By the Numbers: Two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme skyrockets to No. 6 rank courtesy of dominant 4-for-4 Eliminations showcase
Alan de Souza, Derek Kolbaba, Koltin Hevalow, Dener Barbosa, Sandro Batista round out aggregate-based qualifiers for looming Championship inside AT&T Stadium May 17-18.
By James Youness
FORT WORTH, Texas – When the fourth day dawned and PBR.com announced starting lineups and draw for the fourth and final session of 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Eliminations, we let it be known (if he hadn’t already) that two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme wasn’t messing around.
Naturally, the two-time PBR Teams MVP (2022, 2023) put the finishing touches on his flawless, 4-for-4 performance Sunday afternoon inside Cowtown Coliseum courtesy of an epic conversion aboard Pegasus.
Accompanied by a pair of 90s logged during an early-season event back in Ontario, California, Leme’s Monster Energy-sponsored conversion was somehow just his third 90-pointer of the season.
Coming in at a healthy 91.25 points, the successful go represents the veteran’s highest score of the season, which couldn’t have come at a better time. Especially considering he only out-performed the contest’s eventual runner-up Clay Guiton by two points in the aggregate.
Which means (at least) two things:
That it’s been nearly six months since he’s recorded a qualified ride above marked 90 or more points – and that Leme is healthy, hungry and ready to keep his dream of becoming a three-time World Champ alive!
One of four different riders to go 90 during Sunday’s finale in Fort Worth, Texas, Leme was joined by the likes of Alan de Souza (92.5 points atop Man Hater), Dalton Kasel (91 points aboard Hoobastank) and Kaiden Loud (90 points dancing with Ridin’ Salty), it was a good sign for the trending talent, as he’ll be joined by each of said three riders inside the home of the Dallas Cowboys this weekend.
And for as valuable and necessary as Leme’s final conversion and score were to the role he played during the opening stage, it was his first three conversions which set him up for success.
Storming into the historic venue back on Thursday night, “Champ” initially went the distance aboard Whiplash (85 points) during a re-ride attempt which proved dividends.
Turning things up a notch as the event progressed, his fruitful Round 2 dance with Flapjack (87.5 points) was good enough to keep him within the Top 5 of the aggregate when Day 2 concluded.
Only to top his previous day’s mark once more on Saturday, further positioning himself to close things out on Sunday via a vicious strike atop Triple Aught.
THIS was the Leme people paid their good money to see.
And after a few years seeing the revered rider either turn in uninspiring results at World Finals, or miss them completely due to injury, the tour couldn’t have scripted a better stage one in Cowtown.
The Austin Gamblers veteran may have began the postseason ranked No. 18 and outside the automatic berth cutline (Top 15) for this weekend’s approaching Championship shootout inside Jerry World.
However when the four-round meetup within the Fort Worth Stockyards concluded, Leme found himself all the way up to the No. 6 rank, thus automatically qualified to the true season-ending showcase.
Managing to capture the outright event win, his 28th premier series victory to date, thus earning $197,000 in prize money and an insane 353 UTB points, it’s safe to say Leme eliminated any drama associated with his injury-ridden campaign.
All while injecting some new life into the 2025 World Championship race, as he’s now just 8.25 UTB points behind No. 5 Sage Steele Kimzey while lurking within 623 UTB points of the circuit’s continued top dawg in No. 1 Dalton Kasel, who used an impressive 91-pointer Sunday afternoon to sneak him into a sixth-place spot in the Eliminations aggregate.
Considering Leme missed an entire two-month stretch of competition throughout February and March, the idea that he’s worked his way back to within striking distance of Top 5 territory is truly an ode to the living legend, who understands he’s bringing the most momentum of any rider into next weekend’s end-all, be-all. Not to mention the most PBR-sanctioned hardware when it comes to World Championship, MVP honors and beyond!
While we don’t yet know who he’ll be dancing with during the first two rounds of the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship quite yet, we have a feeling it’ll be worth tuning into LIVE and FREE Saturday, May 17!
Back to summarize the opening Eliminations postseason stage, By the Numbers returns to break down Leme’s dominant run, Clay Guiton’s standout performance during his first-ever World Finals appearance and tons of other outlying numerals from last weekend’s showcase in Fort Worth, Texas!
Second Place, First Appearance: Other than the dominant two-time World Champion in Leme, 19-year-old Clay Guiton was the only other man to stay perfect throughout the four-round showdown. Considering the opening four rounds featured two doses of rank pen action, a perfect run remains quite the statement from both cowboys. And despite the youngster looking pretty unhappy walking off the dirt Sunday afternoon, with an included helmet slam and quite the frown knowing his Round 4 opponent Sam’s Shot didn’t give him quite the chance to steal Leme’s thunder, you wouldn’t have guessed he just won $115,000 dollars or secured a very-crucial 288 UTB points. He wanted, and came just two points within taking, the Eliminations title.
Exiting successful matchups from each of his four opponents, including Rock ‘n Roll (86.75 points), Eyes On Me (91.25 points), Let’s Roll (87.25 points) and the aforementioned Sam’s Shot (85.75 points), it was still a successful stint. Of course, it’s understandable why the Carolina Cowboys’ standout was upset after being met with a 41.75-point bull score. But if anything, it should motivate the Cherryville, North Carolina, native ahead of what will be his first-ever appearance at the Championship stage. After witnessing the red-headed talent miss last year’s action inside Cowtown Coliseum, it’s fair to say he productively channeled any lingering feelings from his time watching from the sidelines. So, putting his unideal final out in the rearview shouldn’t be hard for a kid who understands he’s a mere 501 UTB points behind No. 1 Kasel. Having entered the opening stage ranked No. 11, he can’t complain about the No. 4 spot he’s occupying ahead of the most dramatic two days in Western sports!
3-for-4 x2: When the first four rounds of PBR World Finals suspense were in the books, an ever-youthful trio of cowboys sat nestled between 28-year-old Leme (who paced the premier series pack) and 25-year-old Austin Richardson (who managed a fifth-place effort), thus proving the opening stage primarily revolved around the youngsters once again. Naturally, Guiton was the top-performing kiddo of the group, claiming second-place honors in a BIG way. But with 20-year-old Kaiden Loud and 19-year-old Hudson Bolton squeezing into the third and fourth spots, respectively, it’s clear the sport’s next wave of sincere talent has already arrived. Just ask Loud one year ago, who earned the Eliminations title as the only man to produce a 3-for-4 slate in 2024. As the only other men to ride more than two bulls throughout the weekend, they have to be more than thrilled with their Championship-qualifying efforts.
Loud, who had been lurking within the Top 20 for a majority of the season, knew his time was coming, and successfully cashed in via the successful stretch after enduring some late-season challenges. Properly representing his Nashville Stampede, he bested Woody (88 points) and Let Him Fly (87.75 points) before getting in on the electric fourth round via his 90-point conversion aboard Ridin’ Salty en route to putting the finishing touches on his podium performance. Very much a quality performance. But it’s hard not to celebrate the new 2025 PBR Rookie of the Year frontrunner in Bolton – Who can see his first-year honors solidified as soon as the midweek Ride For Redemption showcase if Anderson de Oliveira, Elizmar Jeremias and any other competitive rookies fail to claim one of the final five spots inside AT&T Stadium. But we came to recap Bolton’s eye-opening stretch, which included his own trio of conversions.
Recording qualified rides atop July (88 points), Fringe Minority (88.75 points) and Top Dollar (86.5 points), the New York Mavericks rookie ended up tying Loud and No. 3 John Crimber for the Round 1 honors. Which only keep him hungry to keep grinding throughout the showcase. He may have finished just 1.5 points behind Loud in the aggregate but we have a feeling the idea that he punched a ticket to Jerry World vastly outweighs said deficit in regard to Sunday’s big board. Both he and Guiton, who each participated in their first season-culminating showdowns, will continue their respective hunt May 17-18 in gold buckle-chasing fashion!
2025 Eliminations Aggregate: Had Bolton not finished where he had, which ended up being fourth place, he would’ve found himself claiming one of the five spots allotted to aggregate-topping contingents, as he ended Eliminations as the official cutline rider and within the No. 15 spot. Knowing he ended up claiming the 15th and last automatic bid via rankings actually opened up a spot for Sandro Batista (aggregate: 12th) to qualify, as the Kansas City Outlaws’ rider joined Koltin Hevalow (aggregate: 8th), Dener Barbosa (aggregate: 9th), Derek Kolbaba (aggregate: 10th) and Alan de Souza (aggregate: 11th) in claiming one of the prized aggregate invites. Thinking back to the 2024 iteration of the postseason-opening act, this is now the second-straight season where Barbosa has skipped out on Ride For Redemption theatrics despite not being ranked in the Top 15 via qualifying as a Top 5 aggregate representative. Trailing Hevalow by 1.25 points on the big board, he settled for a ninth-place effort to Hevalow’s No. 8 finish by excelling during his final two opportunities, besting Smooth Violation for 86.75 points and DirtyBru for a close 86.5 points when Sunday rolled around. Joining Barbosa in 2-for-4 fashion, Hevalow did his work earlier in the session, converting in Rounds 1 and 2 aboard What’s Poppin (87.5 points) and Baldy (87 points), respectively.
The third and final member of the “Top 5” group includes veteran Derek Kolbaba, who made the most of his 10th World Finals qualification by surviving the requisite 8 in 50% of his matchups just the same. Neither of his trips atop Whiskey Trip (86.25 points) or Big Chili (82.75 points) were game-changers, but in an event where only 10 men recorded two-plus conversions, it was good enough to get the job done. As mentioned, Batista snuck in courtesy of some rookie heroics from Bolton, but his 89.75-pointer dancing with Say When didn’t produce itself, either. However, the last-chance entry paved way to Souza’s event-topping go aboard now two-time YETI World Champion Man Hater!
Top 15: Of course, the number of men moving onto AT&T Stadium is a round 20, meaning most of the guys who have consistently been ranked within the Top 10 or so were amongst the group of 15 riders stamping their passports to Jerry World. If anything, Bolton is the lone man who hadn’t enjoyed said comfort throughout the campaign, 100% in part to him missing nearly three months of competition due to injury. But a majority of the guys who put in the work all season long saw their respective grinds rewarded when all was said and done inside the legendary arena.
Set to attempt to chase down No. 1 Kasel, this year’s Top 15-ranked qualifiers includes: No. 2 Brady Fielder, No. 3 John Crimber, No. 4 Clay Guiton, No. 5 Sage Steele Kimzey, No. 6 Jose Vitor Leme, No. 7 Luciano De Castro, No. 8 Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, No. 9 Cort McFadden, No. 10 Keyshawn Whitehorse, No. 11 Austin Richardson, No. 12 Kaiden Loud, No. 13 Andrew Alvidrez, No. 14 Kaique Pacheco and No. 15 Hudson Bolton.
Knowing four of those 15 talents in Rossetto, McFadden, Alvidrez and Pacheco failed to convert during Eliminations suggests they’ll be hitting the reset button come Wednesday. Remembering both Castro and Rossetto doctored out of various rounds throughout the warm-up slate will also force fans and fellow riders alike to keep an eye on their respective injury updates. That said, we’d be hard-pressed to suggest either of them won’t gut it out during the final two days of competition.
Magic Potion No. 49:Magic Potion is officially the industry’s new buckoff king after recording his record-breaking 49th-consecutive rideless effort during Championship Sunday inside Cowtown Coliseum.
Which isn’t something we thought we’d be proclaiming anytime this soon after watching fellow bovine standout Cool Whip continue to improve his own buckoff count. However, after Sandro Batista tamed the living legend earlier this year, the tour’s attention drastically turned to Magic Potion, who was drumming up his own spicy slate!
Shedding Lucas Divino to the dirt just 2.41 seconds into his most recent masterpiece, his 43.25-point bull score was far from the rankest. Then again, there weren’t many bulls bringing double-digit buckoff streaks into the PBR World Finals last weekend, let alone 48-straight. Setting himself up for a chance to record what would be a hefty 50th no-ride allowance inside AT&T Stadium, will the K Bar C Bucking Bulls/Daniels Cattle Co. product continue to shine bright?
