No. 20 Clay Guiton Taking Care of Business as Draft Stock Continues to Rise
By: James Youness
PUEBLO, Colo. – While there are plenty of paths riders can take in making their way to the PBR Camping World Team Series circuit, the biggest barrier, other than consistently proving to coaches around the country that you’re one of the Top 80 to 100 or so bull riders in the world every week, is merely coming of age.
Just like any of PBR’s sanctioned events, riders must be 18 and have received their PBR Card in order to participate.
For youngsters like Kaiden Loud, Caden Bunch, Leonardo Castro, Cort McFadden and beyond, all premier series rookies who turned 18 ahead of the 2023 iteration of the 5-on-5 series, they received a bit of a leg-up in this year’s Unleash The Beast slate after spending the past summer at training camp, inside the locker room and throughout an 11-event season with some of the best bull riders in the world.
All while learning from living legends like Justin McBride, Michael Gaffney and fellow greats who are now passing down their knowledge as coaches and general managers.
For talents like John Crimber and Clay Guiton, who didn’t turn 18 until this past August and October, respectively, or late bloomers like Marco Rizzo, who’s rounding into form after spending a year warming up competing in various Touring Pro Division, Challenger Series and Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, they may not have endured as much personal time with the sport’s living legends as their first-year counterparts, but have exploded onto the individual season nonetheless.
Then again, as the son of one of the league’s 10 head coaches, Paulo Crimber, who is now heading up efforts for the Florida Freedom, John Crimber may be knowledge miles ahead in the long run.
Regardless, both Crimber and Guiton haven’t shown the need for training wheels so far in 2024, as Crimber remains ranked No. 5 in the world, while Guiton sits comfortably at the No. 20 spot himself.
Good friends with Crimber and Rizzo, typically spending time with them on the road and sometimes even bunking up together (with Kaiden Loud usually in the mix, as well), the trio represents the next top-tier wave of bull riding talent set to invade the PBR Camping World Team Series.
With draft dates becoming firmer and firmer as the winter slate progresses, we’re close to finding out “when” the youthful cowboys will join their new teams.
But it’s the “where” these talented riders will be drafted to and exactly “how” those landing spots come to be that may be the most intriguing elements. With the Carolina Cowboys already opting into an extra selection in the 2024 draft by sending veteran Boudreaux Campbell to the Missouri Thunder a few weeks ago, General Manager Austin Dillon hasn’t been afraid to make some draft week moves.
Electing to send Wingson Henrique da Silva to the Kansas City Outlaws last season in exchange for a first-round selection in the 2023 draft, the checkered flag unit could be one of the frontrunners to land another blockbuster trade.
Sure, the Cherryville, North Carolina, native in Guiton would love to compete for his home-state team and join the likes of Cooper Davis, Daylon Swearingen, Sage Steele Kimzey and beyond …
… but that would require thinking about some elements that out of his control. And still several months away.
Right now? He’s living in the moment.
Not looking back, not thinking forward. Just trying to ride his bulls and let the rest work itself out.
“I’ve been trying to almost block last weekend out a little bit. Not trying to live on that. I don’t want people to just remember that one weekend of me, you know?,” Guiton shared a few weeks back in Houston, Texas, days after ripping off a pair of epic 90-point rides en route to welcoming himself to the world’s biggest stage.
“I want to go do it every weekend. I’ve definitely taken it and built off of it, but the last few days, I’ve just tried to focus on this weekend and doing my job again.”
Having now competed in four Unleash The Beast events since making his premier series debut in Chicago, where he went an unimpressive 0-for-2, he’s managed a 7-for-13 record en route to recording four-consecutive Top 10 placements.
Three of which were Top 5 finishes, which are going to raise eyebrows of coaches and executives throughout the industry, no doubt.
After all, just because the 18-year-old isn’t out shopping his services does not mean team representatives aren’t doing their best to earn some pre-draft insights and keep in touch with the budding superstar.
“J.W. Hart helped me before I got on and he said, ‘I’ll give you a hand, but you can’t fall off if I do,’ and I said ‘Yes, sir!,’” Guiton offered in detailing his epic finish in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“He told me that right before I was 90 last weekend and it worked out.”
Unafraid to entertain the conversations yet remaining dedicated to his Unleash The Beast goals and efforts, he noted the Kansas City Outlaws’ skipper is far from the only party forging relationships.
“I really haven’t even talked a lot about Teams with them (coaches). It’s mostly been just bull riding,” he said.
“When you get here at 18 years old, it’s a lot to take in. They’ve helped me a lot and Paulo (Crimber) has too. He told me to just go do my job. He said, ‘I believe in you, I’ve seen you do it. You just have to go do it like you do it every other day.’”
The way riders from the Kansas City Outlaws have been representing not only their individual skillsets but the belief being instilled in the group via Hart, Guilherme Marchi and team general manager Jim Smith, there would be a hell of welcoming party inside one of the league’s previously established camaraderie-driven locker rooms should the orange and black contingent be able to land a guy like Guiton in this year’s draft.
But with such a historic class of Unleash The Beast rookies becoming eligible for daft day glory this spring, including the likes of Crimber, Rizzo, etc., technically any of the top four or five teams who will usher in their next great rider will have stellar odds of landing a longtime pro.
With the world’s top-ranked rider in No. 1 Cassio Dias being selected ninth over last spring, there are stars to be sorted in the coming months in all rounds of the draft.
Regardless of what happens: Unless a team pulls off its best “Carolina Cowboys” impression and somehow makes a move to acquire both of the top two selections in this year’s draft, it’s very likely he and Crimber end up on different teams. Which is fine, for now.
“That’s what they said. ‘Yeah, you’re friends with John, but … I don’t think any team is going to be able to get both of y’all, so …,’ but I’m not going to worry about it right now. I’m just going to keep focusing on this and see what happens,” he concluded.
“Take it, build off of it, but it’s a new day. I have to go do it again. You can’t ride any better tomorrow based on today. You have to do it again, and being consistently good is what makes you great.”
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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