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Leme Wants to One Day Celebrate History-Making Ride with Statue of Woopaa

By: Justin Felisko

TULSA, Okla. – Thirty minutes before Jose Vitor Leme would make history inside Tulsa’s BOK Center, he stood on the back of the bucking chutes and admirably stared at his upcoming 8-second dance partner.

Leme smiled at his “buddy” as he likes to call Woopaa.

Woopaa – the No. 1 bull in the world – proceeded to twitch his right ear towards Leme’s direction. Woopaa then turned his head to look at him, almost as if making a nod of affection to the 24-year-old bull riding sensation.

“I was trying to talk to him through his head,” Leme said. “I told him, ‘Hey we have to do our job today. You do your best. I will do my best. We will be 96, 97 points together.’’

Leme and Woopaa teamed up for not just their best dance on Saturday night during the PBR Express Ranches Classic, presented by Pit Boss, 15/15 Bucking Battle, but for the greatest ride in PBR history.

The “dynamic duo,” as Leme likes to call them, combined for a sensational 97.75-point ride to shatter the PBR record for the highest-marked ride in the league’s 28-year history.

 
Fans can watch the historic moment Sunday on CBS national television at 1 p.m. ET.

“Man, it is so hard to explain this moment,” Leme said. “I just remember he was trying to fly with me. Woopaa is always awesome. I have had a lot of good moments in my life, so I just thank God for this. I look at myself like a normal guy. I am like anyone else. I am just a guy. And now I am doing all these things. All these records. All these numbers. It is amazing.”

The league’s previous high score was 96.5 points, achieved four times. Michael Gaffney (Albuquerque, New Mexico), the 1997 PBR World Champion, was the most recent to accomplish the feat, riding three-time YETI PBR World Champion Bull Little Yellow Jacket (Berger/Teague/Taupin) for 96.5 points in Nampa, Idaho, in 2004.

Leme was given an individual rider score of 49.75 points – the highest ever in the history of the sport – and Woopaa was scored a career-high bull score of 48 points, which is tied for the 10th highest all time.

The 24-year-old admitted he was skeptical if a modern-day rider could actually break the PBR record.

“I have been thinking about that before. I didn’t know if somebody would break that record one day,” Leme said shaking his head in disbelief. “It is so hard. The bulls. The level of the bulls is so hard today. To ride them 48-point bulls you need to be perfect and today I did that. Today that happens. I break that record.”

The relationship between Leme and Woopaa has blossomed in the past eight months into one of the greatest rider-bull tandems since the PBR was founded in 1994.

Leme clinched his first World Championship last year at the PBR World Finals in Arlington, Texas, by conquering Woopaa to the tune of 95.75 points. That performance also helped Woopaa win the 2020 ABBI Classic championship.

 
Stock contractor Laramie Wilson hauls Woopaa for owner Larry Barker, and he has been dreaming of Leme and Woopaa teaming up for the PBR record ever since Woopaa and Leme tangoed inside AT&T Stadium.

“We got it,” an almost speechless Wilson said as he stood in the corner of the bucking chutes as the riders in front of him erupted to the announcement of Leme’s score. “That is awesome. I am just as excited as Jose is. That is awesome. That is definitely the best trip that bull has ever had. He did everything he could, and Jose matched him jump for jump.”

Lucas Divino, one of Leme’s best friends in the PBR, hands could not stop shaking as he slowly walked off the bucking chutes after pulling Leme’s bull rope for the historic ride. Divino had told Leme before he climbed into the chutes to not worry and that he would ride Woopaa again.

“I never seen nothing like this is in my whole life,” Divino said in astonishment. “I am very happy because he is my best fried and we are like brothers. Watching him make this amazing ride? My God. I am so happy for him. I have no words. I can’t believe this score happened.”

Leme’s marquee ride on Woopaa from last year’s World Finals was featured in Sports Illustrated earlier this spring, and Wilson had Leme autographed a small stack of magazines Saturday afternoon prior to the event.

“I never thought I would have had a bull in Sports Illustrated,” Wilson said. “Maybe we would be in the background of something, but nothing like this.”

Leme has the utmost respect for Wilson.

He knows Woopaa’s success is tied directly to his hauler, and he was also exchanging Instagram messages with Wilson’s girlfriend, Katie Perschbacher, about how he thought he could be 96 points on Woopaa on Saturday night.

“It is cool when we have relationships like this with stock contractors,” Leme said. “That is fun because it is good for him and good for us. We have them and they have us. That was very good.”

Both Leme and Wilson agreed that they could sense the unique aura that always seems to exist in Tulsa, which has welcomed the PBR to town for 17 consecutive years, when they arrived on Saturday afternoon.

Two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney ended three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker’s record streak of 42 consecutive buckoffs with a 95.25-point ride in the BOK Center eight years ago.

 
Leme watched Mauney’s historic moment as a 16-year-old growing up in Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil, who had yet to even compete at a bull riding competition as a teenager.

“Always when I come to this arena. I remember that ride. J.B. vs. Bushwacker,” Leme said. “I watched after that happen. Always when I come here, I remember that because J.B. put his name in this arena’s record books and that motivate everyone to put their names in this arena. In 2019, I won this event and that I start putting my name in here.

Today, I definitely made my mark in Tulsa. I am so proud to be partners with J.B. and this arena. This place is very special for us.”

Mike White previously held the highest-marked ride in Tulsa PBR history with 95.75 points aboard Troubadour in 2008.

“You look back at all the historic rides that have been here and just think, ‘Wow.’ It is so electric,” Wilson said.

There was a brief moment on Saturday night where Leme was nervous about his matchup against Woopaa. Body Count had bucked Leme off 5.63 seconds during Round 1, aggravating his injured right ankle from his Last Cowboy Standing victory on Tuesday.

Leme gingerly walked to the locker room, wincing as he put pressure onto his ankle.

“I was nervous because I still had pain in my foot, but I didn’t think that would be a problem for long. I knew can ride. I knew I was good to go.”

The pain eventually subsided in his foot, and Leme was well on his way to his unforgettable bull ride. Earlier this year, Leme rode Woopaa for 94.75 points despite having broken ribs.

 
He is also now tied him with 1999 World Champion Cody Hart for the most 90-point rides in a single season (16).

RELATED: Leme still hungry for another world title

The fifth-year pro had already decided after winning the World Championship aboard Woopaa last November that he would one day want to create a life-size statue of him riding Woopaa to place on his ranch in Decatur, Texas. The statue would be similarto the one of Adriano Moraes riding Little Yellow Jacket that sits outside PBR headquarters in Pueblo, Colorado. [Coincidentally, Moraes never rode Little Yellow Jacket]

But will Leme maybe now use his record-setting ride from Tulsa as the blueprint for his statue? Or does he stick with his championship winning ride?

“I think now maybe it will be a mix of all three rides,” Leme said before laughing. “I need to talk with Laramie and see if I can go to the ranch and take some measurements of Woopaa to do it really exactly the same size.

“I can then remember him forever too.”

Wilson said the door is open anytime for Leme to stop by his ranch, but he at least better be allowed to take a picture with the statue whenever Leme decides to have it made.

Divino then chimed in that he could take the photo of Leme, Wilson, Woopaa and the statue all at once.

There is someone else Leme hopes to one day take a photo with in front of the statue, his father, Antonio.

Even more so, Leme is hopeful he can find a way to finally get his father to come to the United States and see him ride in person, potentially at the 2021 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas this coming November.

“I think my dad is proud of me and that this is one of his dreams,” Leme said. “Everything I am winning in my life. I think he is dreaming of all of that. He wants me to have success and I think he is very proud of me.

“I want to bring him here to watch me ride personally and see all of these things one day.”

And if Leme could dream up what that scenario could possibly be, it would be another matchup against Woopaa at the World Finals with him riding the 5-year-old bovine for more than 97.75 points, a second gold buckle and his father and entire family cheering him on in the stands of T-Mobile Arena.

“Now I try to be 98,” Leme concluded. “I always try to beat my own records, my own numbers. Now we try to do it today. Break the record. Maybe win another title. Win again. We will see.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

© 2021 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.

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