2002 World Champion Caminhas Becomes Oldest PBR World Finals Qualifier at 46 Years Old

By: Justin Felisko

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – 2002 World Champion Ednei Caminhas flexed his muscles and let a huge grin break through his salt and pepper beard inside the locker room at American Bank Center on Saturday night.

Caminhas knows his body is not nearly what it was almost 20 years ago when he was crowned the 2002 PBR World Champion.

His body certainly has deteriorated in the last two decades since being crowned a 27-year-old PBR World Champion. The 46-year-old now walks with a limp.

Caminhas then laughs about his age and his three previous retirements, and he points at his heart and his head.

“A World Champion may lose his ability, but he never loses that same fight,” Caminhas explained. “I know my body is not the same, but I still have the same World Championship mindset that helped me win a gold buckle.

“A World Championship gives you power. It gives you more aggression. My mind is still great.”

Caminhas made history at the 2022 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals this weekend in Corpus Christi, Texas, by going 2-for-3 and finishing fifth overall to earn a Wild Card berth to the 2022 PBR World Finals on May 13-22 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Indaiatuba, Brazil, native will become the oldest rider to ever compete at the PBR World Finals when he nods his head on Friday night inside Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Wallace de Oliveira was the previous record-holder after qualifying for the 2020 PBR World Finals at 41 years old.

Caminhas rode Old School Cool for 85.5 points in Round 1 and Back Time for 87.5 points in Round 2. Kickstart My Heart bucked him off in 2.46 seconds in the championship round.

Caminhas has not ridden at the World Finals in 13 years (2009). Coincidentally, 2009 is the last year the PBR held an 8-round Finals like it will be doing this year.

“Oh my God, it’s going to be No. 10 (World Finals) for me,” Caminhas said. “I know I said yesterday that I would not complain, and I just trust in God and put this in God’s hands. And he put me there. For me, to make the World Finals 10 times is a blessing because I retired three times, but I kept coming back.”

Current Rookie of the Year leader Bob Mitchell, 19 years old, was born a little more than two weeks before Caminhas won his gold buckle.

Caminhas has also declared for the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, on May 23 and said that might factor into whether he decides to retire or not following the World Finals.

“We’ll see how it goes over there because that’s my dream (to return to the Finals),” Caminhas said. “But I’m feeling and riding good. I think God help me, but I do my best to be on a team maybe.”

Caminhas was one of five riders who earned Wild Card berths to the PBR World Finals this weekend at the Velocity Tour Finals.

First, Alex Cardozo was named the international invite to the PBR World Finals after he, Francisco Morales and Griffin Smeltzer went a combined 0-for-6. Cardozo received the Wild Card berth as he was the highest-ranked rider in the world standings among the three riders at No. 43.

Brandon Davis and Casey Coulter earned their first career World Finals berths courtesy of the Velocity Tour standings. Davis (No. 3) and Coulter (No. 5) were the top two riders in the VT standings who did not finish the season in the Top 35 of the world standings.

Davis (1-for-3) nearly won the Velocity Tour Championship after entering Championship Saturday atop the Velocity Tour standings, but two late buckoffs against Tiger (6.98 seconds) and Bolo (7.12 seconds) cost him the $50,000 championship.

“I came here to win the damn thing, but it was somebody else’s turn, obviously,” Davis said. “Word is I am still getting into the Finals. It isn’t the way I wanted to get to the World Finals, but I will take it.”

 
Meanwhile, Coulter (1-for-2) wound up bumping Griffin Smeltzer (0-for-2) out of the World Finals after he rode Dirty Don for 88.5 points in Round 2 to earn 6.33 points to the Velocity Tour standings and move ahead of Smeltzer.

“This ride is everything,” Coulter, 32, said. “It was show out or go home. It was my dream ever since I was a kid. I know that is a cheesy saying, but when guys say that, it is because it is true.”

Caminhas and Josh Frost (2-for-3) earned the last two Wild Card berths as the Top-2 finishers in the Velocity Tour Finals event average who had yet to qualify for the World Finals.

Frost rode Out of the Blue for 85.5 points and Heart & Soul for 88 points to finish fourth in the event average. Frost almost won the VT Finals event title before Experiment 626 bucked him off in 7.38 seconds during the championship round.

“I am super excited,” Frost, the No. 2-ranked bull rider in the PRCA, said of qualifying for his first World Finals. “That was the goal starting out, making the Velocity Finals. I went to six Velocity events to get here. I knew I had a Wild Card opportunity, and I came in and got my job done on the first two. I came up a little short in the short round, but we left it all hanging out on the table, and I am happy to be heading to Fort Worth.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media

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