DULUTH, Ga. – Ezekiel Mitchell did not celebrate his 22nd birthday with a cake and some candles on Friday.
Nor did Mitchell think about making a birthday wish for good luck at the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational.
Instead, on Friday night Mitchell had some hot wings – one of his favorite foods, alongside steak and tacos –before turning loose with a career-best 3-for-3, his first elite series Championship Round, and second-place showing inside Infinite Energy Arena.
“Shoot, I don’t even know if this is all sinking in yet,” a somewhat stunned Mitchell said outside the locker room Sunday night. “I am just enjoying it. I don’t know. I came to ride bulls and I just wanted to spur every one I got on, and I did it. It was awesome.”
Mitchell began the weekend flirting dangerously with the Unleash The Beast cutline. The previously-ranked No. 31 bull rider in the world standings had yet to put everything together against the rankest bulls in the PBR.
He had flashed his potential at times throughout the first two months of the season, including riding his first two bulls at the Iron Cowboy in Los Angeles, but had yet to have his breakthrough moment.
Everything came to fruition for Mitchell this weekend in Duluth, Georgia, though, as he continuously got better with each 8-second ride.
Mitchell began the two-day event with 84.25 points aboard Mickey Mouse on Saturday evening to head into Championship Sunday in twelfth place.
The rider who first learned on YouTube had studied video and noticed the bull always went right.
“I always try to tell myself go jump for jump,” Mitchelll said. “He left there good and kind of gave me something weird in the middle there and then went the other way, and it was just all about making sure I kept my elbow down and kept riding since he went left.”
Mitchell then raised his game Sunday with two statement rides to show he is not just a fringe Top 35 rider.
In Round 2, he first put forth an 86.75-point effort on Cut The Cord – a bull that used to be a frequent bucker in championship rounds – to set himself up for a potential victory in the championship round.
Mitchell used the second pick of the championship round draft to select Stunt Man Ray, and he overcame being out of position early to get back to the middle and finish the ride for a career-high 89.75 points.
“Man, Stunt Man Ray,” Mitchell said grinning. “I had seen him for a while now and he is a bull that a guy can be a lot of points on. He can buck you off, too, and he about did that the first second around that first corner. He came back to the right and kind of helped me out. I don’t know. I just went to whooping on him.”
If not for Jose Vitor Leme spurring his way to a 91.25-point ride on Big Black, Mitchell would have been the one celebrating on the shark cage.
Regardless, he was still proud of all he accomplished in just his seventh career event.
“Oh it is the finish I wanted,” Mitchell said. “The guy that rode the best won. I just came to do my job this weekend.”
Leme said he wishes Mitchell the best this season and that he was impressed by his performance.
“I am really happy for Ezekiel because he rode really good,” Leme said with the help of Paulo Crimber translating. “He is a great athlete and a good guy. I hope he keeps reaching his dreams and gets to where he wants to be.”
Mitchell earned 350 points toward the world standings to move from No. 31 to No. 10 and avoid relegation to the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour.
In fact, Mitchell was one of two Velocity Tour graduates in Duluth to make a big jump up the world standings.
Scottie Knapp, competing as a Velocity Tour invite courtesy of his win in Grand Rapids, Michigan, used a career-high 89 points aboard Dang It to cap his 3-for-3 weekend. Knapp’s career-best fifth-place finish pushed him from No. 43 to No. 25 in the world standings.
The three rides – 82.5 points on High Hopes, 85.75 points on Hedoo, and the 89 on Dang It – were the first of his career on the premier series after previously going 0-for-9 in five events.
“This is where I want to be, and this is where all the (top) bulls are,” Knapp said on RidePass of the opportunity to get on tour. “I have to keep my hand shut and have fun, and it will work itself out.”
All of the Velocity Tour graduates want to prove they belong on tour with the veterans, Mitchell said.
“That is the thing that is so cool,” he said. “The fact that they upped the points at the Velocity this year is part of the reason why I got a chance to be up here. We are all hungry and we have been striving to get to this level.
“We are trying to make a statement once we are here.”
Mitchell intends to be on the UTB to stay, and is also in a prime position to qualify for his first PBR World Finals later this year on Nov. 6-10.
He will next ride this weekend at the Neighborhood Ford Store Challenge Velocity Tour event in Wheeling, West Virginia, on Friday and Saturday night.
Mitchell is one of 11 Top 35 riders competing in Wheeling. Fans can watch the action exclusively on RidePass (Fri. 8 p.m. ET; Sat. 7 p.m. ET).
“It is a long season,” Mitchell said. “I need to keep going full force. I will go to the Velocity next weekend and try to keep the ball rolling. I just want to be comfortable and inside that Top 15, Top 10 and Top 5, and hopefully in the run for the world title race this year.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
