Jose Vitor Leme is Unstoppable

Last weekend, in Duluth, Georgia, Leme was 2-for-3 with a pair of qualified rides on Cold Chill and Mike’s Motive.  

“I’m so happy to ride my first bull,” said Leme, after being marked 88.5 points in the second round on Cold Chill. He continued, “I just want to ride the other ones.”  

And he did just that in spite of injuring the thumb on his free hand.  In fact, he finished off Mike’s Motive in dominating fashion — all balance and out over the front end — by giving everyone a thumb’s up prior to the 8-second whistle sounding.  

“I’m so happy to ride bulls without pain,” said Leme, who finished the event third in the average and debuted at 16th in the PBR world standings as he looks to become the first PBR rider to ever claim three consecutive world titles.  

“Just so happy to ride two bulls. Make two great rides. Just happy to be back.”  

In addition to Leme’s third place finish in Duluth, fellow Monster Energy riders Derek Kolbaba and Marco Eguchi split sixth and seventh in the average while Cody Teel was 12th.  

 

All four made it back to account for a third of the riders who competed in the Championship Round. Leme, 16; Kolbaba, 26; Chase Outlaw, 26; Teel, 32 and Eguchi, 43, will be competing again this coming weekend in Sacramento.  

 

Outlaw was in the draw after missing the vast majority of the past two seasons following a series of shoulder injuries that required having both his left and right shoulders completely reconstructed twice each.  

 

The Arkansas cowboy, who is bull riding healthy for the first time since 2017, is approaching 200 qualified rides at the elite level of competition. He currently has 179 and should surpass 200 by season’s end.