In 2019, Jess Lockwood won the PBR World Finals to earn the second world title of his career.
By Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – The PBR’s 27th season is less than one week away with the Unleash The Beast beginning on Jan. 3 inside Madison Square Garden with the Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden, presented by Ariat.
Before the calendar flips over to a new season, and a new decade, PBR.com will be closing out the current decade by looking back at the last 10 World Champions, World Finals event winners and Rookie of the Years.
Today, PBR.com turns the clock back to the champions of the 2019 season.
2019 World Champion & World Finals event winner: Jess Lockwood
2019 Premier Series Stats Rides: 44 Attempts: 65 Riding Percentage: 67.69% Average Ride Score: 88.52 points Top Ride: 94 points on Heartbreak Kid Wins: 5 Top 5: 11 Top 10: 13 90-point rides: 14
LOCKWOOD JOINS ILLUSTRIOUS GROUP: Jess Lockwood made history in 2019 by becoming the sixth rider in PBR history to win multiple World Championships.
The 22-year-old is also the youngest rider to ever win two or more gold buckles, and his 5-for-6 showing at the 2019 PBR World Finals also made him one of five riders to win the World Championship and World Finals event title in the same season.
Lockwood’s championship also featured one of the greatest come-from-behind performances at the World Finals. Lockwood began the World Finals 749.66 points behind world leader Jose Vitor Leme after Leme won the 2019 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.
Prior to Lockwood winning the 2019 World Championship, no rider had ever overcome more than a 467.5-point deficit in the current points system, which Lockwood did in 2017.
Lockwood knew he essentially had to win the World Finals event average to have a chance at unseating the dominant Leme.
That remained true as Leme went 4-for-6 to finish fourth in the event average. Leme would have been the World Champion if Lockwood bucked off any of his bulls in Rounds 2-5 and finished second to MattTriplett in the event average.
Lockwood had almost zero room for error, and he made sure to be close to perfect to pull off the stunning comeback by picking up 2,265 points toward the world standings and not bucking off a single bull until the championship was his.
The Volborg, Montana, bull rider rode Silver Back for 86.5 points before ripping off four consecutive 90-point rides – Spotted Demon (91.5), Biker Bob (92), The Right Stuff (91.75) and Rising Sun (91.25) to win the world title.
Lockwood concluded 2019 with career highs in qualified rides (44), attempts (65), riding percentage (67.69%), 90-point rides (14), 15/15 Bucking Battle wins (4), event wins (5) and round wins (14) on the premier series.
Lockwood’s average ride score of 88.52 points was the highest average ride score for a World Champion in PBR history, breaking the previous record of 87.79 held by Chris Shivers (2003).
No longer a bull riding prodigy, Lockwood is now a PBR legend alongside fellow multi-time World Champions Adriano Moraes, Silvano Alves, Justin McBride, Chris Shivers and J.B. Mauney. He also joined Mike Lee (2004), Renato Nunes (2009), J.B. Mauney (2013) and Silvano Alves (2014) as the only riders to win the World Finals and the world title in the same season.
QUOTE: “I wanted it so bad because there are a lot of guys that have one world title. You don’t even remember a lot of the guys that have one world title and that’s it. To put myself up there with my hero, Justin McBride, is unthinkable to me. That is a guy that I have looked up to forever. To say that I am along with him and J.B. Mauney, and I have six, seven, eight more years. I don’t even know where to start.” – Jess Lockwood on winning his second world title.
2019 Rookie of the Year: Dalton Kasel
Rides: 14 Attempts: 35 Riding Percentage: 40% Average Ride Score: 87.93 Top Ride: 92 points on Fearless (2x – Nampa, Idaho, and Nashville, Tennessee) Wins: 1 Top 5: 4 Top 10: 6 90-point rides: 2
KASEL SURGES FOR ROOKIE TITLE: Kasel finished 2019 ranked eighth in the world standings despite not even making his Unleash The Beast debut until Aug. 10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after he was given an invite from the PBR’s competition committee.
That invite turned into a Rookie of the Year title as Kasel quickly proved he belonged alongside the PBR’s best riders. Kasel was the fourth rookie in the last 10 years to make a round-winning ride in his premier series debut, riding Sun Country for 88.75 points in Tulsa.
Kasel went 14-for-35 with two 92-point rides on Fearless, and a victory in Nampa and four Top-5 finishes in 10 events. The 20-year-old averaged 87.93 points per ride, which was not too far back of two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood’s 88.52 points in 18 events.
World Finals did not go as Kasel would have liked, though, as he went only 1-for-5. Regardless, his stellar second-half showing helped him beat out Alan de Souza, Daylon Swearingen, Mason Taylor and EzekielMitchell for the Rookie of the Year title.
The Muleshoe, Texas, bull rider was also not fully healthy in 2019 as he was riding with torn groins. Kasel will miss the first month or two of the 2020 season, but he is expecting bigger things from himself this upcoming year.
QUOTE: “It’s something to strive for, and it’s not just to make World Finals. It’s to be a world champ, and that’s what everybody has their eyes set on. If you don’t have your eyes set on that, I don’t know why you’re riding bulls, I guess.” – Dalton Kasel following his first World Finals
2019 World Champion Bull: Smooth Operator
2019 Premier Series Stats Outs: 17 Rides: 3 Average Bull Score: 45.51 Top Bull Score: 47 points for 4.11-second buckoff of Chase Outlaw (World Finals) Top Ride: Jose Vitor Leme for 92.5 points (Columbus, Ohio) Average Buckoff Time: 4.17 seconds Average Ride Score: 91.25 points
SMOOTH OPERATOR ENDS BRUISER’S ERA: Smooth Operator put an end to SweetPro’s Bruiser streak of World Champion dominance when he erupted for a career-high 47 points on Championship Sunday at the 2019 World Finals.
Smooth Operator capped his YETI World Championship season by bucking off Chase Outlaw in 4.11 seconds, allowing him to conclude the season with a World Champion Bull average of 46 points. The 9-year-old bull defeated No. 2 Smooth Wreck (45.63), No. 3 Heartbreak Kid (45.55), No. 4 Fearless (45.45) and No. 5 Lil 2 Train (44.95).
Smooth Operator went 14-3 in 2019 with an average bull score of 45.51 points, marked 46 points or higher in seven of his 17 outs.
There was no better bull than Smooth Operator when you take the whole season into consideration. Smooth Operator earned $150,000 by winning the YETI World Championship ($100,000), Bull of the Finals ($25,000) title and regular-season top bull honors ($25,000).
Smooth Operator is reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger’s first World Champion Bull that he had sole control over. He was a part owner of 2009 World Champion Code Blue.
