The 2025 Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Australia season kicked off in Scone on February 8 with some top-class bulls and plenty of fresh bull riders.
The Scone Invitational saw 24 riders take on some of the rankest bulls in the country. The suspense was high with only five successful eight-second rides on the night.
PBR Australia Managing Director Glen Young said they love bringing the PBR to the heart of horse country.
“Scone as always delivered again with another capacity crowd of enthusiastic fans.
“We had a lot of new faces this year and even though the bulls may have won on the night, there were many great attempts and there are a bunch of young cowboys showing plenty of promise and worth following throughout the rest of the season.
“It’s first event jitters, both riders and bulls are looking to get in the groove, and I am confident we will see this in coming events,” said Glen.
Ben Bode from Calliope, Queensland won the event with just one successful ride on Haunted for 84.5 points.
“I couldn’t ask for a better start to the season. I want to ride as many bulls as I can this year, stay consistent and hopefully it winds up to holding the gold buckle at the end of the year,” Ben said.
After his success last season finishing 4th in the 2024 PBR Australia series, winning the Tamworth Iron Cowboy event and spending some time competing in the US, Ben is certainly one to watch.
“Ben Bode will definitely be one to watch in 2025,” said Glen.
“Keliher/MJ Bucking Bulls made the journey from Queensland to also stamp their mark on the 2025 Season winning both the Yeti High Point Bull and Bull Teams award for Round 1 of the season.”
It wasn’t a good opening round for local riders, Clint Glass from Willow Tree, Jack Cameron from Heddon Greta, Josh Alexander from Newcastle, Josh Grant from Windella and Toby Leake from Gresford all paired with tough bulls and failing to post a score.
The next PBR event is in South Australia with the next local event the first round of PBR Origin in Newcastle at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on May 3.
-JESS ROUSE
