By the Numbers: Bovines dominate, rookies produce as PBR Camping World Team Series returns
From electric rookie debuts to two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme putting on a show, PBR.com is taking a deeper dive into the season-opening action!
PUEBLO, Colo. – While this year’s YETI Bull Week technically began on Sunday, PBR’s talented bovines decided to celebrate a few days early during the PBR Camping World Team Series’ season-opening action at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Dominating the best bull riders in the world in 55-of-74 matchups last week in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the animal athletes picked up right where they left things at in Fort Worth, Texas, during the 2023 World Finals: Unleash The Beast.
In the win column.
WRECK: Man Eater shows off BULL POWER as he bucks off Briggs Madsen
Man Eater shows off BULL POWER as he bucks off Briggs Madsen in Game 2 on Day 2 of the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series event at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, WY
After allowing just nine combined rides through the first four games on opening night, the bulls doubled down on their stalwart stand as they welcomed each of the league’s eight organizations back to the dirt en route to surrendering, again, just nine rides.
The pack later collectively met the 10-ride mark Tuesday evening thanks to some late-night fireworks from the Austin Gamblers’ Jose Vitor Leme, but with just 19 qualified rides in 74 attempts, the riders will need to kick it up a notch this weekend as the Kansas City Outlaws prepare to host the tour’s first homestand, Outlaw Days.
Exiting the first competition of the 10-event regular season, two teams came out with perfect 2-0 records, two squads remained at .500 with 1-1 records and four organizations began year two with 0-2 records, thanks to a pair of scoreless matchups.
With the 5-on-5 excitement set to invade Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 3-5, we’re taking a quick look back at some of the numerical takeaways from the first eight games of the season in the return of By the Numbers!
19-for-20: Sure, we discussed how dominant the bovines were throughout the entire weekend, but when the second night of action began, the animal athletes showed up and showed out. Effectively blanking the first nine riders of the evening, the bulls brought their best. Of course, it was none other than Leme who was able to stop the bleeding, besting Sugar Smack for a game-winning 89.25-point out (the games’ only score). While the two-time World Champion was able to mix things up, the animal athletes showed no mercy during the second night of the game. Going a perfect 10-for-10 as both the Kansas City Outlaws and Oklahoma Freedom failed to record a qualified ride, the bovines eventually brought a 19-for-20 record into Game 3.
Austin Gamblers: Jose Vitor Leme rides I'm Legit Too for 90.5 points
Jose Vitor Leme rides I'm Legit Too for 90.5 points in the Extra Round of the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series event at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, WY
45.5 points: With only one bull able to meet and surpass the coveted 45-point bull score mark throughout the two-night event (Flapjack: 45.5 points paired against Wingson Henrique da Silva), consistency was key for the animal athletes. Regularly seeing scores flashing into 43 and 44-point territory, it was Red Demon (dispatching Sandro Batista) Big Bank (44.75 points challenged by Ezekiel Mitchell), Erik The Red (44.75 points dancing with Silvano Alves) and Red River (44.75 points bucking off rookie Kade Madsen) who joined Flapjack in bucking a cut above the rest. Just as each of the league’s eight teams are eyeing a trophy in Las Vegas, the official 2024 YETI World Champion Bull race officially began with the PBR Teams season, as each bovine’s top scores have a chance to help them qualify for both the 2024 World Finals: Unleash The Beast and annual bovine of the year honors.
0 Rides: The good news? The league has only witnessed four combined double-shutout scenarios (when neither team records a ride within a game) throughout now 12 completed PBR Teams events. The bad news? We saw two of the four last week in Cheyenne, the first instance with two double-shutouts within the same event. Even weirder, three of four to date have occurred in Cheyenne, with the first-ever double-shutout registered in 2022 when the circuit visited Cheyenne last year. The worst news? The Missouri Thunder participated in one of the games which produced zeroes across the board but failed to find the ride column in the 1-for-10 overall contest against the Gamblers. But as the Thunder look to the future, getting three rookies into the lineup during the opening showcase, they’ll need to lean on the first-year talent to figure it out sooner rather than later.
Feels Like the 1st Time: At least 14 riders made their PBR Teams debut Monday night in Cheyenne, as many of the founding eight teams gave their first-year talents an opportunity to shine. While the top two selections in the 2023 PBR Teams Draft (Sage Steele Kimzey, Josh Frost) weren’t able to make the 8 in their inaugural attempts, several rookies heard the buzzer during their first-ever out, including: Nick Tetz, Elizmar Jeremias, Creek Young and Dawson Gleaves, who put the bull riding world on notice with his first-ever PBR Teams outing.
First Ride 90: There are a lot of ways to make one’s PBR Teams debut, but when Texas Rattlers’ rookie Dawson Gleaves delivered a sick 90-point effort Tuesday night aboard JAG Metals Grand Theft, he solidified his place in in PBR Teams history by becoming the first rider launch their 5-on-5 career with a 90-point ride. Elizmar Jeremias nearly joined Gleaves, but his 89.25-point journey aboard Shameless came up just short. Carolina Cowboys’ rookie Sage Steel Kimzey came close to accomplishing the same feat, marked 90 points atop Reba McEntire’s The Hammer Tuesday evening after first being dispatched by Summertime Blues in a close 6.77 seconds the night before during his Teams debut. Kimzey and Gleaves join MVP frontrunner Jose Vitor Leme as the only riders to go for 90 so far this season.
Texas Rattlers: Dawson Gleaves rides JAG Metals Grand Theft for 90 points
Dawson Gleaves rides JAG Metals Grand Theft for 90 points in Game 3 on Day 2 of the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series event at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, WY
270.25: While the competitive 5-on-5 league continues to attract and develop some of the best up-and-coming bull riding talent that exists, it was a pair of established veterans who eventually went toe-to-toe during the format’s first-ever Extra Outs. Per usual, Jose Vitor Leme got his way, keeping his perfect 3-for-3 record intact while racking up 270.25 aggregate score throughout the two-day showcase and taking an early lead in the 2023 MVP race in outlasting the Cowboys’ Cooper Davis during the ride-or-go-home round. Davis had a very respectable weekend of his own, 2-for-3 overall and positioned No. 2 overall in the individual race baked into the team-based series. Had he not been asked to compete in the Extra Outs, he would’ve joined Leme and Daniel Keeping as the only riders to record two rides in the season-opening gathering.
4-for-5: Becoming the first team this season to post a productive 4-for-5 mark, the Texas Rattlers rebounded from their opening night loss with a stellar effort. Seeing both of its rookies in Dawson Gleaves and Creek Young record qualified rides during their respective PBR Teams debuts, paired with encouraging conversions from Daniel Keeping and Cody Jesus, the Cody Lambert-coached squad found itself on the healthy side of a 347.5-87.5 final over the defending champion Nashville Stampede.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media