LAS VEGAS – Larry Barker was on the back of the bucking chutes Sunday afternoon in T-Mobile Arena when he walked up to the newly minted two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme.
Barker knew Leme was in a ton of pain because of his partially torn right groin and core muscle injury, but Woopaa’s owner also still believed Leme and his bull could team up to make history at the PBR World Finals.
“Let’s go break the record, Jose,” Barker whispered to Jose before grinning.
Leme responded with his own smile, masking the pain radiating throughout his right abdomen, and said, “Yes, sir.”
Could Leme take a victory lap and celebrate his second consecutive World Championship by breaking his own PBR record aboard Woopaa 100 days after previously riding him for 97.75 points in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and win his second career World Finals event title?
“Honestly, I didn’t think about that before Larry say that because something really special has to happen to break 97.75 points,” Leme said. “I didn’t know if I could do that again, but I hoped I could.”
Meanwhile, inside the bucking chutes, Woopaa – the No. 1 bull in the world – glanced up at Leme and his owner.
“Jose calls Woopaa his buddy, and whenever Jose crawls over or pulls his rope, Woopaa always seems to just look up at him,” stock contractor Katie Perschbacher said on the confetti-covered dirt Sunday afternoon. “When I had seen that Jose had him in the short round, there was a calmness that kind of came over all of us. Jose knows what to do, and Woopaa and Jose fit like a glove.”
Woopaa still had work to do if he wanted to win his first World Championship. The 5-year-old bull needed to be 43 points or higher to beat out Chiseled for the 2021 YETI World Champion Bull title and win $100,000.
He, too, knew what was at stake.
Sure enough, Leme and Woopaa made history on Sunday afternoon.
Leme rode the No. 1-ranked bull in the world for a record-breaking 98.75 points to win the 2021 PBR World Finals event title. Woopaa was scored 48.75 points to clinch the 2021 YETI World Champion Bull title and 2021 Bull of the Finals.
“Man, I think he wait for this moment like I wait for my second world title,” Leme said. “He deserve all that because he’s so great. He’s so great. He just want to buck. It doesn’t matter for him if you’re going to ride him or if you’re going to buck off. He just wants to show everyone he’s there, he’s on fire, he’s one of the greatest bulls in history. That’s what it looks like he wants to show to everyone. And when I saw the draw, I draw him for the short round, I said, ‘Well, that’s going to be interesting, because I can win the World Finals on him, and he can win the world title with me. So that will be very special.’ And that’s what happened.”
Barker remained on the back of the chutes with tears in his eyes as Leme celebrated his World Finals event victory and World Championship on the shark cage.
“I just said records were made to be broken before he went, and it was the record,” Barker said, wiping at his eyes. “I knew he was going to do it when he rode that bull so good. They are both one-of-a-kind.”
The 48.75-point bull score is the third-best in PBR history and the highest ever at the PBR World Finals.
Leme is the first rider in PBR history to record a perfect rider score of 50 points.
“I’m still in shock. 48.75,” stock contractor Laramie Wilson said after flanking Woopaa.
Woopaa was anointed both the 2021 YETI PBR World Champion Bull title and the 2021 YETI PBR Bull of the World Finals, earning $125,000 in prize money. He also won $25,000 after being the No. 1-ranked bull of the regular season.
Woopaa concluded 2021 with an unrivaled 46.93-point world average, 0.58 points ahead of Chiseled, who finished the title race runner-up for the second consecutive season.
His season was capped by two dominant outs inside T-Mobile arena.
Woopaa was first marked 45 points in Round 2 of the 2021 PBR World Finals for his 3-second buckoff of Daylon Swearingen before delivering the third-best bull score ever with Leme.
“It’s amazing. It’s absolutely amazing,” Wilson said. “But we couldn’t do it without a rider like Jose to win it. You’ve seen Woopaa buck in the first round and (Swearingen) rode him two seconds, and they marked him 45. It takes a special rider to show him off and be able to show out like he can when Jose draws him. So it’s amazing.”
Beyond his dominance at the World Finals, Woopaa was unmatched the entirety of the season. During the 2021 campaign, bulls registered nine bull scores of 47 points or more, with Woopaa responsible for six, including both that were more than 48 points.
“Woopaa just keeps delivering,” said PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert. “He’s like Jose. He just shows up and does what he has to do. He just does the job, and he’s up against the very best guys every time. That’s the thing that people don’t realize; it takes a guy like Jose to ride Woopaa. A high-level pro has a chance on him, but that’s not guaranteed. When Jose gets on him, it’s pretty well guaranteed because that’s how good he is, and he’s capable of riding every one of them, and they deserve the record.”
It is the second year in a row Leme has helped Woopaa win a championship. Last year, Leme rode Woopaa for 95.75 points at the PBR World Finals in Arlington, Texas, to clinch his first world title and help Woopaa win the 2020 ABBI Classic championship.
“We’ve won two in a row now together,” Barker said. “It’s awesome. It’s awesome. I can’t believe it.”
Woopaa is named in memory of Barker’s lifelong friend, J.P. Lewis, who passed away in 2017 following a long battle with prostate cancer.
Lewis was notorious for hollering ‘Woopaa!’ whenever something great happened, and Barker is pretty sure his best friend was yelling it Sunday afternoon from high above.
“Oh, you know he is,” Barker said laughing. “J.P. is up there. He was with us today. You know he was, and a whole bunch of fans up there was too. We have a fan club up there.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
