Tough Mission, Goals Remain For Monster Energy Bull Riders

With only six elite, televised events remaining on the PBR regular-season schedule, four venerable Monster Energy bull riders are once again firmly ranked in the Top 25 for the stretch run of the 2024 season. 

Led by 2018 world champion Kaique Pacheco, 17, the list includes 2022 world champion Daylon Swearingen, 22; Boudreaux Campbell, 24; and two-time world champion Jose Vitor Leme, 25. 

“I have a tough mission ahead, but I’m sticking to my goals,” wrote Leme in a social post.

Leme finished last weekend’s Albuquerque event 10 in the average but was roughed up in the third long round of the three-day PBR Major event and was unable to compete in the championship round of the Ty Murray Invitational. 

Leme was competing for only the fifth time this season. 

As usual, he has finished in the Top 10 of those five elite-level events, but unfortunately, he missed out the championship round for the third time this season.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to return to the PBR with a commitment to always deliver my best,” he wrote. 

In a sport that obviously can get wild, western, and chaotic, discipline is often the key, and no one is more disciplined than Pacheco, who damn-near won the Albuquerque event. Pacheco was 3-for-4 and finished fourth in the average. It was his first Top 10 finish since Houston, Texas, and the second time he finished in the Top 5, including the Manchester, New Hampshire, event back in mid-December. 

Campbell insisted he is still 110 percent healthy. 

“I have to get more consistent,” Campbell said, “and stay consistent.”

Campbell and Swearingen might have missed on qualifying for the championship round, but they will again be among top riders making the trip to Nampa, Idaho. This weekend’s event is the second of four back-to-back-to-back-to-back three-day events that have, in the past, proven to be where Monster Energy rider’s stand-out during the toughest grind of the season. 

“Just coming to ride bulls,” Swearingen said, “and not thinking about it.”

Following the trip to Idaho, the tour will stop in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Billings, Montana, before a mid-week event in Everett, Washington, followed by another weekend event in nearby Tacoma. The regular season will then conclude in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Longtime team members Derek Kolbaba (back) and Chase Outlaw (leg) have been sidelined with injuries and both are expected to return for the upcoming PBR Team Series along with J.B. Mauney, the newly named head coach of the Oklahoma Wildcatters.