April 17-19 at First Interstate Arena at MetraPark, has emerged as a pivotal late-season event that can reshape individual standings and postseason team seeding ahead of the PBR World Finals in Fort Worth, May 7-17. With two regular-season stops remaining, the two-day Billings format awards 20 go-round points for a win, 80 event aggregate points for first place and nine ride-score bonus points for rides of 90.00 or higher, meaning a single strong weekend can swing a rider’s standing by more than 100 points. Organizers have reshaped the bull pen and are resting some top bulls ahead of the World Finals, a move that could open opportunities for adaptable riders to climb the standings and improve team seeding.

The individual leaderboard entering Billings underscores the event’s import. John Crimber led the standings by 220.5 points over Sage Steele Kimzey, a seven-time PRCA champion, and an 83.5-point gap separated Kimzey from No. 4 Brady Fielder. Fewer than 200 points separated positions No. 2 through No. 10, a group that includes Leandro Zampollo, Alex Cerqueira, Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, Dalton Kasel, Clay Guiton and Cort McFadden. Zampollo is returning from a groin injury, sits third in points and is still seeking his first event win. Daniel Keeping jumped from No. 32 to No. 20 following Sioux Falls, and Dener Barbosa moved into the Top 40 after last weekend’s results. Several riders are managing recent injuries, including Hudson Bolton with rib and groin issues and Kaiden Loud with an ankle concern. Former champion Cassio Dias has struggled after switching back to his Brazilian rope, experiencing a hand pop loose, a hard hit and a trampling, and is slated to draw the bull Black Eyes. Marco Rizzo returns to Billings with his mother one year after breaking his leg at the same event.

Friday’s card in Billings will include the Monster Energy Team Challenge semifinal between No. 2 Austin Gamblers and No. 3 Kansas City Outlaws, with the head-to-head winners advancing to the Team Challenge Championship and the winner slated to play No. 1 Missouri Thunder in Tacoma for the team title. The Unleash The Beast rounds in Billings will air on Paramount+, while the Monster Energy Team Challenge semifinals will be broadcast on CBS. Individual results from Billings will affect regular-season standings and postseason team seeding ahead of the World Finals, raising the stakes for riders and teams at this late-season stop.

Scripps Sports announced a multi-year exclusive broadcast partnership with Professional Bull Riders (PBR) to carry Premier Women’s Rodeo (PWR) on its national networks ION and Grit. The partnership begins in May and will air the PWR Championship from Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, May 17 at 1 p.m. ET.

The collaboration will expand in 2027 to include an original series, ‘PWR: Road to the Championship,’ on Grit and a commitment to deliver at least 18 hours of PWR programming across 16 broadcasts. Both ION and Grit will culminate their coverage with the 2027 PWR Championship. The deal leverages ION’s national footprint of more than 126 million U.S. households and marks the first time Grit will incorporate select sports and targeted original programming in its 12-year history.

Scripps executives said the partnership advances the company’s strategy to elevate women’s sports and storytelling on linear television. PBR CEO Sean Gleason said the move gives PWR a national platform to reach millions of viewers and signals a broader programming push for both networks.

At the First PREMIER Bank PBR Sioux Falls event, weekend results reshaped the Unleash The Beast world standings as riders traded big rides and points heading into Championship Sunday. World No. 1 John Crimber, 20, produced a walk-off conversion aboard Rolex for an 89.40-point ride on the final out of Round 2 to win that round and take the event lead. Crimber opened the weekend with an 86.95 on Cherry Shot and was one of five riders who went 2-for-2, compiling a two-round total of 176.35. He earned 28 Unleash The Beast points and stretched his world lead to 86.5 points over No. 2 Sage Steele Kimzey; after Round 1 his lead had been 58.5. Kimzey was bucked off by Mouse Trap in 3.83 seconds and sat 0-for-2.

Dener Barbosa scored a career-high 93.10 aboard No. 1 Pegasus to win Round 1 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, earning 29 UTB points and moving from No. 45 to No. 43 in the world standings. Barbosa’s 93.10 was the second-best score of the 2026 UTB season. Daniel Keeping finished third in Round 1 with an 89.00 ride and earned 17 UTB points; after Round 2 Keeping sat second on the event leaderboard with an 86.65 for a two-round total of 175.65. Eduardo Aparecido placed fourth in Round 1 with an 88.85 ride worth 16 UTB points. Bull scores shifted as well, with No. 2 Red Demon briefly holding the top-bull ranking at 45.40 before Pegasus reclaimed the No. 1 bull spot with a 45.30 score.

Several other riders recorded strong results that affected the event leaderboard and career milestones. Two-time PBR champion Jess Lockwood returned from a two-month injury layoff and rode Stryker for an 89.15, moving from No. 22 to No. 20 in the world standings. Claudio Montanha Jr. rode Max Bet for an 87.70 ride. Daylon Swearingen posted rides of 88.55 and 86.05. Alex Junior da Silva stood fifth on the event leaderboard. Joao Ricardo Vieira notched his 480th career qualified ride during the event, moving him into fifth all-time for career qualified rides. The top 10 in the world standings were separated by 309.50 points as the season built toward the PBR World Finals scheduled May 7–17 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Unleash The Beast comes to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for Stop No. 16, the First PREMIER Bank PBR Sioux Falls, at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center this weekend, Friday–Sunday. Sessions will run Friday and Saturday at 7:45 p.m. CT, with Championship Sunday at 1:45 p.m. CT. U.S. streaming coverage will be on Paramount+, the tour’s primary home this year, and coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. ET Friday and Saturday and at 3:00 p.m. ET Sunday.

Sioux Falls uses a three-round format that raises the aggregate winner’s points from 80 to 100 and offers deeper Top-10 payouts. Go-round points remain 20 for a win down to 7 for 10th. The stop is pivotal as riders chase World Finals points, with only 211 points separating the top five in the championship race and three regular-season stops remaining. Organizers say the outcome in Sioux Falls could reshape the World Championship picture ahead of the PBR World Finals, scheduled May 14-17 at Dickies Arena.

The weekend will feature the YETI World Champion Bull race, with contenders including Ransom and Pegasus. Several contenders are sidelined by injuries, including Jose Vitor Leme and Leandro Zampollo, and Keyshawn Whitehorse has been excused to be home. The Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour continues in Oakland the same weekend, offering alternate qualification pathways for riders trying to move up into Unleash The Beast.

Keyshawn Whitehorse dominated the PBR Albuquerque Ty Murray Invitational, going a perfect 4-for-4 and sealing his first Unleash The Beast event title of 2026 with a walk-off 90-point ride in the final. The victory, which also marked Whitehorse’s first Ty Murray Invitational title, came at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during Stop No. 15 of the 2026 PBR Unleash The Beast Series. Whitehorse, a Navajo Nation native from McCracken Spring, Utah, captured the win with a dramatic final ride that clinched the championship.

Whitehorse was the only rider in the arena to post three separate 90-point rides over the three-day competition, underscoring his domination of the field. He captured Round 2 on Saturday with a 90.15-point ride aboard Magic Hunter, entered the finale atop the event leaderboard and then used his 90-point final ride to overtake his remaining competitors and secure the title.

The competition unfolded over a championship-caliber weekend that felt like a World Finals short round, with opening-night draws featuring elite bucking bulls that raised the overall level of competition. Surging performances from Leme and pivotal rides from Kasel helped shape the leaderboard, and coverage of the event presented Whitehorse’s perfect record and win as a long-sought dream fulfilled amid top-tier Unleash The Beast competition.