Crimber celebrates PBR Teams Championship MVP award as Freedom finish fourth
The 19-year-old heads north to compete in PBR Canada this weekend before beginning his push for the 2025 World Championship.
By Darci Miller
FORT WORTH, Texas – A year ago, John Crimber was an 18-year-old phenom tearing up the Challenger Series, placing fourth at the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Championship in Las Vegas.
He was too young to compete during the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series season, though, so he missed out on the action inside T-Mobile Arena, where the Texas Rattlers were crowned the PBR Teams Champions.
Crimber has spent every moment since that time proving that he was well worth the hype.
During his debut Unleash The Beast season, he finished No. 2 in a world title race that came down to the final bulls of the season.
He was then drafted No. 1 overall by the Florida Freedom and proceeded to tear up PBR Teams in 2024.
Crimber ended the season having gone 26-for-40 (65%), getting on six more bulls than any other rider this season and making the 8 more than anyone else as well, becoming the first rider not named Jose Vitor Leme to win the regular-season MVP award.
When he arrived in Las Vegas for the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series Championship, many expected him to carry the Freedom to their first title.
While that did not happen, Crimber went 4-for-4 to win the Teams Championship MVP award, leaving another marquee event with a big check.
He’s been doing some serious winning as of late.
“Trying to!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “I’m trying to!”
Crimber spent the regular season trying to win the MVP award. His team intentionally had him get on as many bulls as possible in Ride-In Rounds to get him more qualified rides, and the strategy worked.
In the postseason, however, Crimber didn’t even know there was an MVP award to be won.
“I didn’t even know there was an MVP for this event,” a still-astonished Crimber said. “It surprised me. Right before I got on my last bull, I heard them say I was leading the MVP of the Championship, and I was like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s awesome!’ It’s one thing that I didn’t know that could happen, but I was really happy because I wasn’t even in the championship round.”
The Freedom desperately needed Crimber’s contributions in their first two games, as he provided walk-off wins in both of them – he rode Riser for 88.75 points against the New York Mavericks and Mo Money for 89.75 points to upset the Rattlers.
That was all the winning the Freedom would do, going 0-for-2 on Championship Sunday. In both games – first against the Carolina Cowboys and next against the Kansas City Outlaws – the Freedom were mathematically eliminated by the time Crimber’s turn came up.
When teams have clinched a game, either a win or a loss, coaches can substitute new riders into the lineup or skip outs altogether. But not the Freedom, and not Crimber – he wanted to keep getting on, even if the outcome was already set.
“It kind of sucks, but I think it makes me want to ride better. I don’t know why,” Crimber said. “Versus Carolina, I think I just sat up there and didn’t even think about nothing and just rode my bull. And I think I rode a lot better, honestly. I don’t know what it was. Of course, I like winning. I prefer getting on knowing we won, but you’ve just got to have a clear mind and know you still have a job to do.”
That was, in fact, Crimber’s best ride of the weekend, scoring 90.75 points on Renegade.
He then rode Peterbilt for 89.25 points against the Outlaws to cap off his season.
“I’d seen the draw – my dad had shown me right then and there that I was getting on that bull,” Crimber said. “I’d always wanted to get on him. His name’s Peterbilt, one of Blake Sharp’s bulls, and he’s just a really good bull. And he helped me capitalize on this MVP.”
The MVP win was bittersweet, as a fourth-place finish wasn’t what Florida was expecting nor capable of achieving.
“It sucks at the time, just to get one bull rode in the game, but it’s part of it,” Crimber said. “It’s part of bull riding. I think that’s when my role comes in as a leader of the team. I go in there, raise everyone’s heads up, and try to keep everyone calm because it’s part of it. In bull riding, you don’t know what’s going to happen. We drew a really good pen of bulls but just couldn’t capitalize. But we’re hungry for more, that’s for sure.”
The Florida Freedom redemption tour will have to wait until next summer, when the 2025 PBR Teams season gets underway. For now, Crimber will stay booked and busy, even through the offseason.
“In about two more days, I go to Canada for the PBR up there in Saskatoon,” Crimber said. “I won that event last year. So, really, no break for me. I like getting on bulls, and that’s what I’m going to continue to do and be prepared for UTB when it starts.”
But then it’s all systems go for another Unleash The Beast season and another world title race.
“The one thing I’m really excited about is… I think it’s November,” Crimber said. “That’s when UTB starts, and that’s what I’m most excited about. Of course, I love being part of this team, but that’s what every little boy dreams of, is a world title. So I’m really excited about the individual season starting back up. I was really excited to see the new places we’re going to this year, so I’m really excited about it, that’s for dang sure.”
