PUEBLO, Colo. – Racking up a PBR Camping World Team Series-best 12-1 record through the first half of the regular season, the Austin Gamblers can be summed up in one word.
Dominant.
Regularly extending their lead atop the 2023 standings with each opportunity they get, the green and black squad recently finished its second-ever Gambler Days showdown with a perfect 3-0 record, fueled by a rowdy hometown crowd.
RELATED: #InCaseYouMissedIt: Gamblers keep historic season going with win No. 3, this time at home
Earning their third event title in the tour’s first five events, the team has brought home a collective, league-high $665,249 in just over a month, as the 5-on-5 circuit kickstarted season two just 35 days ago in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
After managing a 16-12 record (one of three teams to do so) during the inaugural campaign en route to securing a first-round bye at the 2022 PBR Teams Championship, they’re technically already in the record books tied with the most wins in a regular season.
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But just four wins away from tying that mark, with 15 games remaining throughout the second half of the schedule, that record is likely to be challenged, if not broken.
Four games ahead of both the No. 2 Kansas City Outlaws and No. 3 Oklahoma Freedom at the midway point of the campaign, the Gamblers shouldn’t have much trouble setting the new standard.
Especially if Dalton Kasel and Jose Vitor Leme can continue to be the immovable object and unstoppable force that they’ve proven to be.
RELATED: Dalton Kasel, Jose Vitor Leme rolling up their sleeves for Austin Gamblers
With Leme blazing to an 8-for-9 start while racking up a huge lead in the 2023 MVP standings, he’s set the bar again and again for the Gamblers. A bar that Kasel wants to be known for setting, himself.
“I have the same mindset each and every time that I want to ride,” Dalton explained.
“It (Leme’s hot start) might motivate some people. I’m happy for him and stuff, that’s awesome, but me personally, I’m just doing it somewhat similar to the individual season. Trying to take care of my business and not worry about everything else.”
Seeing the veteran leader struggle in Nashville, posting an uncharacteristic 0-for-3 showcase, Kasel watched on again Friday night inside Moody Center as the two-time World Champion extended his buckoff streak to an unheard-of four in a row.
Having already completed his end of the deal, posting an 87-point conversion in the lead-off spot for Austin, Kasel supported his teammates throughout the duration, cheering them on in the moment.
But eventually serving as team hero in the 87-84.5 final over Kansas City, he shared a layer as to just how competitive his squad is this season.
“We’re just doing our own thing,” Kasel said.
“I think that’s one thing that’s made this team feel good this year is we’re not trying to beat other teams. We’re trying to beat each other on the team. Each person on the team is trying to outdo the other people on the team and it just makes it all flow that much better.”
While Leme went on to find the 8 Saturday night, scored 87.5 points for his qualified ride aboard Untested, ending his rideless streak at four attempts, it came after Kasel kickstarted things for the Gamblers once again, courtesy of an identical 87.5-point ride of his own (Pete’s Dejavu).
Bringing a 2-0 record into Championship Sunday, Head Coach Michael Gaffney elected to rest his MVP candidate as the game played out in their favor. Well, one of them, at least.
Unleashing Kasel for a third time, Gaffney watched his pocket ace rip off an event-best 89.25-point dance paired against Washita Red before an electric hometown audience.
Later allowing Ezekiel Mitchell and Austin Richardson to represent the organization on home dirt, both of the Gamblers’ gentlemen converted, granting Austin its third event title of the season.
Balancing expectations and season-long goals while relying on his guys to finish the deal during its most important event of the year are just a few of the reasons Kasel and friends are hip to the legendary mentor.
“G-Man, he’s just calm, cool and collected the whole time. He doesn’t get worked up about anything. He’s awesome. He’s one of those guys who keeps it fun,” Kasel said.
“He doesn’t necessarily coach us, he knows that we got here for a reason. We’ll talk about little things after, but he doesn’t try to coach us. If you get to trying to change too much stuff, it isn’t going to work out for you, because it’s not something you’re used to. He just lets us do our own thing and he’s cool with it.”
Allowing his guys to operate in their own lane, he’s now seen both Leme (Cheyenne Frontier Days) and Kasel (Gambler Days) earn separate MVP event honors while racking up nine qualified rides apiece.
Occupying the No. 2 (Leme: 796 points) and No. 3 (Kasel: 791.5 points) spots in the individual aggregate race, a little bit of friendly competition has done the team wonders so far as they continue to chase history. Both in the regular season and inside T-Mobile Arena this fall, at the 2023 PBR Teams Championship.
The secret formula for Kasel and company?
“Just keep going. Getting on bulls, riding them. Just don’t change anything up, don’t think about what happened in the past,” Kasel concluded.
“Each day is a new day and a new bull. It’s an animal and it can do whatever it wants, so just keep going at it.”
With the PBR Camping World Team Series set to embrace a mid-season bye week, allowing riders to rest up and front office personnel to assess their personnel for the remainder of year two, we’re taking a quick look back at some of this season’s numerical takeaways in this week’s By the Numbers!
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263.75: Willing his Gamblers squad to a perfect 3-0 record courtesy of a personal 3-for-3 showcase in Austin, Dalton Kasel earned his first event MVP honors of the season. Racking up an event-high 263.75 points after besting Washita Red (89.25 points), Pete’s Dejavu (87.5 points) and Pickle Moonshine (87 points) Kasel has been lining them up and knocking them down for his 12-1 team. Currently on a four-out ride streak, he’s now 6-for-8 (75%) throughout the past three events, bringing his season-long record to 9-for-13 (69.23%) as one of just three cowboys to record nine rides so far.
Year No. 1, League No. 1: With his teammate in Leme representing one of the other two to meet said mark, Kansas City Outlaws’ rookie Cassio Dias rounds out the trio of flashy first-half efforts. So flashy, in fact, that the first-year rider sits atop the MVP standings with 798.5 total points. On fire would be an understatement, as the 21-year-old is now 8-for-9 (88.9%) in his last three event appearances, which includes consecutive event MVP titles and a league-best three 90-point rides (tied with Leme). Continuing to give it his all for J.W. Hart and the Outlaws, he posted a healthy 2-for-3 record in Austin, but it was teammate Wingson Henrique da Silva who shined brightest down south.
3-for-3: Posting the first 3-for-3 PBR Teams showcase of his young career, Silva helped his orange and black contingent improve to the No. 2 overall rank Sunday afternoon, courtesy of a 2-1 record at Gambler Days. Staying perfect throughout all three contests, he began the productive event with an 84.5-point conversion atop Big Kiwi, matching Kasel as the lone riders to meet the 8, but dropped the contest to the league’s best team while seeing veteran Marcus Mast suffer an injury. Able to rally around the team’s injured leader, who returned to Moody Center on Sunday to watch the remaining action, the talented 24-year-old rounded out his flawless slate with 79.5 and 86.25-point rides, enough to propel the squad up the standings and rocket the Brazilian up to No. 7 overall in the MVP standings. With only seven riders able to record six or more rides this season, count Silva and Dias in that group, as the youngsters look to keep their respective hot streaks alive when the tour resumes action in Oklahoma City Sept. 8-10.
C00p3r D4v1s: Speaking of MVP standings, Carolina Cowboys’ World Champion Cooper Davis has been giving his all for Jerome Davis and team. Sitting at the No. 4 spot in the individual rankings, 105.5 points behind No. 1 Dias, Davis is now 8-for-14 (57.14%) on the season after going 2-for-3 at Gambler Days. Effectively able to put the team’s 0-3 record from Nashville in the rearview mirror, he posted 83.75 and 84.75-point rides in teaming up with Boudreaux Campbell, Josh Frost and a pair of clutch rookies in Flavio Zivieri and Daniel Feitosa in earning the team a 2-1 record. Back up to the No. 4 spot in the PBR Camping World Team Series standings, at 7-6 overall, they’ll need to keep things spicy while continuing to duke it out with the Freedom and Outlaws, the two teams currently in their way of securing a first-round bye at this year’s PBR Championship in Las Vegas.
2-1 x 2: After beginning the season with a slow 0-7 start, the Arizona Ridge Riders are 4-2 through their last two events, courtesy of matching 2-1 records in both Nashville and this past weekend, Austin. Up to the No. 6 ranking at 4-9 overall, Colby Yates has seen several of his guys turn things around in the last few weeks, with each of Colten Fritzlan, Keyshawn Whitehorse and Vitor Losnake single-handedly securing wins for the organization lately. Add in a returning 2022 PBR Canada Champion Nick Tetz, who went 2-for-3 inside Moody Center, and the team is on a bit of a hot streak as they continue to ascend the rankings.
RELATED: Whitehorse gets revenge, snaps slow start to secure Arizona another walk-off win
First Up, First Down: Everyone loves some early sparks, so when the fifth showdown of the PBR Teams season got underway Friday night, all four of the games featured qualified rides during the very-first go in each showdown, with Wingson Henrique da Silva, Casey Roberts, Cooper Davis and Kade Madsen finding the 8 for their respective teams. Nearly doubling down on the spicy start, three of the four games saw matching efforts in their second respective go, meaning seven of eight teams began the weekend in the ride column, with Brady Oleson, Alan de Souza and Dalton Kasel adding to the fun with their follow-up conversions.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media