FORT WORTH, Texas – In many ways, the Jose Vitor Leme that showed up for the Austin Gamblers for the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series season was the same as we’ve seen since his 2017 debut.

In one very notable way, he was completely different.

Leme closed out the season with bleach-blonde hair.

Was it to change his juju? To get the Gamblers out of a slump?

“There was no reason. I just felt like, ‘I think I’ve got to change something. I don’t think PBR is getting excited with me no more, so I’ve got to do something different,’” Leme said, laughing. “It’s hard to beat my 98.75 points, so let’s just bleach my hair.”

Bleach or no bleach, Leme is always the most exciting rider in the draw. At Rattler Days in Fort Worth, Texas, the two-time World Champion put a bow on the regular season by winning his second consecutive PBR Teams MVP title, given to the rider with the highest regular-season aggregate, and accompanying $100,000 bonus.

“It’s amazing,” Leme said. “Another great accomplishment for my career. I’m always chasing that, since the beginning, since everything started this season, and finally, thank God, I got this prize now. I got another MVP. This means a lot to me.”

This title didn’t come easily and was, in fact, a much closer race than Leme is used to.

Entering Fort Worth, Leme was two bulls ahead of Cassio Dias of the Kansas City Outlaws. Dias went 3-for-3 in gameplay, and Leme kept pace until the Gamblers’ final game against the Missouri Thunder, when he bucked off Orca.

As the Outlaws went into extra outs against the Texas Rattlers, Dias was 87 points behind with one more bull to get on.

“Honestly, I thought everything was over,” Leme said. “After I bucked off my bull, I thought I was going to lose that because I never expect Cassio to buck off. But everything happens for a reason. I trust in God’s plan, always, and I just left everything in his hands. If He wanted it to be like that, that was because He wanted it, so I accept that.”

But Dias lasted just 2.21 seconds on Nefarious, and Leme won the MVP title, 1,7765.25 points to Dias’s 1,678.25 points.

Leme has won just about everything there is to win in the PBR (except, of course, a PBR Teams Championship) but says winning never gets old.

“Not for me, for sure,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s always great when you win something, and it’s like you’re getting paid off your job. That means you did a good job. So this means a lot to me. I think I’ve been doing a good job this season, helping the team with my rides, and I’m happy for this. Another MVP buckle – it’s amazing.”

Leme went 20-for-29 this season for a 68% riding percentage. Dias went 19-for-26 for a stunning 73% riding percentage in his debut season, matching Leme with five 90-point rides.

“I just met him when he came here for the first time, but I heard a lot about him,” Leme said of Dias. “He seems like he’s a really good kid, and he’s a very talented guy. He’s going to for sure be on top for many, many years.”

Dias is following in Leme’s footsteps as a PBR Brazil Champion (Dias won in 2022, Leme in 2017) who came to the United States and immediately dominated – a prospect that Leme is excited about.

“He’s going the same way, so I hope he continues that and keeps pushing me to keep improving myself,” he said. “That will help me a lot because I always ride better when I have someone with me, on the same level. Not saying I don’t have anybody in there, but he’s fire now, and he’s doing great. When I see somebody like him riding, for sure, I get more motivated to ride my bulls, too.”

That motivation was key for Leme this season, as he admits the year has been a grind. With the condensed Unleash The Beast season followed by the 11-event Teams season, riders haven’t had much time to rest and recuperate.

Winning, of course, also helped with that.

“Very tiring,” Leme said with a laugh. “No days off. It was a very tight schedule. Events every weekend, no time off, practicing every week before the events, trying to keep in shape, keeping my health good, too. That was hard, but it was really fun because it was different. This season was a longer season than last season in a short time, but it was good. It was really fun.”

Leme did manage to stay healthy for the full season, though he had a scare on Friday night in Fort Worth. He made the 8-second whistle for 88 points on a bull ironically named Whiplash and was then pulled down onto the bull’s head and knocked out.

It was a jarring wreck, but Leme passed the PBR sports medicine team’s concussion protocol with flying colors the next day and was back in the draw, riding Outlaw for 89.25 points against the Rattlers.

Nothing was going to get in his way in the pursuit of another buckle.

An even bigger buckle will be on the line in Las Vegas on Oct. 20-22. The Gamblers finished the regular season in the No. 1 spot, securing a first-round bye for the second consecutive year. They’ll wait to see who their first opponent will be following the conclusion of competition on Oct. 20.

But for now, Leme will take a moment to enjoy the fruits of his regular-season labor.

“Another regular-season championship, another MVP championship,” Leme said. “It couldn’t be better for me.”

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media