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By the Numbers: Leme Appears Poised for Another Run at Cody Hart’s 90-Point Ride Record

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – 2020 World Champion Jose Vitor Leme picked up his second event win of the 2021 season by going a flawless 4-for-4 this past weekend at the PBR First PREMIER Bank / PREMIER Bankcard Invitational in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Leme once again found his way to victory via 90-point heroics. He posted back-to-back 90-point rides on championship Sunday by first jumping into the event lead with 90.5 points aboard Lil 2 Train – a bull who previously had bucked him off a surprising three consecutive times. Leme, who bounced back after twisting his previously broken right ankle in the bucking chutes against Lil 2 Train, then clinched the win with 92.25 points on Hundred Bad Days.

 
The No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world leads the PBR with seven 90-point rides on the Unleash The Beast despite competing in only five events. Leme has missed four events this season because of injuries.

Leme’s torrid 90-point ride pace – seven of his 11 qualified rides have been 90 points or higher – has to make one think he has a great chance at breaking 1999 World Champion Cody Hart’s single-season record of 16 90-point rides.

The 24-year-old made a push at Hart’s record two years ago, but Leme ultimately cooled off in the second half and finished with 12 90-point rides. Coincidentally, two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood finished his 2019 championship season with 14 90-point rides as he pulled off a remarkable comeback at the World Finals to edge Leme for the world title.

Three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes (2001) and two-time World Champion Justin McBride (2007) are tied for the second-most 90-point rides in a season with 15.

Any rider with a PBR season of 13 or more 90-point rides has gone on to win the world title in that respective year as well – Hart, Moraes, McBride, Lockwood.

So how does Leme’s current pace compare with Hart’s 1999 season?

It took Hart 12 events and 26 outs to reach seven 90-point rides in 1999. He recorded his seventh 90-point ride on March 26, 1999, when he rode Panhandle Slim for 92.5 points. He was 16-for-26 at that time. Hart would compete in a total of 28 premier series events that season, so he would record nine more 90-point rides over the final 16 events following his seventh 90-point ride.

Leme posted nine 90-point rides in 20 events last season. He had 12 90s in 27 events in 2019.

This year Leme is clearly ahead of Hart’s pace, and well ahead of his own pace, as he is averaging 1.4 90-point rides per event weekend. The six-year pro is 11-for-15 (73.33%), with those seven 90-point rides in five events.

It is unlikely Leme will continue to average that many 90-point rides per weekend, but he is more than capable of surpassing Hart’s record of 16 90-point rides if he continues to ride up to his expected potential in 2021.

Here are some other noteworthy statistics from the weekend in Sioux Falls.

22: Joao Ricardo Vieira’s career-high ride of 93 points on I’m Legit Too was the 22nd 90-point ride of his career. His previous high was 92.25 points on Big Tex Walk Off on March 28, 2015, in Seattle.

 
55.95: Three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes is the oldest gold buckle winner in PBR history after winning the 2006 world title at 36. Moraes went 47-for-84 (55.95%) with four 90-point rides that season. Vieira, who turns 37 this coming July, is ranked No. 4 in the world standings and has begun 2021 14-for-28 (50%) with one 90-point ride. Vieira also has a streak of five consecutive rides on the premier series.

3: Cody Nance posted as many qualified rides in Sioux Falls (3) as he did during his entire 2020 premier series season (3-for-18). Nance is officially seeded back on the Unleash The Beast following his 3-for-4, fourth-place finish inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Nance saw his streak of 11 consecutive World Finals come to an end last season because of nerve damage in his right shoulder and hip dysplasia that cost him the first six months of the year. The 33-year-old is now ranked 20th in the world standings.

14: Marquis Metal Works Red Clark extended his premier series buckoff streak to 14 this weekend with a 5.08-second buckoff of Derek Kolbaba. Red Clark is 9-0 in 2021, and his 46-point bull score in Sioux Falls increased his 2021 YETI World Champion Bucking Bull contender average to 45.41. Red Clark is ranked No. 3 in the YETI World Champion Bull standings.

 
2.93: Red Clark has an average buckoff time of 2.93 seconds in his career. The previous eight riders before Kolbaba were bucked off in 2.88 seconds or less. The last rider to reach 5 seconds aboard Red Clark was Kaique Pacheco at the 2020 World Finals (5.3 seconds).

428: It had been 428 days since Cody Jesus had last won a premier series round before he won Round 2 Saturday night in Sioux Falls with 89.25 points on Concealed Carry. Jesus’s last round win was last year when he rode Gambini for 88.5 points at Iron Cowboy in Los Angeles.

133.5: Colten Fritzlan went 2-for-4 in Sioux Falls and extended his lead atop the Rookie of the Year standings to 133.5 points on No. 2 rookie Marcelo Procopio Pereira. Fritzlan had bucked off seven consecutive bulls until this weekend. He also hadn’t posted multiple rides in one weekend since winning his debut event in Okeechobee, Florida, in January.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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