By the Numbers: Woopaa Maintains Lead In YETI World Champion Bull Race
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – Woopaa continues to make statement after statement that he may just be the bull to beat in the 2021 YETI World Championship race.
The 5-year-old bovine star posted his fourth consecutive 46-plus bull score by disposing 11-time PBR World Finals qualifier Cody Nance in 3.88 seconds for 46 points during the 15/15 Bucking Battle this weekend at the PBR Union Home Mortgage Invitational in Omaha, Nebraska.
“By all standards, that is a great score, but by Woopaa’s standards, that is just an average day. But I didn’t think it was average at all. I thought it was an outstanding trip from Woopaa,” two-time World Champion Justin McBride said during the CBS telecast. “I don’t know what more you could have asked out of an athlete to do right there. He brought it all.”
Woopaa now has a 46.45-point average on five outs this season, including back-to-back buckoffs. Nance is also the first left-handed rider on the Unleash The Beast to be bucked off by Woopaa.
“I can’t wait for a rematch,” Nance said. “He moved ahead and got me off my rope but followed with a lot of kick. I know what it takes to ride him.”
Marco Eguchi was originally supposed to face Woopaa, but the 2018 World Finals event winner could not compete in the 15/15 Bucking Battle because of a concussion.
Updated 2021 YETI World Champion Bull Standings
1. Woopaa (46.45 points on five outs)
2. Chiseled (45.70 points on five outs)
3. Marquis Metal Works Red Clark (45.50 points on best eight outs)
3. Ridin Solo (45.50 points on best eight outs)
5. Smooth Wreck (45.38 points on four outs)
Here are some other noteworthy statistics from the weekend in Nampa.
10: Jose Vitor Leme has reached double digits for 90-point rides, and he is in hot pursuit of the PBR single-season record for most 90s. Cody Hart owns the record with 16 90-point rides in 1999, and Leme is 16 outs ahead of Hart’s pace. Hart recorded his 10th 90 on his 43rd premier series out, while Leme has 10 90s in 27 outs.
91.75: Leme is averaging 91.75 points on those 10 90-point rides. In comparison, Hart’s first 10 90s were worth an average of 92.3 points.
1: Leme did not take over the world No. 1 ranking until the fifth week of the season last year. He would lose the top spot the following week to Joao Ricardo Vieira before regaining it at the next event and never relinquishing it for the final seven and a half months.
Leme is now on top of the world standings for the first time this year, and we will see if he can run the table for the rest of 2021.
5: Leme is the fifth different world No. 1 rider this season – Mauricio Moreira, Junior Patrik Souza, Cooper Davis, Kaique Pacheco and Leme. In 2020, there were only four riders who sat on top of the world standings for at least one week –Vieira, Pacheco, Jess Lockwood and Leme.
6: Joao Ricardo Vieira won his sixth round of the season on Sunday when he rode Slingin Tears for 89.25 points in Round 2. The six round wins is already more than he had all last season (5), and it is tied for his second-most in one season (2013). Vieira won eight rounds during his 2014 second-place finish in the world title race.
5: Cooper Davis earned the win in Omaha with a 92.25-point ride on Trail of Tears. Davis has five 90-point rides this season, which is one away from his career-high (6) that he posted in 2019.
185: Colten Fritzlan extended his lead in the Rookie of the Year race on Chase Dougherty to 185 points with a 2-for-3, fourth-place finish. Dougherty also went 2-for-3 and finished in seventh place in Omaha. Fritzlan has posted two qualified rides in three consecutive events.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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