Despite Missed Opportunity, Davis Ready to Battle Leme for World Title
By: Justin Felisko
FORT WORTH, Texas – There are seven Unleash The Beast regular-season events remaining before the 2021 PBR World Finals begin on Nov. 3 in Las Vegas, and 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis knows he does not have to throw in the towel just yet.
The No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world fell short of his goal of winning the PBR Tractor Supply Co. Iron Cowboy, presented by Ariat, Sunday after Young Man’s Blues bucked him off in 4.85 seconds in Round 3 on Sunday inside Dickies Arena.
It originally appeared that Davis, who had begun the event a perfect 2-for-2, would still make it back to four-rider Round 4. That was until Daylon Swearingen (90.75 points on Diddy Wa Diddy), Paulo Lima (88.25 points on Homegrown) and Dalton Kasel (89.5 points on Monkey Island) all rode their respective bulls in Round 3 to push Davis to fifth in the event average and out of the competition.
The fifth-place result was even more of a disappointment for Davis as he had a golden opportunity to take a massive chunk out of world No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme’s world standings lead. Leme went 0-for-2 and was eliminated from the competition in Round 2.
Instead, Davis will head into next weekend’s PBR Air Force Reserve Cowboys for a Cause team competition on the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi, Texas, still 615.5 points behind Leme in the world title race after only gaining 67 points toward the world standings.
“I gained points,” Davis said. “It wasn’t much, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction, even if it wasn’t the big step that I wanted. It’s aggravating, but it’ll work.”
In fact, outside of event winner Paulo Lima, Leme may have been the biggest winner in Fort Worth as Davis was the only Top 10 rider in the world standings to gain any world points.
Leme is still in control of his gold-buckle destiny as the calendar turns to September, but Davis is prepared to push Leme all the way until the finish line is officially crossed in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena.
“Anything can happen,” Davis concluded. “This definitely made it a lot more difficult, and it is not where I wanted to be, but it’s definitely not over. I did say this was necessary to win the world, but 10 events (when you include 15/15s and Cowboys for a Cause), there’s a lot that could happen.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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