Circa 2017: Looking back at Jose Vitor Leme’s sensational introduction to PBR fans two years ago
Leme wasted no time making a name for himself in the United States and is now battling for the 2019 PBR World Championship.
By Justin Felisko
LAS VEGAS – Jose Vitor Leme walked off the plane at McCarran International Airport on October 27, 2017, and tried to study the faces of the people deplaning.
The then-21-year-old did not understand the foreign English words and signs in front of him, but he knew he had to make his way to baggage claim to grab his gear bags.
The plan for him was to meet with photographer Andre Silva, who was tasked by PBR Brazil to help get Leme to the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa for the 2017 Velocity Tour Finals.
The slot machines inside the terminal were buzzing and flashing lights as he tried to keep up with human cattle making their way toward the escalators.
Once he reached the bottom of the escalator, Leme then had to figure out which tram to take to baggage claim.
“I didn’t know anything,” Leme recalled this week at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals. “I didn’t know anyone. I just remembered a few faces from the plane and followed them to baggage claim.”
Leme was essentially lost.
Eventually, Silva – the PBR’s official Velocity Tour photographer and former PBR Brazil photographer – found Leme at baggage claim, snapping the first photo of the 2017 PBR Brazil champion bull rider and future superstar.
Leme was set to ride at the 2017 Velocity Tour Finals and was in contention for the international wild card bid to the 2017 PBR World Finals.
Despite the lack of awareness of his surroundings, Leme continuously told Silva he had one thing on his mind.
“I looked at him and asked what he was feeling, and the only thing he said was that he wanted to go to the arena and know the arena,” Silva recalled. “He was very happy and seemed very focused.”
The 2017 Velocity Tour Finals were set to take place at the South Point Hotel Casino Spa on Oct. 28-30. Generally, riders stay at the South Point during the event.
Leme hopped in the car with Silva and Velocity Tour event secretary Cindy O’Neall and the trio began to make their way to the South Point Hotel on South Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Ribas Do Rio Pardo, Brazil, native admitted he does not remember much of the conversation. He was too awestruck by the casinos, billboards, glitz and glamour of The Strip.
“I was just filming everything on my phone on the drive,” Leme said. “We would talk, but I was filming everything.”
Once they arrived to the hotel, Leme got himself checked in to the hotel with the help of Silva and dropped off his things.
He then made his way through the South Point to check out the arena. He had never before competed in the United States, or North America for that matter, and he wanted to get a feel for the layout.
Leme has since learned how different the Velocity Tour Finals setup is compared to a standard Unleash The Beast event, which features locker rooms and large arenas that host NBA or NHL teams.
However, he liked the intimate feel of the South Point Arena.
“When I came here and got to the arena, seeing the arena and the bucking chutes, it all seemed so different from home,” Leme said. “That will stand out in my mind.”
Leme had yet to have any food when he landed in Vegas, and he was beginning to get hungry, so he decided to head to the buffet in the South Point.
Leme figured he would try and find something to eat later that day. The good thing about going to a buffet for the Brazilian was that he could rely on his eyesight to order things versus trying to communicate in broken English or with a cell phone.
He first poured himself a glass of orange juice, which tasted pretty terrible, he recalls.
Leme, who would not make any mistakes at all in the arena during his 10 days in Vegas, made his first blunder at the buffet.
He saw a beautiful piece of chicken with a dark glaze on it, but it sure looked perfect, Leme believed.
“‘Man that is going to be good,’” Leme thought to himself. “I then tasted it. It was barbeque sauce. It was sweet. I was not used to that and I had to go get something else. I do not like sweet or spicy, really.”
The 2017 Velocity Tour Finals began on October 28, 2017, and Leme was competing against 2017 PBR Australia champion Troy Wilkinson, 2017 PBR Canada champion Zane Lambert and PBR Mexico invite Francisco Morales for the international invite to the World Finals.
Whoever finished highest in the event average during the three-day, four-round event would earn the invite.
Three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes admits he was excited to see what Leme could do in the United States, but he also had some hesitations.
Mainly, could Leme stay healthy as a small, charismatic and explosive bull rider?
“I was a little skeptical about it because he was too flashy, too tough, too aggressive,” Moraes recalled this weekend. “I was afraid of him getting hurt that first season. I’m glad it didn’t happen, because the way he exposed himself. Leaned back, spurring those bulls, put on a great show. But I’m happy that he didn’t get hurt.”
Leme had arrived in the United States with a streak of 10 consecutive rides in PBR competition, and he quickly made that streak 11 when he earned his first ride on American soil. He made a beautiful 85.5-point ride on Wileywood Blue to finish tied for ninth in the round.
“I was real nervous before the ride, but as soon as I got on that bull I got focused, concentrated, relaxed and tried to do what I came here to do – ride bulls,” Leme said that night with the help of Crimber translating. “It really is a movie when I started walking through the arena for introductions. I can’t describe how happy I was. My family is probably real proud.”
Leme was the only international invite to record a qualified ride in Round 1. He would then ride The Original for 81 points in Round 2. Leme next turned down a re-ride option in Round 3 – keeping 62 points on 2-14 HCR – to clinch a spot at the 2017 World Finals.
Of course, when Leme decided to turn down a re-ride option during the 2017 Velocity Tour Finals it raised some eyebrows. It was a calculated decision by Leme, though, because he knew the third qualified ride would clinch him a spot at the World Finals.
“That was my strategy,” Leme said then. “I knew keeping that score and three would put me into the Finals. I just wanted to get them down and on the board. It is a really big paycheck, but the dream to go to the Finals was bigger. To me, it is really important to win this, but it is more important to go to the Finals.”
Muscles & Shovels would buck Leme off in 6.77 seconds in the championship round, and Leme would finish eighth overall at the 2017 Velocity Tour Finals.
Leme’s finish was somewhat overshadowed because reigning PRCA champion Sage Kimzey had won the Velocity Tour Finals and two other Brazilian riders – Alex Marcilio and Ramon de Lima – concluded the year atop the Velocity Tour standings.
Meanwhile, Jess Lockwood had finished fourth at the Velocity Tour Finals to push himself into further contention for the 2017 World Championship.
This unknown kid named Leme may have shown some promise, but he did nothing that made anyone think he was about to blow the roof off T-Mobile Arena.
Current RideTV analyst and five-time PBR World Finals qualifier Colby Yates was working the PBR LIVE broadcast that weekend at the South Point, and he admittedly does not remember much about Leme from that weekend.
“To be honest, I didn’t even notice him at the Velocity Tour Finals,” Yates said. “It was very vague because since 2016 when Dener Barbosa came over, every single year we always have a group of them come over, and they are all spectacular. It is just like, OK, another guy that is super consistent. We see those ones that it takes them a little bit to figure out these bulls because they are different.
“That is probably why I don’t recall it, other than the fact that, OK, here is another Brazilian that will stay on all his bulls.”
There was only one day off between the Velocity Tour Finals and the 2017 PBR World Finals. Leme would transfer over to the Monte Carlo Hotel, which is today known as the Park MGM, and join the other 39 riders who would compete for five days inside T-Mobile Arena.
In the days leading up to the 2017 World Finals, two-time World Champion and CBS Sports Network analyst Justin McBride had a chance to catch up with Moraes.
Moraes quickly told McBride to keep an eye on this Leme kid from Brazil.
McBride, though, took Moraes tip with somewhat a grain of salt.
Like Yates said, there always seems to be another new Brazilian talent coming to the United States, and it can be hard to get a feel of just how good they will be with a small sample size.
“I had heard he had won the Velocity Tour Finals invite and yeah, yeah, this and that,” McBride recalled last week. “He could really ride. Blah blah. Adriano was saying that, and Adriano is always saying every one of them is the next big thing. So I am always a little bit skeptical.”
McBride eventually caught a glimpse of Leme walking around the hotel and arena and notice he was wearing a ball cap. He looked more like pro athlete than a cowboy, which was certainly the case based on Leme’s time as a semi-pro soccer player in Brazil.
“It was awesome,” McBride said. “You could tell he was pretty athletic looking.”
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Leme made his premier series debut with an eighth-place finish in Round 1 at the World Finals. He rode Opus for 86 points. In Round 2, Leme put forth his first “eyebrow-raising” ride when he conquered Slinger Jr. for 86.5 points. At the time, Slinger Jr. had bucked off 34 of his 35 opponents on the premier series.
2017 World Champion Jess Lockwood heads into the 2019 PBR World Finals trying to overcome a 749.16-point deficit in the world standings and catch Leme.
Two years ago, he was focused on winning his first gold buckle and, like Yates, he doesn’t recall much about Leme’s Velocity Tour Finals showing.
He does remember, though, when Leme started to turn it up a notch inside T-Mobile Arena.
“I honestly don’t remember him riding during the Velocity Finals,” Lockwood said. “I remember hearing, ‘Oh, this Brazilian guy is coming,’ but all of the Brazilian guys ride good. Then we got to there and he rode Slinger Jr. and I was like, ‘OK, this son of a gun is for real.’ I was like, ‘Oh God. No one likes that bull and no one got along with him.’
“I don’t think Slinger Jr. got rode all year that year, and he made him look easy. And it was away from his hand. I was like, this guy is the real deal.”
***
Leme then built off that ride by riding Mudshark for 90 points – the first 90-point ride of his career. He next followed in Lockwood’s footsteps by riding Big Dutch for 90.5 points in Round 4. Lockwood had previously ridden Big Dutch to win Round 1 of the Finals (90.25 points).
Yates laughed on Saturday afternoon thinking back to the 2017 World Finals.
Even after Leme had ridden Slinger Jr., he still was not sure about him.
How stupid he was, Yates quickly realized.
Yates became a true believer in Leme once he rode Mudshark.
“It was the third round,” Yates said. “I remember him on Slinger Jr., and that bull is super difficult, especially at that time. But I don’t know if I was just telling myself maybe it was just a fluke that he got by the bull. Maybe I was just trying to make excuses. There is nothing that could be hidden under the pillow, and he was 90-something points in Round 3. Then it was like, OK.”
Leme did not expect his first 90 to come so soon.
“I didn’t think it would be that quick (for my first 90) because all of the 90-point bulls are really rank,” Leme said after Round 3. “I have been riding really great, but I thought it would take longer than that. I am really, really happy and it is amazing to do it here.”
Yates added, “Even then I thought there are some things he does that aren’t fundamentally and technically correct, and he gets it done. I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy is something special.’
“Then he went on to ride every single bull.”
Leme was a perfect 4-for-4 and he was on the verge of becoming the fifth rookie to win the World Finals.
“It’s hard to explain, I don’t have the words to explain,” Leme said after Round 4. “I don’t think I realize yet how big and important this is because it’s just grand. I just thank God for blessing me, and I’m just praying and really focusing and working hard to finish like that and win the event.”
***
Leme capped off his historic week in Las Vegas by riding More Big Bucks for 89.75 points in Round 5 before making one of the greatest rides in PBR history – a sensational 94.5 points on Magic Train – to win the Finals event title and the 2017 Rookie of the Year title. Leme became the sixth rider in PBR history to win the Finals by riding all of his bulls. He won $417,800 during his 10 days in Las Vegas.
McBride had become a believer of Leme very quickly during the five days of competition inside T-Mobile Arena. He believes Leme’s performance at the Finals that year was one of the greatest all time.
“Seeing him ride his first bull, it was like, yeah, this isn’t a fluke,” McBride said. “Then seeing him progress and ride all the way through the Finals, riding Magic Train for his last one going both ways. That was as good of a Finals run, you can stick it up against everybody, the World Finals that he had.”
Lockwood had already clinched the World Championship before Leme made his memorable ride on Magic Train.
If you look back at Andy Watson’s still photography from that night, you can see Lockwood sitting over the bucking chutes, helmet on, looking through his facemask to watch Leme’s ride.
In that moment, Lockwood knew if he would ever want to win another world title, that he may just need to compete against the two-year-older Leme.
“I was like, ‘Holy crap, I have to compete with this guy for the next however many years,’” Lockwood said. “Doing that with that bull and the trip he had, that was an eye opener that this guy is going to be around for a long time.”
Leme went full circle this weekend at the South Point Arena, going 2-for-3 to win the 2019 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals and the $50,000 Velocity Tour championship. He not only won $79,100 at the Velocity Finals, but the world No. 1 bull rider extended his lead on Lockwood in the world standings to 749.66 points.
Leme stood on the dirt of the South Point Arena and looked around at the grandstands that were slowly emptying out on Sunday night.
Two years after he announced his arrival to the United States, Leme is now the Velocity Tour champion.
“The position that he’s at is not a surprise to me at all,” Moraes said. “Not at all. But I am surprised, and thankful to the lord, that he’s healthy. So hopefully he will continue to be healthy for many, many years.”
In many ways, it is fitting that, if Leme does indeed go on to win the 2019 World Championship, it would begin at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa.
This is where everything began in 2017.
“It is hard and great to explain how great this is because this is where everything started,” Leme said. “To come back here and do all this is amazing. Three days before the World Finals. This is just going to help me so much coming into the World Finals. I have so much motivation. I am confident to ride my bulls.
