Lockwood Looks to Keep Rolling in Denver

By: Justin Felisko
January 15, 2019

DENVER – 2017 World Champion Jess Lockwood is headed to Denver in search of some firewood.

The No. 1 bull rider in the world has begun the Unleash The Beast swinging his bull riding ax in full force with eight consecutive rides and back-to-back victories.

Lockwood’s 3-for-3 victory in Chicago this past weekend made him the first bull rider to win the first two events of the premier series since two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney did so in 2007.

Lockwood could easily take a few days off and prepare for the next Unleash The Beast event – the Ak-Chin Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, in Glendale, Arizona – seeing as he already has a 987.5-point lead on No. 2 Chase Outlaw in the world standings.

Last season, it took until the end of September for any world leader to have as large as a lead as Lockwood has currently. Kaique Pacheco had opened up a 1,211.67-point lead on No. 2 Claudio Montanha Jr. following his victory in Fairfax, Virginia.

Lockwood, though, knows eventually the pendulum can swing away from his favor and that he best try to keep this momentum going as long as possible.

Therefore, Lockwood is riding Tuesday night during the second night of competition at the Denver PBR Chute Out at the National Western Stock Show Velocity Tour event.

“If you are riding this good, why would you not go?” Lockwood said. “When you are on a hot streak, you don’t just give it time to cool off. You keep the fire burning.”

The first half of Round 1 featured 13 qualified rides on Monday. The Top 30 scores from Monday & Tuesday advance to Wednesday’s long round.

Lockwood takes on Hooky.

Derek Kolbaba is sitting atop the leaderboard with an 88.5-point ride on Red Sails in The Sunset.

One rider can earn a maximum of 270 points toward the world standings in Denver, and Lockwood could potentially leave the National Western Coliseum with a more than 1,000-point lead less than two weeks into the season.

“Points matter, but it’s $80,000 added and that matters too,” Lockwood said. “There is no reason to sit at home when there is that much money and just watch someone else win it when you could go win it.”

Lockwood is also well aware of how an injury can drastically change his season and the world title race. He was the No. 2 bull rider in the world in 2017 before tearing his groin at Iron Cowboy.

The Volborg, Montana, bull rider was then stuck in a dogfight the rest of the season, having to win a PBR-record three consecutive rounds to open the 2017 World Finals to win the world title.

 
“Anything can happen,” Lockwood said. “One day you are a hero and one day you are a zero. You can get hurt in an instant. You have to take it one day at a time. Shoot, we have 20-some (UTB) events left. We don’t look at any of that type of stuff. I don’t, anyways. It is just beginning.”

Lockwood could not have asked for a better beginning to 2019.

His event-winning 90.5-point ride on Rising Sun was his second 90 of the season and it helped him split the championship round win with 2016 World Champion and Team USA Global Cup teammate Cooper Davis.

Lockwood was able to select Rising Sun, who he rode for 89.5 points at the 2018 PBR World Finals, with the first pick of the championship round draft when he accepted a re-ride in the second round following his 76.25-point effort on Kid Fletcher.

The 2017 Rookie of the Year then teed off on Deaconator for 88 points to surge ahead of Jose Vitor Leme for the lead. Leme had been hoping to select Rising Sun in the draft.

“That was good,” Lockwood said. “You have to be a cowboy and take your re-rides. That proves what taking a re-ride will do right there. When they were asking me, (Matt Scharping) told me to take him and that he is good right there to the left and he would fit me perfect.”

Lockwood has won over $184,000 on Rising Sun with three rides, including his $75,000 winning ride at Chad Berger’s 2018 Match of Champions in Bismarck, North Dakota (92.5 points).

“Other than More Big Bucks, I don’t think you get much nicer than him,” Lockwood said. “I am going to pick him every chance I get to.”

It did not take long for Lockwood to start kicking his right leg out during his winning ride.

“You just have to go with the ride,” he said. “If you feel like you have to spur him to finish, then do it. He is one if you are riding him right, you can spur from the start. I just love him.”

Lockwood converted on two re-rides in Chicago after also riding Show Me Homie for 88.5 points to win Round 1.

He has now won/tied four of the first eight rounds on the premier series.

In comparison, Lockwood won nine rounds during his entire 2017 championship season.

Two-time World Champion and CBS Sports analyst Justin McBride says Lockwood looks hard to beat right now.

“It is an understatement to say Lockwood is on a roll, but nobody is riding at the level as Jess Lockwood,” McBride said. “He is not just winning events, but he is winning go-rounds. He is getting every point out of every bull. As of now, this guy looks unstoppable.”

RidePass analyst Colby Yates echoed McBride’s sentiments and said he could see Lockwood’s budding confidence by how quickly he went about accepting the re-ride in Round 2.

“Watching him with the confidence he has, it is almost like you can’t stop him,” Yates said. “Whenever you take a re-ride, you don’t have to. Cooper Davis did not and comes back and rides Speed Demon, but Jess Lockwood was going for the win. That is the biggest thing. For him to win a world title this year, if he keeps that mentality throughout the entire season, there is no possible way they are going to stop him.”

Lockwood lands at Denver International Airport around 4 p.m. Tuesday, and he will head straight to the arena for the Velocity Tour event.

His mentality is pretty straight forward.

“Just keep knocking them down one at a time,” he said.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

© 2019 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.