Tulsa begins Stretch Run to the PBR World Finals
By: Justin Felisko
August 08, 2018
The last three World Champions – Jess Lockwood, Cooper Davis and J.B. Mauney – have won Tulsa on their way to the world title. Photo: Matt Breneman, Andy Watson/BullStockMedia.com.
PUEBLO, Colo. – The stretch run to the PBR World Finals officially ramps up this weekend with the Express Employment Professionals Classic, presented by Osage Casino and Hotel, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Tulsa is the first of nine regular season 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast events before the World Finals on Nov. 7-11.
The last three World Champions – Jess Lockwood, Cooper Davis and J.B. Mauney – have won Tulsa on their way to the world title, so there is at least a lucky charm factor to the Sooner State event in recent memory.
“It sets up your whole second half,” Lockwood said. “That first one back can decide how your whole second half goes. If it does go bad, you have to jump back and forget about it. But if it does go good, you have confidence and you are just ready to go.”
In fact, Lockwood, Davis and Mauney could all use a victory this weekend for a variety of reasons.
The two obvious factors for Lockwood and Davis is that both riders are still very much alive in the 2018 world title race despite first half injuries.
Lockwood – the reigning World Champion – begins the second half seventh in the world standings and 1,187.5 points behind world leader Kaique Pacheco.
Davis is sitting in ninth place and is 1,425 points off Pacheco’s pace.
Both riders overcame second-half deficits the last two seasons, but neither was this far back at the start of the second half. Lockwood was fourth and 865 points back, while Davis was eighth and 795.33 points behind.
“I overcame 800-some points, and this year I am back 1,200,” Lockwood acknowledged. “I feel like I am riding better this year in a way. I am more mature in my riding and I have rode tougher bulls that people don’t normally ride. I plan on being healthier this year and not having to miss events because, shoot, I missed three events last year in the second half. If I can go to every one, I feel like I am just there and perfectly fine.”
Eleven of Lockwood’s 15 qualified rides on the premier series have been for 85 or more points, but his 34.88 percent riding average is 8.8 points lower than his 43.75-percent rate from last season.
Lockwood, who said his injured riding hand flared up once again in Salt Lake City on July 19, takes on Budakon (3-1, PBR UTB) in Round 1 on Saturday night, while Davis has drawn Mind Freak (3-0, PBR UTB).
“If I can get him rode, I think I can have the round won,” Lockwood said.
Pacheco has a 301.67-point lead on No. 2 Claudio Montanha Jr. and is in the driver’s seat at the start of the second half for the second time in three years.
In 2016, Pacheco began the stretch run with a 115.33-point lead atop the standings. Last year he was No. 2 and 105 points out of the top spot.
Pacheco has drawn Lil 2 Train (0-0, PBR UTB) in Round 1.
Historically, any rider within 2,000 points of the world lead at the start of the World Finals has a chance at the world title. Thirteen riders begin the second half within that deficit of Pacheco.
Meanwhile, Mauney is competing via an injury exemption after falling to 39thin the world standings during the summer break.
Mauney has never been ranked this low in the world standings this late into a season, and the 31-year-old has been plagued throughout 2018 by the reconstructive right shoulder surgery he underwent last summer, and then most recently a broken back in April that he sustained attempting to ride the late Pearl Harbor.
Mauney is 73.34 points behind No. 35 Alisson Souza.
Souza finished in second place at the Sterling, Colorado, Touring Pro Division event to rise to No. 35, but the UTB draw had already been set for Tulsa before he was ranked in the Top 35.
Mauney will not be subject to the UTB cutline as he has enough injury exemptions and World Champion exemptions to finish out the final nine regular season events. He will need to be in the Top 35 to qualify for the World Finals for a 13th consecutive time.
If history is on his side and not Father Time, then Mauney will be a good bet to crack the Top 35 sooner rather than later.
The two-time World Champion has historically been a dominant second-half rider too.
Mauney is 186-for-334 (55.69 percent) from Aug. 1 through the PBR World Finals in his career. He has also won Tulsa twice, and it was five years ago when Mauney made history by ending three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker’s record-setting streak of 42 consecutive buckoffs with a 95.25-point ride.
Mauney has drawn Fly Over (0-0, PBR UTB) for Round 1 on Saturday night.
Mauney and No. 37 Colten Jesse are replacing No. 14 Keyshawn Whitehorse and No. 31 Emilio Resende in the draw.
Whitehorse is week-to-week with a riding hand injury he sustained in Rocksprings, Texas, in June while Resende expects to be out until the second week of October as he continues to recover from reconstructive left shoulder surgery.
Jesse has drawn Mo Money (2-0, PBR UTB) for Round 1.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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