CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Reigning World Champion Jose Vitor Leme leaned back on a bench inside the locker room at Frontier Park Arena and let out a deep exhale.
Leme’s right ankle was still throbbing and most likely swelling up inside his Ariat cowboy boot after the world No. 1 bull rider put forth a herculean 5-for-5 performance to win Last Cowboy Standing at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
The 24-year-old had to conquer four bulls on Tuesday night to win his first career PBR Major, including his final two after Young Man’s Blues stepped on his previously broken right ankle from the season-opener in Ocala, Florida, in Round 3.
“Oh, this win is for sure harder than when I won the World Finals because you don’t ride one or two bulls today,” Leme said before pausing.
“How many bulls did I even get on today? Four? Yeah, and one yesterday. Normally I don’t do that. Normally nobody do that. When I practice at home, I practice on a lot of bulls, and maybe that helped me in this format. This time I drew good bulls, and I concentrated more on them to make my work, and I am now more experienced for this format.”
Leme did not flinch for a second once he climbed inside the bucking chutes at the historic rodeo grounds in the Wyoming capital, capping off his sensational victory with a 91.25-point ride on Safety Meeting.
Runner-up Boudreaux Campbell lost his positioning on Mr. Winston and only hung on for an 81.25-point ride in the winner-take-all fifth round.
“He’s just as tough as I feel like I am,” Campbell, who took a shot to the chin earlier in the night, said. “He’s hard to beat. He’s limping out of the arena right now, but he just won. He’s a winner, and you can’t take that away from him.”
The 90-point ride was Leme’s third of the evening after previously becoming the first left-handed rider to ever conquer Drago, riding the bovine for 92.25 points in Round 2.
Leme then kept plowing forward by riding Young Man’s Blues for 90.75 points in Round 3. However, the 2017 World Finals event winner then spent the next 15 to 20 minutes gingerly trying to keep his ankle loose as he prepped his bull rope for the fourth round.
The PBR Sports Medicine Team came to check on Leme after he hobbled off the dirt following his ride on Young Man’s Blues, but he eventually shrugged them off, saying he would be alright.
The fifth-year pro knew how important the Last Cowboy Standing title could be to his world title defense, and he was dead set on finishing the job at hand.
If Leme was in pain, you couldn’t tell once he was back inside the arena.
Leme said his adrenaline was running rampant when he rode Midnight Flyer for 88.75 points in Round 4 and then again when he cemented his eventual victory 12 minutes later aboard Safety Meeting.
“I don’t think my ankle is anything serious,” Leme said following the event. “I think I will be good for Tulsa. I will just keep going.”
Now Leme will head into next weekend’s PBR Express Ranches Classic, presented by Pit Boss, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, two rides away from breaking 1999 PBR World Champion Cody Hart’s single-season 90-point ride record (16).
Leme’s three 90s on Tuesday night pushed his season total to 15, tied for the second-most in PBR history with two-time World Champion Justin McBride (2007) and three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes (2001).
“Oh my gosh, that is a good number,” Leme said. “I for sure am looking for that too. If I break this record, I will be remembered for that too. This is what I want. I have all the respect for Cody Hart and all of his rides. Records are meant to be broken. One day, `new people will come and break all the records. I am just trying to be me and set my personal records. Whatever I can get, I just try to enjoy everything and ride everything, and do my best all the time. I am trying to put my name in history.”
Leme may not only be adding his name into the PBR record books for 90-point rides by season’s end. He is also gaining more and more traction toward joining Silvano Alves as the only riders to ever successfully defend a world title.
Leme earned 293 points toward the world standings and $113,630.18 with his PBR Major victory on Tuesday night. He leads No. 2 Kaique Pacheco by 361.5 points and No. 3 Cooper Davis by 508.5 points.
Also, just how important are those 15 90-point rides this season?
Well, those 15 rides alone equate to 135 world points (9 points per 90-point ride), and Leme would be ranked No. 33 in the world standings based strictly on his 90-point rides.
“These points (from Cheyenne) are very important for me because this puts me ahead in the world standings,” Leme said. “I know this is not enough to win (the world title), but it is a good start for the second half. I hope to continue to pursue my goals and go to the Finals and win the Finals too.
“Maybe I will win another world title too, but we are a long, long way away. I hope to continue to do my best and don’t get injuries and keep doing my work.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media