LAS VEGAS – World leader Kaique Pacheco lay flat on a bench inside the locker room and covered his eyes with his left hand.
The rest of the locker room had already emptied out for the evening following the Round 5 draft, and three-time World Champion Silvano Alves sat down next to his close friend.
Alves patted Pacheco on the shoulder.
Pacheco had a massive bag of ice strapped to his knee.
The 24-year-old could not hide the pain he was suffering from his face.
Pacheco had tried to get one step closer to the 2018 World Championship on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. The fourth-year pro looked poised to ride Finning Milky Chance on the final ride of Round 4, but right around three seconds, Pacheco felt a sharp pain in his left knee.
For the first time this week at the PBR World Finals, Pacheco said his torn MCL/PCL in his knee played a factor in him not making a qualified ride.
“I’m real sore, but I’m alright,” Pacheco said with the help of Alves translating. “I needed my knee for today. When the bull pushed a little bit, I wanted to use my knee, but I couldn’t.
“But it’s part of the competition. Right now I’m better.”
A Top-5 finish by Pacheco in the round would have forced No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme into a must-win situation for Championship Sunday.
Leme was bucked off by South Texas Gangster in 3.06 seconds Saturday night minutes before Pacheco came down quickly.
“That was a hard bull for me today,” Leme said with the help of Miriaham Garcia translating. “He went to the right, and it’s very difficult for someone who rides left (handed). But I made an error, and he was able to buck me off.”
Pacheco leads Leme by 1,262.5 points heading into Championship Sunday at T-Mobile Arena. He is sitting 11th in the event average and is 2-for-4.
Fans can watch the final day of the 2018 season on CBS Sports Network at 3:30 p.m. ET. RidePass will offer companion coverage at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Leme can still finish in the Top 2 in the event average, which is worth 1,500 world points, and possibly win the World Championship.
If he finishes second in the event average, then Leme would need to win the final two rounds of competition to surpass Pacheco. That would give him a 57.5-point advantage on Pacheco – dependent upon how Pacheco does in Round 5 and the championship round.
If Pacheco earns more than 57.5 world points in Round 5 and the championship round, that would force Leme to have to win the World Finals event average to catch him.
Leme’s best chance is to win the World Finals event average.
Leme (3-for-4) is third in the event average and will need Marco Eguchi (4-for-4) and Chase Outlaw (4-for-4) to buck off at least one of their final two bulls to overtake them for the World Finals event average title.
There are also five other riders that are 3-for-4 and can play spoiler and take the event average away from Leme, plus an additional eight riders are still in contention for the event average with two qualified rides.
Leme’s path to a potential World Finals event victory starts with the unridden Frequent Flyer (22-0, PBR UTB). Frequent Flyer bucked off Colten Jesse in 4.67 seconds in Round 2.
Leme selected the D&H Cattle Company bovine athlete with the 33th pick of the Round 5 draft.
“I’ve been wanting to ride him for a while, and because I think he’s going to give me a 90-plus-point ride,” Leme said.
Pacheco previously chose Solid Iron’s Hammer Down (17-5, PBR UTB) three picks earlier. Pacheco is 0-for-2 against Hammer Down, including a 2.4-second buckoff just three weeks ago at the regular-season finale in Nampa, Idaho.
“I have waited for this bull,” Pacheco said. “He’s a good bull for tomorrow night. I’m really confident. What happened today is part of the competition. I’m ready for tomorrow.”
World No. 4 Cody Teel is mathematically still in contention for the world title, but it will take quite the miracle for him to pull off the historic comeback.
Teel trails Pacheco by 2,072.5 points.
The 2012 PRCA champion will need to win the final two rounds of competition and the World Finals event average to have any shot.
He is 2-for-4 and will need Eguchi and Outlaw to go 0-for-2, and then have all of the riders with three rides to at least buck off one of their bulls.
Then, Teel would also have to surpass all of those riders in the average with his two qualified rides.
He also needs Pacheco to not earn more than 27.5 world points.
No. 3 Claudio Montanha Jr. is eliminated because he cannot win the event average.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
