OCALA, Fla. – Mauricio Moreira’s phone was already buzzing in his pocket moments after he was crowned the PBR Monster Energy Invitational event champion on Sunday afternoon at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion.
“My dad is probably calling me already,” Moreira, 21, said with a laugh and with the help of Paulo Crimber translating.
Moreira’s father, Redner, had watched his son’s perfect 2-for-2 performance Saturday afternoon in Ocala at home in Brazil via RidePass and he was likely watching on Sunday too. Low and behold, Mauricio’s two rides in the first competition in Ocala went on to be enough to net him his first career premier series victory.
“This weekend is a great start to the year,” Moreira said. “I want to continue to do what I have been doing, focusing, riding and performing like this weekend.”
The father and son have not seen each other since Mauricio moved to the United States in January 2020 to pursue his lifelong dream of riding in the PBR, but Redner makes it a priority to keep up to speed with his son’s riding and the two talk frequently.
Mauricio was 9 years old when his father won the 53rd bull riding competition at the prestigious Barretos rodeo in Brazil in 2008. According to Mauricio, Redner was faced with a decision later that year as he had an opportunity to come to the United States and ride professionally in the PBR.
It was a decision that Redner did not take lightly, and he opted to remain in Brazil and stay with his family.
Moreira held on to the event victory in Ocala this weekend, and a $10,000 bonus, despite being bucked off Sunday by Mezcal in the long round in 2.61 seconds.
“Today did not work out,” Moreira said. “That bull kind of got me out of shape, but it worked out great.”
Unleash The Beast weekend event winners in 2021 are determined this season by the amount of world points earned in each competition combined. Therefore, Moreira was the event winner for the weekend based on his 130 world points earned in the opening competition.
Moreira won the event average (80 world points) on Saturday night to go along with a round win in the championship round (30 world points) and a second-place finish in Round 1 (20 world points).
Junio Patrik Souza won Sunday’s competition by going 2-for-2, but he only earned 109 world points. Souza did not compete Saturday and was an injury replacement for Jose Vitor Leme Sunday.
Meanwhile, 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis posted three qualified rides in Ocala, but he only earned 97.5 world points based on his finish in each competition’s event average and rounds. Davis was 2-for-2 in Saturday’s competition and 1-for-2 in Sunday’s competition.
Last year, Moreira became the third-youngest Brazilian to debut on the premier series when he was 20 years old. Crimber was the youngest when he competed at 18 years old at the 1998 event in Calgary, and 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco is the second-youngest at 19 years old (2014 Last Cowboy Standing).
Moreira finished second at the Gwinnett Invitational in Duluth, Georgia, last year to propel himself to a full-time spot on the Unleash The Beast and he began to solidify himself as one of the sport’s rising young guns.
The Gavião Peixoto, Brazil, native qualified for the 2020 PBR World Finals, but he was unable to compete after testing positive for COVID-19 just days before the season-culminating event. Moreira’s positive test led to him being unable to fulfill his goal of winning the 2020 Rookie of the Year award and competing at the PBR Finals for the first time.
Similar to Joao Ricardo Vieira, Moreira, is no longer worried about what could have been.
“This year is going to be a different story,” Moreira said. “I am going to try to look at the overall (picture) different because the Rookie of the Year was something I really wanted to get last year, but I couldn’t go to the Finals. Maybe I get to the Finals and I buck off everything? You never know. But I didn’t have a chance to find that out and that is past.
“Let’s focus on the future and see what happens.”
Coincidentally, the same bull that propelled him to a full-time spot on the Unleash The Beast last year in Duluth, Georgia – Big Black – was his dance partner in Ocala.
Moreira first rode The Kickin’ Chicken for 86.75 points in Round 1 Saturday to earn the second pick for the championship round draft. He then rode Big Black for 89.75 points to win Competition 1, and ultimately his first career event once Sunday’s competition wrapped up.
The second-year pro had previously ridden Big Black for 91.25 points in Duluth, and Moreira said the bull felt stronger this weekend than he was last season.
“I thought I could have been 90-plus on that ride,” Moreira said. “I felt like he bucked harder this time. Every time I have a chance to pick that bull, I will. I match with him jump for jump and he is a good fun bull to get on.”
Moreira is now the No. 1 bull rider in the very early 2021 PBR world standings, and he will take a 20-point lead on No. 2 Cole Melancon into next weekend’s PBR Arcadia Invitational.
It is only one weekend, but Moreira has quickly asserted himself as one of the younger riders to keep an eye on in 2021.
“It is too soon to kind of think anything about (the standings) yet,” Moreira concluded. “I am just going to work hard to stay at the top every weekend and get to the Finals. Then I will look to have a great Finals and we will see what happens.”