Eduardo Aparecido emerged victorious last year in Salt Lake City despite not winning a single round. Aparecido was one of two riders who rode all three of their bulls, and his consistency was rewarded as he cleared runner-up Sage Kimzey by 3.25 points in the Aggregate.

Currently, Aparecido sits 19th in the rankings, albeit with a lackluster 35.29% ride percentage. He’ll take on What’s Poppin and its buckoff streak of nine, representing his Arizona Ridge Riders against the Oklahoma Wildcatters in the Monster Energy Team Challenge on Friday night.

Kimzey is ranked 4th in the World with an event win in New York. However, he’ll sit out this week’s action in Utah due to injury, as will World No. 1 Dalton Kasel.

Their absence comes at a high cost, though, as each rider will inevitably lose ground they worked so hard to gain.

Leaving The Door Open

Kimzey and Kasel, specifically Kasel, sit in the upper echelon of total Event Points. Currently, Kasel’s tour-best 422 points is 201 points higher than seventh place and 308 points more than 20th place. Kimzey sits at 319 points for the season. Despite the point disparity, they each could lose a significant foothold in the World Standings.

Two riders who are looking to take full advantage of this opportunity are good friends, second-ranked Clay Guiton and third-ranked John Crimber.

Last week in Sacramento, Crimber earned his first UTB win of the season with a narrow victory over Guiton. Guiton has finished second in his past two events and is no doubt hungry for his first event win this season.

The pair boasts the longest active qualified ride streaks on tour, with Crimber riding five in a row and Guiton covering his last six. Crimber needs to ride Snappy to extend his streak to a UTB career-best of six, while Guiton can ride Uncle Doc to match his UTB high of seven in a row.

The 20-year-olds will compete one after the other in Friday’s Fifth Section.

Team Challenge Update

Friday’s Team Challenge doubleheader first puts the Missouri Thunder (2-0) up against the Kansas City Outlaws (1-0).

The Thunder, despite their 2-0 record, only have two qualified rides for a total of 174.85 points so far in the Team Challenge. While their record is currently good for second in the Team Standings, they’ll need to fend off a third-ranked Outlaws squad that, in their one game, posted 173.15 points.

In the second game of the night, the eighth-ranked Arizona Ridge Riders (0-1) will take on the 0-2 Oklahoma Wildcatters.

The Ridge Riders’ core of Keyshawn Whitehorse, Aparecido, and Luciano De Castro gets the addition of 18th-ranked Bruno Carvalho to bolster its ranks. Carvalho gets a chance to be the first to ride 17-0 Matter Baby against a Wildcatters squad that hasn’t scored more than 84 points in either of its games so far.

Keep Your Eyes On

The Thunder’s Andrew Alvidrez will ride Dirty Honey, a bull that delivered two round wins last week, on Friday.

Jess Lockwood is back from the injury he sustained in his event-winning ride on Lights Out in Tampa. Lockwood currently sits 10th in the World with the highest average ride score in UTB at 89.27.

He’ll kick off the action in the Beehive State against Saigon. He is looking to cover four straight bulls in UTB competition for the first time since January 2020.

Andy Guzman, a California native, put on a show in front of the Sacramento faithful last week. He earned his first (and second) qualified rides on tour, along with his first Short Round bid.

This week, he’ll have a chance to surprise everyone again as he takes on Fire Fight, who posted a 44.85 bull score last week, the highest in the Long Rounds.

Mid-Season Struggles

Fifth-ranked Julio Cesar Marques, sixth-ranked Marco Rizzo, and seventh-ranked Brady Fielder have each sat in the Top 3 of the World Rankings at one point this season.

Cesar Marques started the season with four straight Championship Round appearances, including a pair of runner-up finishes. Currently, though, Cesar Marques has only ridden one bull in his past six attempts.

After starting the season 6-for-9, with an event win in Chicago, Marco Rizzo has ridden only four of the 11 bulls he’s seen since, while Fielder, who has been one of the most consistent cowboys in the PBR over the last two seasons, is three for his last 10 bulls after starting 5-for-9 and winning PBR Boston.

Their early-season success bought them leeway in the standings, but their performances this weekend will determine what the Top 10 looks like on Monday.

If they can’t find their rhythm, riders like Koltin Hevalow, Callum Miller, and Kaiden Loud could look to swap places with these early-season powerhouses.