2019 Season Rewind: Lockwood and Leme’s Rankest Rides in a Historic Title Race
By: Darci Miller
PUEBLO, Colo. – While it culminated in a heavyweight showdown at the PBR World Finals, the 2019 world title race was full of excitement all season long. With Jess Lockwood, Jose Vitor Leme, Chase Outlaw and Joao Ricardo Vieira all consistently in the hunt, the race ultimately boiled down to Lockwood and Leme, with Lockwood winning his second World Championship.
Lockwood and Leme traded haymakers all year, resulting in historic moments and a race for the ages.
Fans can relive the culmination of the world title race this Sunday, with World Finals recaps airing on CBS Sports national television at 1:30 p.m. ET and on CBS Sports Network at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Read on to look back at Lockwood and Leme’s top rides of the season.
1. Jess Lockwood rides Heartbreak Kid for 94 points – Nampa, Idaho
The second time this duo combined for an 8-second trip earned Lockwood the Mason Lowe Award for the highest-scoring ride of the season. Lockwood rode Heartbreak Kid in back-to-back weekends, winning Round 3 in Nampa and finishing third overall in the event – behind event winner Dalton Kasel and Leme – and heading into the World Finals riding a wave of momentum.
“I have never felt so good,” Lockwood said. “I am 10-foot tall and bulletproof right now. Going into the Finals, last event. I don’t know if I can feel any better. I think everyone is going to start calling me crazy because I am going to start going into the championship rounds and choosing that bull because he is my bull.”
2. Jess Lockwood rides Heartbreak Kid for 93.75 points – Greensboro, N.C.
The previous weekend, Lockwood and Heartbreak Kid combined for 93.75 points. Lockwood finished second overall in Greensboro to gain ground on then-No. 1 Leme, but the ride was even more significant as it ended Heartbreak Kid’s streak of 38 consecutive buckoffs, the second-longest such streak in PBR history.
“I don’t want to go at this world title, pick something like Shownuff and be 90, and know that maybe if I was a little more I could’ve won the event,” Lockwood said. “I want to freaking pick the biggest, rankest bull that’s never been rode, that you’re going to be the most on, to give myself the chance.
“I want to know I did everything in my power to try to win this world title.”
3. Jess Lockwood rides Chiseled for 93 points – Springfield, Mo.
Lockwood again gained some ground on Leme in Springfield in September, riding Chiseled for a huge 93 points and the Round 1 victory. Leme, however, won the event, extending his world lead as the title race headed into its final weeks.
RELATED: Lockwood regains momentum, wins Round 1 in Springfield
4. Jose Vitor Leme rides Cochise for 92.75 points – Albuquerque, N.M.
In 2019 alone, Leme rode Cochise for 90-plus points four times. The third time was for 92.75 points in Albuquerque at the Ty Murray Invitational, which Leme won on the back of a 4-for-4 performance as then-world Nos. 2 and 3 Chase Outlaw and Joao Ricardo Vieira finished second and third. Lockwood, then ranked No. 4 in the world standings, finished seventh.
“Today was the best out he has had out of the three times I have rode him,” Leme said of Cochise in Albuquerque. “I want to thank God to be able to ride him. Today my rope slid to the middle just a bit and I kind of had to move a little bit faster and more than I had done the last two times. I have been on him four times, the first time he bucked me off and now I have got him 90-plus on the other three.
“Every time I get a chance to ride him, I will pick him again.”
5. Jose Vitor Leme rides Smooth Operator for 92.5 points – Columbus, Ohio
In 17 trips on the Unleash The Beast in 2019, 2019 YETI World Champion Bull Smooth Operator only gave up three qualified rides – two to Cody Teel, and one to Leme. Leme’s 92.5-point trip won him the 15/15 Bucking Battle in Columbus, extending his lead atop the world standings, and broke Smooth Operator’s streak of 12 consecutive buckoffs in the process.
RELATED: Leme extends lead atop world rankings with 15/15 Bucking Battle win in Columbus
T6. Jess Lockwood rides Biker Bob for 92 points – PBR World Finals
Leme entered the 2019 PBR World Finals as the No. 1 rider in the world, but Lockwood was on the attack from the get-go. In the midst of his furious push for his second world title – an effort that would ultimately prove to be successful – Lockwood rode Biker Bob for 92 points, winning Round 3 as a slap left Leme with no score. Lockwood had the advantage, and he wouldn’t relinquish it.
“It was a tossup,” Lockwood said. “My good buddy Chaston Lee had his bull Night Shift in there, but it is hard to not take Biker Bob. Night Shift hasn’t been around long. Chaston hasn’t owned him long. When he has, he has bucked. But Biker Bob has been around the last four years. Every time he is going to be there to the left and you are going to be anywhere from 90 to 92 on him. If you are a left-handed rider, you would be stupid not to pick him.”
T6. Jose Vitor Leme rides Biker Bob for 92 points – Springfield, Mo.
Biker Bob made it a habit of helping riders to 90-point scores, as Leme put up a matching 92 points on the bovine in Springfield. Lockwood won Round 1 with 93 points on Chiseled, but Leme went 3-for-4 – including a championship-round win to take the top spot and his second consecutive event win.
“We have a saying in soccer, ‘A team that is winning, you don’t change the players,’” Leme said. “You are already winning, why would you change anything? I am going to continue to do the same and keep the same strategy. Having fun before the events. Playing soccer (during the week). Living the life, because everything is working so great right now. Why change it?”
T6. Jess Lockwood rides Bezerk for 92 points – Tulsa, Okla.
After a tough stretch, Lockwood was back on top of his game in Tulsa in August. He held the world No. 1 ranking for nine weeks to start the season, but a broken collarbone saw him miss three months and slip down the standings. But in Tulsa, Lockwood won the event and tied for the 15/15 Bucking Battle win with a 92-point ride on Bezerk, reclaiming the world No. 1 ranking. Leme, then ranked No. 3 in the world, finished third overall.
“I like when it is a bull riding like this and I am at the top – you feel like you really rode and did your job when everybody is too,” Lockwood said. “All you can do is ride your bull and the rest is up to the judges and everybody else.”
T6. Jose Vitor Leme rides Cochise for 92 points – Sioux Falls, S.D.
Leme may not have won the event in Sioux Falls in April, but he did win three consecutive rounds – capped by a 92-point ride on Cochise in the championship round – to become the first rider since 2012 to do so. It was a performance that helped him inch in front of Chase Outlaw to take the world No. 1 ranking.
“This event was really, really, for me, (important for me) to be No. 1, because the bulls I drew, those are the bulls I like to get on and I know when you ride them it’s going to be a bunch of points,” Leme said. “The first day I got bucked off, but it was kind of my mistake, and after that I just got everything back in a groove and finished really strong. I think that was just God’s plan for me, to come to this event and have that result.”
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