(Editor's note: PBR release)
LAS VEGAS – The world’s top three bull riders once again went toe-to-toe and ride-for-ride in all conquering their bulls inside a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Round 4, and deciding the 2019 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast World Finals will go down to the final out.
While World No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil), No. 2 Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana) and No. 3 Chase Outlaw (Hamburg, Arkansas) delivered qualified rides to intensify the ferocious World Championship race, Rubens Barbosa (Iaciara, Brazil) recorded the fourth highest-marked ride in the history of the World Finals on Chiseled (Flinn/D&H Cattle Co.) for 95.75 points to win Round 4.
Heading into the final day of competition, Leme now leads Lockwood by a slim 377.49 points.
Following an event which included countless jaw-dropping wrecks, and highlight-reel worthy rides, the crowd was once again brought to the edge of their seats when the night’s final three riders stepped atop the chutes.
Outlaw set the tone early, covering Catch My Drift (Two Bit Bucking Bulls/K Rose Ranch) for 88 points, heightening the pressure upon Lockwood and Leme.
Fueled by the energy of the first World Finals sell-out at T-Mobile Arena, Lockwood then erupted for his third consecutive 90-point ride of the 2019 PBR World Finals, reaching the 8-second buzzer aboard The Right Stuff (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Diamond Willow/Smith/Nix/Owens) for a monstrous 91.75 points.
“Shoot, it’s just a good feeling going into the last day perfect,” Lockwood said. “The year I won (the championship, in 2017), I bucked off this night.”
For the third time this week, the world’s Top 3 completed a sweep of the round, when Leme punctuated the night with an 89.75-point trip atop BootDaddy.com (Crescent City Bucking Bulls/Gene Owen).
The score left Outlaw ninth in the round, earning him 10 world points. Leme was fourth, netting 95 points and $10,000. Lockwood concluded the round third, earning 125 world points and $15,000.
Earning 30 more world points than Leme, Lockwood is now within 377.49 points of the No. 1 ranking as the world’s Top 40 bull riders prepare for Championship Sunday. Outlaw is now 1,899.16 points behind No. 1 Leme, and 1,521.67 points back of No. 2 Lockwood.
Leme and Outlaw are now both 3-for-4, while Lockwood is the lone rider to be a perfect 4-for-4 leading him to reign atop both the aggregate and event leaderboard. Leme is sixth in the event, and third in the aggregate, while Outlaw is eighth in the event and fifth in the aggregate.
Earlier in the night, Barbosa made history when he won Round 4 with the fourth highest-marked ride ever recorded at the PBR World Finals when he covered Chiseled for 95.75 points.
The out marks the second time at the World Finals the D&H Cattle Co. bovine athlete propelled a rider to a round win. Eduardo Aparecido (Gouvelandia, Brazil) was victorious in Round 1, covering the bull for 91.25 points, the first 90-point ride of the event.
Barbosa left T-Mobile Arena with a check for $35,000 and 300 world points, rising from No. 28 to No. 22 in the world.
“I have no words to explain how much I’m very happy,” Barbosa said. “My high score in PBR was 92 in 2011, eight years ago. Today, my dream came true.”
Leandro Machado (Nova Esperanca, Brazil) finished second in the round to collect 180 world points and $20,000. The Brazilian newcomer covered El Big Bad (Hudgins Bucking Bulls) for 92.75 points, a new career-best score.
The 22-year-old is competing at the first PBR World Finals of his career after advancing via the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals as the top-finishing international invite.
He is now 2-for-4 inside T-Mobile Arena after having ridden Uncle Gangster (Odgen Ranch/Hart Cattle Co.) for 87.25 points in Round 1.
Machado’s path to the season-culminating event is reminiscent of Leme’s rise to stardom in 2017 when he also competed in Las Vegas for the first time on American soil. Leme also advanced to the World Finals via the Velocity Tour Finals and then went an astonishing 6-for-6 to win both the event title and Rookie of the Year honor.
Courtesy of the 90-point ride, Machado climbed to No. 45 in the world and is now seventh on the event leaderboard.
Fifth place in the round was split by 2016 PBR World Champion Cooper Davis (Jasper, Texas) and Rookie of the Year contenders Ezekiel Mitchell (Rockdale, Texas) and Dylan Smith (Ararat, Virginia) after each recorded an 89.5-point ride. The trio covered M.A.G.A. (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.), Lester Gillis (Jane Clark/Gene Owen) and Spotted Snake (Weber Bucking Bulls), respectively, to each collect 53.33 world points and $3,333.33.
For Mitchell and Smith, the 8-second effort was crucial to the Rookie of the Year race. While they remain No. 4 and No. 15 in the competition amongst first-year pros, Mitchell closed the gap on standings leader Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas) to 660.42 points, while Smith is now 1,560.42 points back.
Fellow title contender Daylon Swearingen (Piffard, New York) also reached the 8-second mark, covering Too Dirty (Cord McCoy/Bruce Wold/HR Bulls) for 86.5 points to conclude the round 12th, but finished outside the points.
Saturday night also concluded the ABBI World Finals Classic Event when more than $500,000 was paid out.
Chiseled earned both the 2019 ABBI Classic Championship and 2019 ABBI World Finals Classic Event Championship. With that, the dominant bovine picked up a payout of $200,000 while earning 89.4 points during his out in Round 1 for a sixth-place finish, and 93.2 points in his second out to launch him into the top spot.
El Big Bad was crowned the 2019 ABBI World Finals Event Reserve Champion with 180 points in the average and $50,000 in earnings. Preachers Kid (K Bar C/RD Cattle) and The Right Stuff tied for third place with 179 points and $30,000 apiece.
I’m Legit Too (Bloyd Land & Cattle) was the 2019 ABBI Classic Reserve Champion for a $50,000 bonus while The Right Stuff also placed third in the year-end Classic Champion race.
The 2019 PBR World Finals will conclude with Round 5 and the championship round on Sunday, November 10 beginning at 12:40 p.m. PT inside T-Mobile Arena.
Fans can relive all the action from Round 4 starting at 8:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, November 10 on RidePass.com or via the mobile app.
PBR Unleash The Beast
2019 PBR Unleash The Beast World Finals
T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas, Nevada
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Round 4-Round 5-Round 6-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Jess Lockwood, 86.5-91.5-92-91.75-0-0-361.75-640 Points.
2. Eduardo Aparecido, 91.25-0-90.5-0-0-0-181.75-480 Points.
3. Rubens Barbosa, 0-71.25-89.5-95.75-0-0-256.50-398.33 Points.
4. Cody Teel, 88.25-91-89.5-0-0-0-268.75-318.33 Points.
5. Cody Jesus, 0-92-0-0-0-0-92.00-300 Points.
6. Jose Vitor Leme, 88-0-89.5-89.75-0-0-267.25-268.33 Points.
7. Leandro Machado, 87.25-0-0-92.75-0-0-180.00-230 Points.
8. Chase Outlaw, 88.5-0-87-88-0-0-263.50-162.5 Points.
9. Dalton Kasel, 88.5-0-0-0-0-0-88.50-152.5 Points.
10. Cliff Richardson, 85.75-89.5-0-0-0-0-175.25-105 Points.
11. Matt Triplett, 0-89.25-86.75-89.25-0-0-265.25-100 Points.
12. Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-88.25-89.5-0-0-177.75-88.33 Points.
13. Luciano De Castro, 0-86.75-88-68-0-0-242.75-60 Points.
14. Cooper Davis, 0-0-0-89.5-0-0-89.50-53.33 Points.
(tie). Dylan Smith, 0-0-0-89.5-0-0-89.50-53.33 Points.
16. Lucas Divino, 0-0-88.75-0-0-0-88.75-50 Points.
(tie). Junio Quaresima, 0-87-0-0-0-0-87.00-50 Points.
18. Alan de Souza, 79.25-86.5-87.75-0-0-0-253.50-35 Points.
19. Ryan Dirteater, 86-0-0-0-0-0-86.00-25 Points.
20. Mason Taylor, 0-85.75-0-0-0-0-85.75-10 Points.
21. Marco Eguchi, 0-0-87.5-0-0-0-87.50-5 Points.
(tie). Alisson De Souza, 79.75-0-0-0-0-0-79.75-5 Points.
(tie). Jared Parsonage, 0-81.5-85-85.5-0-0-252.00-5 Points.
(tie). Ramon de Lima, 0-0-85.5-87.75-0-0-173.25-5 Points.
25. Daylon Swearingen, 0-0-85.25-86.5-0-0-171.75
26. Stetson Lawrence, 0-0-0-86.75-0-0-86.75
27. Dakota Buttar, 0-0-85-0-0-0-85.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Claudio Montanha Jr., 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cody Nance, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Taylor Toves, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
J.B. Mauney, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Joe Frost, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Michael Lane, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Brady Fielder, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Scottie Knapp, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Colten Jesse, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Lawson Nobbs, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Shay Marks, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Ouncie Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Daniel Tinsman, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0.00