08.03.19 - Unleash The Beast
A closer look at the 2019 World Champion Bull race
Which of these Top 5 contenders will win the world title?
By PBR
PUEBLO, Colo. – The second half of the Unleash The Beast is soon going to be in full swing, and the World Champion Bull race is as intriguing as it’s ever been.
The 2019 YETI World Champion Bull is based on a bull’s top eight outs during the premier series regular season/Global Cup USA and two outs at the PBR World Finals. The bull with the highest average bull score across those 10 outs will be crowned the champion.
Three-time reigning World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser is, as always, in the hunt, but there’s a new set of horns atop the standings in Smooth Wreck. Could Bruiser get dethroned this year? There are four top challengers that could very well get the job done.
Take a look back at how the Top 5 bulls have fared so far this season, and stay tuned when the UTB returns for the Express Ranches Classic, presented by Osage Casino, on Aug. 10-11 in Tulsa.
It takes a lot to stand out as one of Chad Berger’s bulls, but Smooth Wreck is having himself a season that could put him into a class of his own. Smooth Wreck has gone 10-1 on the Unleash The Beast with an average bull score of 45.66. He hasn’t been ridden often, but when he has, the scores have been astronomical. Chase Outlaw rode him twice; once for 94.75 points and once for 93.5, both earning a bull score of 46.25.
“I wish I’d’ve been mic’ed because I was yelling at myself and telling myself, out loud – you know I grunt – but I was telling myself, ‘Keep riding! Keep riding! ‘Keep riding!’” Outlaw said in Bismarck. “I was telling myself that. I never done that before. Never. It was just plain as day.”
Another one of Berger’s bulls, Smooth Operator is 9 years old and still very much in the hunt for a world title. He’s 10-3 on the UTB with an average bull score of 45.47. While he’s been ridden in his last three outs, the scores speak for themselves: Jose Vitor Leme earned 92.5 points in Columbus, and Cody Teel earned 89.5 in Albuquerque and 91.75 in Cheyenne.
“I really like that bull a lot,” Teel said in Cheyenne. “I have had the opportunity to get on him twice this year. He is really special to me. Just a bull that bucks hard with a lot of intensity. He is kind of bull that you can get out of with your feet. All that momentum kind of carries you around. It gives you an opportunity to kick loose and ride him.”
RELATED: Inside the bucking bull business: a Q&A with Chad Berger
Fearless made his PBR debut in February of 2018 and has since been ridden a grand total of one time: Ryan Dirteater made the 8 seconds for 89 points in Albuquerque in May. Other than that, Fearless has been unrideable, going 12-1 on the premier series with an average bull score of 45.41.
“Fearless always got that big rear and drops and kicks, but he’s got a little forward (movement) in the middle of it,” stock contractor H.D. Page said. “He’s a son of Tested, and Tested was famous for that same move. That was kind of his signature move, and he kind of put it in his calf.”
The three-time reigning World Champion Bull is no stranger to being in the title hunt, but he’s not used to being this far down in the rankings. Nonetheless, Bruiser is undefeated on the premier series in 2019, going 7-0 with an average bull score of 45.32 since making his season debut in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in April. The last time Bruiser was ridden in PBR competition was at the 2018 PBR World Finals, when Jose Vitor Leme made the 8 for 93.5 points. After a brief rodeo run, Bruiser spent the next few months relaxing, but returned to buck off plenty of the world’s best bull riders, including Chase Outlaw.
“I don’t know what happened, but oh my, did he feel so good,” Outlaw said in Columbus, Ohio, in April. “I ain’t mad. I tried like hell.”
After splitting the 2018 Bull of the Finals title with Hocus Pocus, Legit is proving that he is indeed legit. The bovine has gone 9-1 on the UTB this season with an average bull score of 44.78. That one ride is the only time a rider has bested Legit and came at the hands of 2017 World Champion Jess Lockwood to the tune of 89.5 points in Albuquerque. Legit’s two outs at the 2018 PBR World Finals, just his second and third outs ever at the highest level of the PBR, earned him 46 and 46.5 points and could be a harbinger of things to come.
“He is just so mean,” Lockwood said. “A couple of times he has been rode 5, 6 seconds and other than that, he gets so pissed he starts throwing his head at you and he quits kicking and kind of just chases his tail. He just gets pissed you are on his back still.”