Comparing Leme’s 2020 World Championship to Lockwood’s 2019 World Championship
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – The dust has long settled since Jose Vitor Leme capped off his sensational season by winning the 2020 PBR World Championship in Arlington, Texas, last month.
Leme’s march to the world title was highlighted by a remarkable seven event wins and a 67.69% riding average. The two accolades had Leme flirting with the PBR’s record for most wins in a season (Justin McBride, 8) and highest riding percentage (Guilherme Marchi, 70.75%).
Leme was by far the cream of the crop in 2020, and there is strong evidence that he will be the man to beat once again in 2021.
However, there is one rider inside the locker room with two gold buckles that very well may be poised to challenge Leme once the PBR’s 28th premier series season begins next month.
Jess Lockwood
Leme was essentially never truly threatened in the 2020 world title race once Lockwood tore his hamstring in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 1. Lockwood was only 72.5 points behind Leme at the time of his injury, but he could not overcome a 450.5-point deficit once he returned six months later.
Joao Ricardo Vieira tried to make a late-season push at Leme by winning the regular-season finale in Nampa, Idaho, but he was then ruled out for the 2020 PBR World Finals because of a positive COVID-19 test. Meanwhile, 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco was never truly able to get close enough to Leme in the world standings to be a significant threat to Leme’s gold buckle aspirations before he was eliminated during Round 3 of the PBR World Finals.
It was only one year ago that Lockwood put forth his own historic season to run down Leme and stunningly defeat him for the World Championship at the 2019 PBR World Finals.
In fact, a comparison between Leme’s 2020 season and Lockwood’s 2019 season shows nearly an identical image of the two World Champions’ gold buckle campaigns despite the differences between the two seasons.
Leme and Lockwood each posted the same number of qualified rides (44), outs (65) and riding percentage (67.69%) during their world title seasons.
Leme may have posted more event wins (7) than Lockwood (5) did during his world title season, but Lockwood had the edge in 15/15 Bucking Battle victories (4 to 1) and 90-point rides (15 to 9)
Let’s take a deeper look at the comparison between Leme’s 2020 world title season with Lockwood’s 2019 gold buckle year as these two PBR stalwarts prepare for another battle for the 2021 World Championship.
Leme 2020 Unleash The Beast Statistics vs. Lockwood 2019 Unleash the Beast statistics
Rides: Leme (44) / Lockwood (44)
Outs: Leme (65) / Lockwood (65)
Riding Percentage: Leme (67.69%) / Lockwood (67.69%)
Average Ride Score: Leme (88.52) / Lockwood (88.15)
Event Wins: Leme (7) / Lockwood (5)
15/15 Bucking Battle Wins: Leme (1) / Lockwood (4)
Round Wins: Leme (16) / Lockwood (14)
90-point Rides: Leme (9) / Lockwood (14)
UTB Events Competed at: Leme (20 events & 6 15/15s) / Lockwood (18 events & 8 15/15s)
Best Ride: Leme (95.75 points on Woopaa) / Lockwood (94 points on Heartbreak Kid)
ANALYSIS: It is amazing how identical Leme and Lockwood were during their respective world title seasons despite how different their paths to the gold buckle were. Leme basically ran away with his 2020 world title, whereas Lockwood needed to go 5-for-6 at the 2019 PBR World Finals to usurp Leme and win the world title.
In 2019, Lockwood pushed Leme to be that much better, and vice versa. Leme had been the No. 1-ranked bull rider in the world for the final six weeks of the season, and he had just won the 2019 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals and championship before Lockwood’s heroics at the World Finals capped off a fiercely competitive title race. Lockwood and Leme also had to contend against No. 3 Chase Outlaw, also a stout challenger for the 2019 gold buckle.
Four of Lockwood’s five event wins were in the regular season compared to Leme’s seven regular-season wins. Lockwood went 5-for-6 to win the 2019 PBR World Finals, while Leme went 3-for-5 for sixth place at the 2020 World Finals. Lockwood needed to essentially win the World Finals to defeat Leme in 2019, whereas Leme simply needed to keep his head above water at the 2020 World Finals. Lockwood also had four 15/15 Bucking Battle victories to Leme’s one.
Leme’s biggest challenger in 2020 once Lockwood went down with his hamstring injury was all the uncertainty surrounding the world amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It is no secret that the coronavirus forever altered the world, let alone the PBR season, but Leme and the rest of the league’s bull riders had to adjust to life in a COVID-riddled world. There was uncertainty early on if the season could even be finished once sporting events all across the United States began to be cancelled because of the ongoing pandemic. Once the PBR did restart its season in April, COVID-19 testing, social distancing and training in isolation became the norm.
In fact, Leme’s red-hot streak of three consecutive premier series victories in the fall came to a halt when he had to miss two events because of close-contact exposure to someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Leme never faltered through it all, and he never let go of the world No. 1 ranking for the final seven and a half months of the season. Leme refused to slow down even when stiff opponents such as Lockwood, Outlaw and 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis were at home recovering from significant injuries.
How good was Leme compared to the rest of the field in 2020? At one point, Leme had double the amount of world points of every rider in the PBR except for Joao Ricardo Vieira.
Jose Vitor Leme 2020 vs. Jess Lockwood 2019 at all levels of competition
When opening up the comparison to all levels of competition, Leme and Lockwood are extremely close in their statistical performances.
Rides: Leme (64) / Lockwood (72)
Outs: Leme (98) / Lockwood (112)
Riding Percentage: Leme (65.31%%) / Lockwood (64.29%)
Average Ride Score: Leme (87.99) / Lockwood (88.18)
Event Wins: Leme (11) / Lockwood (11)
Round Wins: Leme (29) / Lockwood (25)
90-point Rides: Leme (12) / Lockwood (16)
Events Competed at: Leme (37) / Lockwood (37)
Total Earnings: Leme ($1,405,793.61) / Lockwood ($1,873,731.80)
Analysis: It is interesting again to see how similar Lockwood and Leme’s two seasons were, especially considering how different the 2020 PBR calendar looked with fewer Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour and Touring Pro Division events.
Leme truly made his mark outside of the Unleash The Beast by going an outstanding 11-for-16 to lead Team Cooper Tires to an undefeated record (8-0) at the inaugural Monster Energy Team Challenge championship. If the METC had counted towards the world standings, Leme might have wound up clinching the world title even sooner this past season. The 2017 World Finals event winner accounted for 46.41% of his team’s total score, and his 11 qualified rides was more than the entire season totals of eight of the other 11 teams in the tournament. He averaged 86.8 points per ride. Team Cooper Tires never trailed once in the tournament.
Leme was 9-for-17 outside of the UTB and METC with three Touring Pro Division victories. He also went 3-for-4 at the 2020 Global Cup USA, where he won the individual event average title.
Lockwood’s push for the 2019 world title really picked up steam during the summer run that season. He went 22-for-30 (73.33 percent) over the course of the 2019 summer run with five event wins to earn a PBR-record 687.5 world points. Lockwood outgained Leme by 517.5 points in the summer of 2019 and put himself right back in the thick of the title race.
Lockwood’s $1,873,731.80 in 2019 is a PBR record for most earnings in one season.
What will Jose Vitor Leme & Jess Lockwood do in 2021?
Lockwood and Leme’s 67.69% riding average is the highest by a World Champion since three-time World Champion Silvano Alves rode 69% of his bulls in 2011 (69-for-100).
Based on each of their past two seasons, one thing appears certain for the upcoming season. Whoever the 2021 World Champion is going to be, they are most likely going to have to ride close to 60% of their bulls and have a knack for winning rounds and events if Leme and Lockwood continue to ride at their current pace.
One can only hope Lockwood and Leme remain healthy for the 2021 season so that PBR fans can see what a yearlong battle between two of the sport’s greats will look like.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photos courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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