COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – World No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme left it all hanging out inside Broadmoor World Arena on Friday night, but Leme’s Round 1 victory was almost costly.
Leme gingerly walked out of the arena on Friday night after being stepped on by Sharky following his 88.5-point ride during the Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour event.
The 21-year-old was briefly checked out by the PBR Sports Medicine team, but eventually said he was OK.
“I just lost my breath a little bit,” Leme said with the help of Marco Eguchi translating. “My chest is sore. I will be OK for tomorrow.”
The ride was another big statement from Leme as the 2017 Rookie of the Year tries to make a late push at the 2018 World Championship.
Leme aggressively used his free arm to dress up the ride and then had to hike his knees up to hang on for the final second of the ride.
“That was a hard bull,” Leme said. “During the ride he was trying to push me back, but I was able to get a score.”
Leme, who leads the PBR premier series with 12 round wins, trails world leader Kaique Pacheco by 1,710 points in the world standings.
He was the only rider in the Top 5 of the world standings to earn a qualified ride on Friday night.
Pacheco was bucked off by Chop Hou in 5.09 seconds and felt he should have been awarded a re-ride.
“I don’t know,” Pacheco said. “I thought I was going to get one, but the judges didn’t think so. Oh well. There is next weekend.”
Meanwhile, No. 3 Claudio Montanha Jr. (7.8 seconds on Oso), No. 4 Luciano de Castro (2.2 seconds on Detective Crockett) and No. 5 Cody Teel (4.26 seconds on Head Over Heels) all failed to reach the 8-second mark.
“That was a surprise,” Leme said. “They are all riding good. They brought some good bulls here and they should ride them easy, but it did not happen.”
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There were 20 qualified rides in Round 1, and the final 10 draw spots will be filled based on buckoff time.
Pacheco and Montanha will come back for Round 2, but it will be hard for either to gain any world points as only the Top 7 finishers in the event average pick up any world points.
Leme can trim Pacheco’s lead to 1,590 points with a victory on Saturday night.
Fans can watch the conclusion of the Colorado Springs event exclusively on RidePass begining at 9 p.m. ET.
More important, Leme knows that a victory in Colorado Springs would guarantee him a spot at the 2018 Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour Finals on Nov. 2-3.
One rider can earn a maximum of 440 world points at the Velocity Tour Finals, and Pacheco has already clinched a spot for the RVT Finals.
“This is the last event before both Finals,” Leme said. “Every point is so important, no matter what place I am.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko