The Unleash the Beast Tour turned back the clock this past weekend, returning to Tampa, Florida for the first time in 14 years.

And Tampa delivered, as the world rankings have been completely shaken up a third of the way through the season.

The 2017 and 2019 PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood put on a clinic, as he catapulted himself into the top 10 rankings with his first UTB event win in six years.

Lockwood’s Perfect Weekend

It’s been a long time coming for Jess Lockwood. He’s overcome countless gruesome injuries and surgeries. He briefly switched over to the PRCA and came back. He also  contributed to the Carolina Cowboys Team Series Championship. All of that has come since his last UTB event win in 2020.

Lockwood had teased his prowess this season, but it finally materialized in Tampa.

He rode all three bulls of his bulls over the weekend and was the only rider to do so. Lockwood has improved his season riding percentage to 50 percent with his immaculate performance in Tampa.

Before Tampa, Lockwood had been only 2-for-7 since his debut in New York City. However, both previous rides had been 89+ point round-winners.

Lockwood kept to that pattern once more with a Round 1 winning 89.5 point ride atop Raider and showed zero signs of slowing down with an 87.8 score on Bullistic in Round 2.

Although the ride wasn’t a round winner, it secured Lockwood the lead in the event standings and the No. 1 pick in the Championship Round Draft.

With that pick, Lockwood chose Lights Out, the bull that was ridden by the last UTB event winners, Dalton Kasel and Sage Kimzey.

With the final ride in Tampa, to win the event, Lockwood covered Lights Out for 90.35 points. He now has an Average Score of 89.27, the best this season.

Lockwood’s Aggregate Score was 267.65 points and he earned 141 Event Points placing him ranked No. 8 in the Unleash the Beast Standings. It was Lockwood’s 11th UTB event win of his career.

Guiton Catches Fire at the Right Time

If Jess Lockwood hadn’t made the whistle in Saturday’s Short Round, Clay Guiton would have snuck away with the PBR Tampa win.

Guiton was the first and the only other rider to get a score in the deciding round prior to Lockwood.

Guiton’s 90.9-point score on Sober Child was his second 90+ point ride of the season and won him the Short Round. He entered the in 10th with the 89.1 points he earned on Chico in the Second Round.

Guiton ultimately finished the event second overall with an Aggregate Score of 180 points. He also earned 97 Event Points pushing him to fourth in the Unleash the Beast Standings.

A New World No. 1

With Julio Cesar Marques getting bucked off off twice over the weekend, Dalton Kasel took his opportunity to seize the No. 1 spot.

Kasel rode Crazy Sox for 84.75 points in Round 1 and was third in Round 2 with 88.9 points on Tchoupitoulas before  failing to ride Eyes On Me in the Short Round. He placed fourth in the event for his fourth Top 5 finish of the season.

Kasel earned 46 Event Points and has created a 43-point lead for himself at the top of the World Standings heading into Sacramento.

Sage Kimzey Leaps Into Second

Kimzey, like Kasel, went 2-for-3 and got bucked off in the Short Round and he and Cesar Marques now share identical riding percentages of 60 percent through 15 outs, but Kimzey leads in the UTB Standings by just a single point.

Monster Energy Teams Challenge Recap

The Missouri Thunder handed the Oklahoma Wildcatters their second straight loss on Friday in a bout that only saw one qualified ride from each side.

Paulo Eduardo Rossettto started the action for the Thunder with an 86.75-point ride on Late Night Toss and Wildcatter Cleber Henrique Marques immediately answered with a 73.55-point score of his own.

The next six riders proceeded to get bucked off.

The Thunder are now 2-0 and the Wildcatters are 0-2.

In the second matchup of the night, the Texas Rattlers faced off against the Florida Freedom, who were making the Teams Challenge debut.

The Rattlers bounced back from a loss in their season opener in New York City against the Austin Gamblers behind qualified rides from Brady Fielder and Braidy Randolph.

The Freedom got their lone qualified ride on their first out when Thiago Salgado retaliated Fielder’s 83.55 with an 88.8-point ride atop Mississippi Mercenary to give his team the lead.

The Rattlers ultimately won the game 153.6-88.8.