PBR Australia’s Monster Energy Tour returns to Far North Queensland this weekend for the 2026 Cairns Invitational, held inside the Convention Centre on Saturday, 4 July, with action starting at 7:00 p.m.

This event has become one of the season’s most anticipated tour stops, with above-average ride and bull scores appearing on the results pages since it became a regular fixture in 2014.

The 2026 edition looks no different, with a strong pen of bucking bulls contracted and the cowboys converting their chances into points at a rate well above the rolling three-year average riding percentage.

Fans holding VIP On The Dirt tickets will have arena access from 5:30 p.m. for an exclusive preview show featuring a chance to meet the riders, stock contractors and come face-to-face with an all-star bucking bull.

Event information and tickets are available from the PBR Australia website.


Download the Watch PBR Australia LIVE app to watch the 2026 Monster Energy Tour and the 2026 PBR Origin Series. You can use your VR headset, mobile device, or tablet, or cast to your TV. Visit watchvr.pbraustralia.com.au to secure your season pass.

Previously, in PBR Australia

Team Queensland defeated New South Wales seven rides to six in Game 2 of the 2026 PBR Origin series at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to take an unassailable 2-nil series lead. 

The Maroons trailed the Blues 6-5 by a margin of 87.35 points entering the Bonus Round, but clutch rides from young guns Boston Leather and Leith Malone put the home team ahead in the final moments.

Read about Queensland’s win in Brisbane.

The following weekend, fan favourite Alison Aguiar picked up his first victory of the season at the Burnett Heads Touring Pro in what was one of the best events of the year. 

The Brazilian exacted revenge against Stetsons Nirvana (Dittmann Bucking Bulls), who had slammed him down the week prior in Brisbane to post the highest ride score of the night – 88.40 points. The bull again turned back to the right and away from Aguiar’s hand, but this time they remained in sync until the bell, with his single score enough to claim the win.

Mareeba's Kurt Shephard finished in second place, strengthening his lead at the top of the standings in the process. He rode the 2025 Bucking Bull of the Year, Alpha Blokes Warden (MJ/Keliher Bucking Bulls), for 86.10 points.

Athol’s Zane Hall finished the event in third on 84.70 points, with Calliope’s Ben Bode close behind on 84.50 points in fourth place.

View the latest PBR Australia Event Results.

Cairns Invitational Event History

Early event winners in Cairns include Lachlan Richardson (2014), Juston Paton (2015), Kurt Shephard (2017) and Jason Mara (2018).

Four-time PBR Australian National Champion Aaron Kleier is the only two-time victor, picking up the buckles in 2019 and 2022. In the Origin events of 2023 and 2024, Sam Woodall and Braydon Wellby were crowned champions.

Last season, it was Alison Aguilar who produced a clutch Championship Round ride aboard Ambush (CF7 Bucking Bulls) in the final out of the event to finish as the only rider a perfect 2-for-2. Kurt Shephard finished runner-up with Diego Galdino close behind in third.

Some of the highest-marked rides and bull scores in PBR Australia history have been awarded in Cairns. 

We will start in 2019, when Aaron Kleier became the first rider to make the whistle aboard Freckles Brown (Wallace Bucking Bulls) in PBR competition. They were marked 89 points, with Kleier picking up the event win.

In Game 2 of the 2021 PBR Origin Series, Lachlan Slade and Cattle King Boogers Beach (Dittmann Bucking Bulls) recorded their spectacular 90-point ride during the Bonus Round, with both rider and bull contributing 45 points each to the total. 

The New South Wales pairing of Bruno Roberto and Sam Woodall both scored 89 points in the Bonus Round of 2023 PBR Origin III with incredible rider scores of 45.50 points. Roberto teamed up with Cattle King Boogers Beach, while Woodall went the distance on Ambush (CF7 Bucking Bulls).

In 2015, Gotcha Rockin was awarded a huge bull score of 45.75 points in 3.13 seconds against Robinson Guedes on his way to winning that season’s Bucking Bull of the Year award for Brandenburg Bucking Bulls.

Pretty Boy went even bigger at the 2022 Cairns Invitational. In his first trip for Dittmann Bucking Bulls after a mid-season transfer from Wallace Bucking Bulls, he posted a mammoth bull score of 46 points in a blistering trip with Lachlan Slade aboard for 3.59 seconds.

This weekend's Format, Prizemoney and Points

Thirty-one riders will battle it out over two rounds for a share of $45,000 in prize money.

All cowboys will face a bull in Round 1, with the top 10 returning for the Monster Energy Championship Round, which will be a live draft inside the arena. 

The rider with the highest aggregate score at the conclusion will be crowned the event champion and take home the bulk of the prize pool plus an additional $5,000 bonus.

A maximum of 280 points will be available to any individual rider towards the 2026 PBR Australian National Standings. Each round winner will receive 40 points, and the event champion will receive 200 points.

View the updated 2026 PBR Australia National Standings.

Talking Points

2026 Season Riding Percentages

After two tough seasons, the riders have worked their way back to a 26.83% riding percentage in 2026, which is more in line with previous-season averages and where we expect them to be. 

Across the 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons, the conversion rate was above 25%, but it fell to under 20% during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. 

The question is - can the cowboys maintain that momentum through the tough Queensland tour swing? They did a good job in Brisbane and Burnett Heads, achieving riding percentages of 27.08 and 27.78% respectively. 

Eight riders ranked inside the top ten on the PBR Australian National Standings leaderboard are converting at a rate of 40% or better. We haven’t seen that many riders riding that many bulls on tour since the 2023 season, so the signs are good.

Riders can expect to see similar bull pens in Cairns and at the upcoming Townsville Supercars and Bloomsbury Touring Pro events, so with that familiarity, there is every chance they can.

PBR Origin III Qualification

Three regular season events remain until the third and final game of the 2026 PBR Origin series, and we all know there is no such thing as a dead rubber. There will still be plenty to play for in Sydney on the first weekend of August.

This swing of events presents a great opportunity for riders to significantly improve their position in the National Standings and give themselves a chance to represent their state. 

The teams will again be selected as the top 10 eligible riders for each state following the Bloomsbury Touring Pro event.

Keep your eye on Thomas Triplett and Rylee Ward for the Maroons, plus Luan Crystian Camara and Tyson Smith for the Blues. 

2026 PBR Australian National Championship Race

The race for the Gold Buckle is starting to take shape, and at the halfway point of the regular season, it appears we may have a race in two. 

Reigning National Champion Kurt Shephard and Brazilian Keny Roger de Oliveira are trading blows at the top of the leaderboard and are currently separated by 88.50 points. That equates to just over two round wins in championship points. I expect these two to continue fighting it out at the top of the rankings.

Will we see a two-cowboy race for the National Championship? Or can someone make a run and put their name into the conversation?

There are still loads of points on the table for any rider if they can get hot, but the list of cowboys within striking distance will start to get shorter as we continue to tick off events on the road to November’s Grand Finals in Townsville.

Miriam Vale's young gun Ethan Coster did a good job of maintaining the gap between himself and those at the top during the Origin run, with the gap between himself and Shephard now sitting at 459 points. He also remains in the running for Rookie of the Year honours, which Oliveira leads by 370.50 points.

Zane Hall is a further 31 points adrift of Coster in fourth place, with Mount Isa cowboy Donnie Rutherfurd another 65.50 points back and rounding out the top five.

2026 Bucking Bull of the Year Race

This year, the bovine with the highest average bull score from their highest six regular-season outs, plus their two trips at the Grand Finals in Townsville, will be crowned the 2026 Bucking Bull of the Year.

We are now at the point in the year when we are starting to see a lot of the Queensland contenders reach their six-out regular-season requirement, and all those bulls are in the Championship Round this weekend.

Last season’s Champion Alpha Blokes Warden (MJ/Keliher Bucking Bulls) will make his sixth trip of the season this weekend. In his five trips so far, he has averaged a score of 43.52 points.

Stetson Nirvana (Dittmann Bucking Bulls) has already reached six outs and is the current leader of the qualified bulls, averaging 43.24 points. This weekend, he will be looking to improve on his lowest mark of the season, which was 40.80 points at the Toowoomba Meatstock event.

Also in action this weekend in Cairns is Last Post (Dunne Bulls), who emerged as a genuine threat earlier this month with an excellent 44.05-point trip in his tour debut at Brisbane. It’s early days, but he averages 43.28 points through two outs.

We will touch on the bulls from south of the border in a few weeks when the tour heads to Sydney for Origin III.

Check back on Saturday for The Morning Line, where I break down the most anticipated matchups for the 2026 Monster Energy Cairns Invitational and set the stage for a big night in the tropics.

View the full Event Schedule and Ticket Information for the 2026 PBR Australia season.

For the latest results, news and stats, stay tuned to PBRAustralia.com.au, follow the tour on Facebook (PBR Australia), Instagram (@PBRAustralia) and TikTok (@PBRAustralia), and subscribe to @ProBullRidersAust on YouTube for event replays and highlights.