PUEBLO, Colo. – The 2022 Unleash The Beast series begins New Year’s Day at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with the PBR Monster Energy Invitational (8 p.m. ET CBS Sports Network).
PBR.com will be counting down the final days leading up to the UTB season opener by looking back at the Top 5 bull riders at the conclusion of the 2021 season.
Today, we look at 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis, who finished No. 3 in the 2021 PBR world standings.
No. 3 Cooper Davis
World Championships: 1 (2016)
Best World Standings Finish: 1 (2016)
2021 Premier Series (UTB) Stats
Rides: 45
Attempts: 83
Riding Percentage: (54.22%)
Top Ride: 94 points on Chiseled (Kansas City, Missouri)
Average Ride Score: 87.68
Wins: 2 (Omaha, Nebraska; Jacksonville, Florida)
15/15 Bucking Battle Victories: 1 (Del Rio, Texas)
Round Wins: 8
Top 5: 10
Top 10: 17
90-point Rides: 11
2021 Recap: In 2021, 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis had arguably the best season of his seven-year career.
Davis set career-highs in qualified rides (45) and 90-point rides (11), and his 54.22% riding percentage was the second-best of his career. Davis had never posted double-digit 90s until 2021. His previous best was six in 2019 and 2017.
The 27-year-old also rode Chiseled for a personal-best 94 points in Kansas City, Missouri, and won multiple events (2) for the third time of his career. (Davis would have had three event wins if the Ocala, Florida, winner was based on the event average.)
Davis also was the second-most successful rider in championship rounds with a 56.25% riding percentage (9-for-16). Eventual World Champion Jose Vitor Leme led the league with 11 rides in 15 attempts.
The Jasper, Texas, native spent five of the first seven weeks of the season atop the world standings before falling behind 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco and Leme for the rest of the season.
Davis has now ridden more than 50% in back-to-back seasons for the first time of his career, but it has not been enough to usurp two-time reigning World Champion Leme.
2022 Outlook: So, can Davis end Leme’s reign atop the world standings?
Possibly.
2021 was Davis’s fourth Top-5 finish in seven seasons. He has never finished lower than eighth in the world standings, and that No. 8 finish was partially because he broke his neck at the start of the 2020 season.
Davis has essentially been in the mix every season of his career, and 2021 showed he can elevate his game to an even higher level.
So how does he catch Leme?
The key for Davis giving Leme a run for his money is going to be winning more events. Davis has won 11 events in his career – Leme has won 15 in the past two seasons – and Davis has only won more than two premier series events in a season once in his career. In 2016, he won three events on his way to the 2016 World Championship.
If Davis continues to ride close to 55% of his bulls, it should lead to more event wins in 2022, putting him closer in the world title race than in past seasons. Combine that with his above 50% riding percentage in the championship round, and there is a recipe for success in 2022.
Davis also is prepared to put his foot on the gas pedal in 2022.
The seven-time PBR World Finals qualifier explained in Las Vegas that he is excited for the condensed Unleash The Beast schedule despite the physical and mental challenges of a January-May premier series season before the PBR Team Series begins in the summer.
“I like the idea of having a season that is compact like a regular football or baseball season; six months of dedication to it, and knock everything off,” Davis said. “Yeah, it is going to be brutal, but it is also going to be a shorter period to stay dedicated. Skill is going to have everything to do with it. You will have to stay healthy for six months, but you still have to go ride your bulls. I think it will force guys to deal with a few minor injuries, but also, at the same time, it doesn’t do you any good to show up and not be 100%. The game doesn’t change.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media
