What to Watch For: No. 16 Clay Guiton looks to crack Top 10 via capable consistency
Can the Oklahoma Wildcatters’ star improve on his 5-for-10 start in Manchester, New Hampshire?
By James Youness
FORT WORTH, Texas – He’s provided some of the more comical “score reaction” or “just plain out having fun with the boys” shots for tour photographer Andy Watson and friends in the Bull Stock Media world since storming onto Unleash The Beast last winter.
Yet, for as much as he appreciates a good time and doing what he loves every weekend, he remains very serious about improving his craft.
He’s a young, raw talent who’s still figuring some things out when it comes to growing up and travelling the world, let alone competing against the best bull riders in the business.
But after seeing the youngster solve some of those puzzles throughout his electric rookie premier series campaign in 2024 (including the ability to navigate some injuries and put his best/healthiest boot forward when staring down adversity dead on), we know where he belongs:
Exactly where he’s at right now – the biggest stage in the sport.
We’re, of course, talking about the red-headed menace, Clay Guiton, who’s been showing off his lanky frame and ability to persevere as much as he’s been flashing his patented smile-forward celebrations and bright teal chaps.
Up to the No. 16 rank ahead of the quickly approaching Week 5 showdown inside Manchester, New Hampshire’s SNHU Arena, he’s officially 5-for-10 on the season after another encouraging showing in Wichita, Kansas, last weekend.
Finishing No. 10 in the circuit’s most recent contest with the second-highest single-ride aggregate score of 87.5 points after teaming up with Tchoupitoulas in Round 1 for the sound mark, he earned a solid 18 UTB points for his second-consecutive Top 10 finish.
The only man who outperformed Guiton in 1-for-3 fashion last weekend?
His good buddy John Crimber, who secured a No. 9 spot to Guiton’s No. 10 finish thanks to another rank 90-pointer.
With 18-year-old rookie Hudson Bolton just a spot ahead of Crimber, courtesy of the 2-for-3 No. 8 result he pieced together during his UTB debut and 20-year-old Julio Cesar Marques one spot behind Guiton at No. 11, it’s easy to see why the next generation of top-tier bull riders aren’t being groomed.
They’re already here, giving hell to the veterans and anybody else who happens to step into the chutes during a premier series pack shootout.
And when you consider Crimber, Guiton and Hudson were selected first, second and third during the 2024 PBR Teams New Rider Draft last spring, it’s easy to understand why the New York Mavericks, Oklahoma Wildcatters and Florida Freedom were pumped to welcome the promising talents to their respective squads.
Piecing together a 7-for-17 record as he got coached up by J.B. Mauney during the summer series, he didn’t necessarily step into the 5-on-5 landscape and knock things out of the park. But at just 18 years old, knocking down roughly half of your bulls is still quite the takeaway.
As his skillset continues to expand, his confidence continues to skyrocket the same.
Which was ever-evident two weekends back in St. Louis when he opted into a short round dance against the world’s reigning YETI World Champion Bull, Man Hater. He didn’t exit the man vs. beast showdown with a qualified ride. But you’ve got to have a set of stones to challenge that bull at just 150 lbs.
Starting quite the trend, naturally, his close comrade in Crimber wanted a shot at the prized bovine as well. Deciding to select the bull last weekend in Wichita, the world’s top-ranked rider climbed aboard, only to be met with the same result.
But it’s Guiton we came to celebrate and encourage fans to keep an eye on, who wasn’t afraid to opt into another head-to-head dance with a fellow trending talent in the animal athlete world, as Guiton selected a date with Fast Flow this time around.
Once again the youngster was bested – but the idea he’s qualified for two-straight short rounds means he’s grinding himself back into position to earn what would be his first premier series event title.
He’s just got to finish the job, an instance we expect to occur this season, at this rate.
Only six other men have managed at least one qualified ride in all four of this season’s events so far: No. 2 Dalton Kasel, No. 3 Sage Steele Kimzey, No. 12 Mason Taylor, No. 20 Kaique Pacheco, No. 22 Sandro Batista and No. 28 Cort McFadden.
Which isn’t a bad group of contenders to be associated with when you consider the batch includes two of the tour’s current Top 3-ranked riders, the 2018 PBR World Champion, the No. 3-ranked cowboy from the 2024 PBR Teams MVP race and a pair of ever-capable talents in veteran Taylor and fellow sophomore McFadden.
The main difference in this group is Kasel and Kimzey have produced some elite rides, allowing them to collect some additional points for respective round and event wins.
Which is the next step this season for a kid like Guiton, who we watched ripped off three Top 5 efforts in 2024 (third, fifth, fifth) within his seven Top 10 finishes (third, fifth, fifth, ninth, ninth, ninth, tenth) during his first year on tour.
He’s been getting close but hasn’t collected his cigar just yet.
Finishing within the Top 30 during each of the tour’s contests so far, he managed a No. 26 finish during the season opener in Tucson, Arizona, which he followed up with a similar 1-for-2 effort in Ontario, California.
However, it’s his pair of consecutive Top 10 finishes, including a No. 6 result in St. Louis, Missouri, flanked by a tenth-place performance most recently in Wichita, Kansas, which suggest he’s warming up and shaking off some rust.
Set to dance with Crazy Party during Friday night’s opening round in Manchester, can the freckle-friendly talent continue to close the gap on No. 1 Crimber? Another Top 10 effort would go a long way in allowing that to happen.
Fans can catch all of this weekend’s action up in the Northeast beginning on Friday, Dec. 20 at 7:45 p.m. ET and concluding on Championship Saturday, Dec. 21 at 7:45 p.m. ET.
All of this season’s Unleash The Beast outs are set to continuing airing via RidePass on Pluto TV, PBR’s YouTube channel, PBR’s mobile app and PBR’s app on connected TVs, including Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku and Google TV.
