PUEBLO, Colo. – It’s crunch time for any rider on the outside of the 2021 PBR World Finals picture to make a move before Nov. 3 and qualify for the PBR’s season-culminating event. This weekend in particular is even more critical for riders attempting to ride at the 2021 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.
The Velocity Tour Finals is the last event on the PBR schedule before the world standings are locked and the qualifiers for the 2021 PBR World Finals are finalized.
The ZipRecruiter Rumble in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday night is the last Velocity Tour regular-season event before the VT Finals take place on Oct. 30-31 at the South Point Arena & Equestrian Center in Las Vegas.
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Meanwhile, the Unleash The Beast regular-season finale in Lincoln, Nebraska – the Cooper Tires Invitational – may also impact who qualifies for the Velocity Tour Finals via the world standings.
There will be many moving parts between now and both Finals, so let’s take a look at how the VT Finals draw could shape up.
The PBR competition department finalized how 45 riders can qualify for the 2021 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals in Las Vegas earlier this week.
The Top 35 available bull riders in the official year-end PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Standings at the end of Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour bull ridings on Oct. 25 will qualify for the Velocity Tour Finals. (If there is a tie for a qualified position going into the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals, that position will be awarded based on 2021 world standings as of Oct. 25.)
If any riders inside the Top 35 of the Velocity Tour standings are injured, unable to compete or decline the opportunity to ride in Las Vegas, then the next highest-ranked rider in the Velocity Tour standings will receive a qualification spot.
Heading into Dayton, a rider needs 40.5 points in the VT Standings to be ranked inside the Top 35. A rider can earn a maximum of 44 world points in Dayton (30 for winning the event average).
J.T. Moore is currently the 35th-ranked rider in the Velocity Tour with 40.5 points. However, multiple riders inside the Top 35 of the VT standings will likely doctor out of the VT Finals to focus on the World Finals, such as world No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme and No. 9 Dalton Kasel. Other riders who have already declined the opportunity to ride at the South Point, per the PBR competition department, are Derek Kolbaba and Jesse Petri. That would push the cutoff to No. 39, which is Logan Biever and his 38.83 VT points.
Any active PBR World Champion will receive an invitation to the Velocity Tour Finals.
This has been the norm for the Velocity Tour Finals, and this year the most notable World Champion who will use the opportunity is 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco.
The No. 2-ranked bull rider in the world and three-time World Champion Silvano Alves have already informed the PBR competition department that they will be competing at the South Point before the World Finals.
This could be crucial for Pacheco as he tries to overcome the current 635-point deficit between himself and Leme, who has turned down the invite and will focus on rehabbing his core muscle injury until the World Finals begins on Nov. 3.
Two other World Champions to keep an eye on are 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis, who has stated he does not intend to compete at the VT Finals, and two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood.
Ranked No. 47 in the world standings, Lockwood is confident he can qualify for the World Finals by winning the UTB event this weekend in Lincoln, but he has the VT Finals in his back pocket as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency scenario.
International and other invites
International rider invites will include the top rider in the 2021 PBR Australia, PBR Canada, PBR Brazil, PBR Mexico and U.S. Touring Pro Division standings as of Oct. 18. If any of the territories do not meet the criteria by not having any 2021 events, the highest-ranked competitor available from that country in the world standings will be considered their international invite. As of Thursday, the PBR competition department was working with each country to determine who will be each nation’s representative.
Any remaining positions for the Velocity Tour Finals will be filled based upon the PBR world standings as of Oct. 25.
EVENT STRUCTURE & POINTS FORMAT FOR THE 2021 PENDLETON WHISKY VELOCITY TOUR FINALS
The 2021 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals will consist of two long rounds and one 10-man championship round. The event winner will be based on the event average and will earn 60 world points. Round winners will earn 15 world points.
Therefore, one rider can leave the South Point with a maximum of 105 points toward the world standings.
Round Points at the Velocity Tour Finals: 15, 8, 7, 4, 3, 2, 1
Event Average Points at the Velocity Tour Finals: 60, 38, 27, 20, 16, 11, 5
The 2021 PWVT Finals will pay $80,000 in prize money, not including the 2021 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Champion Bonus ($50,000). Round winners will earn $3,200, and winning the 2021 Velocity Tour Finals will be worth $18,480.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media