How Does Dias’s 2024 Season Compare With Leme’s Record-Breaking 2021 Season?
By: Darci Miller
PUEBLO, Colo. – It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a season like the one Cassio Dias is currently putting together.
At the halfway point of the season, the rookie phenom is ranked No. 1 in the Unleash The Beast World Championship standings by a gigantic 317.33 points after four event wins.
No rider on the Unleash The Beast has won four events in a single season since Kaique Pacheco won five and eventual World Champion Jose Vitor Leme won eight in 2021.
Leme’s 2021 season is regarded as the greatest the sport has ever seen, as he broke or tied six records en route to his second consecutive world title. While we may never see the likes of that season again, Dias is currently on pace to win as many events as Leme did that year.
Could Dias be on track to rewrite the PBR history books? Let’s take a look at the numbers.
Jose Vitor Leme in 2021 vs. Cassio Dias halfway through 2024
Riding percentage: 49-for-71 (69%) vs. 22-for-37 (59%)
Event wins: 8 vs. 4
90-point rides: 24 vs. 5
Round wins: 21 vs. 7
Highest-scoring ride: 98.75 points vs. 94.75 points
Average ride score: 89.82 points vs. 87.36 points
What are Dias’s odds of overtaking Leme in any of these categories?
Leme’s record of event wins in a single season is looking the most tenuous. Leme actually shares that record with two-time World Champion and Nashville Stampede head coach Justin McBride, so if Dias were to match them, he would be joining some elite company.
An interesting note: Leme missed eight events due to injury in 2021, while Dias has yet to spend any time on the shelf this season. Should he stay healthy, this record is one to keep an eye on as we approach the 2024 PBR World Finals on May 9-19 in Fort Worth, Texas.
If Dias continues winning events, odds are, he’ll also continue winning rounds. He has some ground to make up if he’s going to catch Leme in that category, though.
Dias could also catch Leme in the riding percentage department. While his current 59% is decently behind Leme’s 2021 percentage of 69%, Dias has already proven he can go ride for ride with the two-time champ. During the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series season, the riders notched identical 71% riding percentages – Dias went 20-for-28, while Leme went 23-for-32 to win his second consecutive regular-season MVP award.
Of course, the Unleash The Beast season is twice as long as the Teams season. Keeping up that level of production across seven months is a huge feat that only the greatest bull riders in history have ever been able to accomplish.
Leme’s record of most 90-point rides in a season, meanwhile, looks to be safe. Will we ever see that record broken? It’s not looking likely, and Dias might not even sniff the old record of 16 set by Cody Hart in his 1999 World Championship season. Other World Champions have flirted with that mark, notably Adriano Moraes in 2001 (15), McBride in 2007 (15), and Jess Lockwood in 2019 (14).
Thus far in his PBR career (one Teams season and half of a UTB season), Dias has 10 90-point rides. He doesn’t appear to be quite the home-run hitter we know Leme to be. However, in Leme’s first full season on the premier series, he only recorded five 90-point rides. Dias’s best riding may still be ahead of him, which should strike fear into the heart of every other rider on tour.
As for the highest-scoring ride conversation, Leme’s 98.75 points on Woopaa also might never be touched. Woopaa, who helped riders to the three highest-scoring rides in PBR history, has since retired, and there’s yet to be a bovine that’s filled his shoes in terms of sky-high scores.
This past weekend in Los Angeles, though, Dias rode the previously unridden Man Hater for a new career high of 94.75 points. The potential for huge scores is there.
In conclusion, it looks like Leme will retain his hold on the greatest season of all time. But the mere fact that another rider is knocking on the door and starting the conversation – a rookie, no less! – means nothing but good things for the sport of bull riding.
While Leme is currently questionable with a lingering groin injury, Dias will next be in action this weekend at the U.S. Border Patrol PBR Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida, on Feb. 23-24. Action begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV.
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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