Outlaw Knows Importance of this Weekend’s Portland Velocity Tour Event and Qualifying for Velocity Tour Finals
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO Colo. – One year ago, Chase Outlaw did not even flinch when he returned to competition on October 6, 2018, following 12-plus hours of facial reconstructive surgery to repair his shattered face.
Outlaw had only three premier series events and two Velocity Tour events to make up 497.5 points in the world standings to qualify for his seventh consecutive World Finals after doctors inserted 68 screws, 11 plates and four pieces of surgical mesh into his face.
The Hamburg, Arkansas, cowboy didn’t just make the World Finals last year; he nearly won them in dramatic fashion, going 5-for-6 and finishing 16th overall in the world standings.
Three years ago, Outlaw missed the first four months of the season because of offseason reconstructive shoulder surgery. That did not stop him either. He stormed back onto the scene with a 14th-place finish in the final 2016 world standings.
So while 2019 may be Outlaw’s first time experiencing a World Championship race, he certainly understands how to turn it on during the final two months of a season.
The slow ticks of a clock counting down to the PBR World Finals (Nov. 6-10) do not signal alarm bells in Outlaw’s head. If anything, the ticking is more so a reminder that it is time to turn things up a notch.
“I am taking it no different. Absolutely,” Outlaw said this weekend before winning the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational. “When it comes down to crunch time, this time of year, I know when to turn it on. I am going as if I am trying to make it there.”
Outlaw — the No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world standings – trails world leader Jose Vitor Leme by 1,181.66 points in the world standings. Outlaw picked up a huge victory last weekend at the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational in Fairfax, Virginia, to push himself back into the title race.
Outlaw has made a career out of being a king of the comeback rather than a flower wilting in the face of adversity.
The eight-year veteran understands there is still plenty of time to chip away at Leme’s lead before the 2019 PBR World Finals begin.
“It is just the same as it was,” Outlaw said. “I was this far behind at the beginning of the year. You just have to keep on keeping on. You can’t look at that shit.”
However, Outlaw also knows he needs to take advantage of every possible opportunity to gain points toward the standings if he wants to leave T-Mobile Arena on Nov. 10 as a PBR World Champion.
That will be on Outlaw’s mind when he makes the trip to Portland, Maine, this weekend for a highly important Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour event.
Fans can watch all of the action exclusively on RidePass beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Friday and Saturday.
One rider can earn 270 points toward the world standings, and the Top 4 riders in the world – Leme, Jess Lockwood, Outlaw and Joao Ricardo Vieira – are all packing their bags to compete in the northeast on Friday and Saturday night.
The event carries a little bit more weight for a guy like Outlaw because he is currently on the outside looking in at the 2019 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.
The Velocity Tour Finals may not seem like that big of a deal when it comes down to crowning a World Champion, but the reality is that this year’s season-culminating Velocity event almost certainly will impact the title race.
Leme is currently the No. 1 rider in the Velocity Tour and is planning on competing at the Velocity Tour Finals on Nov. 2-3 at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa in Las Vegas.
One rider can earn a maximum of 440 points toward the world standings at the Velocity Tour Finals.
Meanwhile, Lockwood appears poised to win the Touring Pro Division championship and get himself a spot at the Velocity Tour Finals as well.
Outlaw, though, has only competed at two Velocity events in 2019 and has zero points in the Velocity standings.
RideTV analyst and five-time PBR World Finals qualifier Colby Yates believes Outlaw needs to get to the Velocity Finals to increase his odds in the world title race.
“This is huge for Chase Outlaw,” Yates said. “This is more important for a guy like Chase Outlaw because he is not even in (the Velocity Finals). He is a guy who has used the Velocity Tour before and won the Finals twice. He knows he needs to be in there. If he wins it again, those points, he has to have them because obviously Jose is not slowing down. The only way to beat him is to outride him there and at the Finals. You have to hope he slips up and you don’t. You have to place above him. He is not going to slow down.”
Outlaw – the only two-time Velocity Tour Finals winner (2016 and 2018) in PBR history – needs to pick up 172.5 points this weekend, or potentially at the Rapid City, South Dakota, Velocity event on Oct. 26 if were to compete there, to get himself inside the Top 35 of the Velocity Tour.
“Outlaw has two chances to get in, and there is no doubt in my mind he can do it, but he needs to win first place at one of them,” Yates believes. “It is not like he can place fourth here and fourth there.”
Outlaw, of course, has winning on his mind.
“I just need to go win next weekend,” Outlaw said. “There is a lot of points, and that is just more bulls to keep that fire rolling. Heck, that is why I am going. It is just points. Shit, if there is money to be won, you might as well be there.”
Outlaw has attempted more bulls than any other rider in the PBR this season. His 129 attempts are the most in the PBR, and his total of 65 qualified rides at all levels is tied with Leme for the best in the PBR.
The 27-year-old’s 65th ride of the year was 90.5 points on Big Black for his career-best seventh 90-point ride this season. It also gave him a career-best four event wins on the Unleash The Beast in 2019.
Outlaw has now attempted more bulls than the last six World Champions did during their title seasons.
Nevertheless, that does not mean Outlaw is feeling fatigued whatsoever heading into Portland.
“I feel good,” Outlaw concluded. “I am a little sore, but other than that, I feel fantastic.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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