Roster Rundown: Team Jose Vitor Leme

By: Darci Miller

PUEBLO, Colo. – The PBR is back in action, and in a way that you’ve never seen it before.

The PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge will run from June 5-28 at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa in Las Vegas, and culminate in a Championship Weekend Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on July 10-12 in front of fans. The event will feature 12 teams and 48 bull riders, with each team consisting of four riders, and there will be two divisions of six teams. The Top 3 teams in each division will then qualify for Championship Weekend.

Each of the 12 competing teams will be comprised of three active riders, one of whom is the Captain, an alternate, and a supervisory General Manager.

Division A will hold its first weekend of competition June 5-7, followed by its final weekend of play June 12-14. Teams to be announced in Division B will compete the weekends of June 19-21 and June 26-28. Each night of televised action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will feature three games, with each team competing once per night.

Each game will be comprised of 12 collective outs, with each team attempting six bulls. In each game, three riders per team, as selected by the General Manager, will attempt two bulls each. The winner of each game will be the team with the top combined aggregate score from their six outs.

Today, the first six teams – comprising Division A – were announced. In the lead-up to competition, PBR.com will be diving deeper into each roster.

The first team on the docket, led by general manager Cody Lambert, features team captain Jose Vitor Leme, six-time PRCA champion Sage Kimzey, No. 17 Stetson Lawrence and No. 47 Keyshawn Whitehorse.

Read on to learn more about Team Leme, and stay tuned for more on the rest of Division A.

JOSE VITOR LEME

 
What is there left to say about Leme that hasn’t already been said? The current world No. 1, Leme burst onto the scene at the 2017 PBR World Finals, winning the event and Rookie of the Year titles, and hasn’t looked back since. He finished No. 2 in the world in both 2018 and 2019, and is leading the PBR in most statistical categories in 2020, including event wins (4), qualified rides (25), riding percentage (73.53%) and round wins (8).

Leme is also no stranger to leading a team. He’s been on all four Team Brazil squads for the PBR Global Cup, helping the Brazilians to the title in Sydney in 2018 and Arlington in 2019. He’s a career 10-for-16 with two 90-point rides in his Global Cup career – his 90-point trip on Frequent Flyer in 2019 was the first 90-point ride in Global Cup history.

SAGE KIMZEY

 
While Kimzey is not a PBR regular, he brings an elite pedigree to what looks to be a stacked team. He’s a six-time PRCA champion, and has won the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo event average three times, which is tied for the NFR record. At the 2019 NFR, he rode three-time YETI PBR World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser for 94 points.

Kimzey has also competed at team-formatted events; while an injury forced him to withdraw from the Team USA Eagles at the 2020 Global Cup, he appeared as an alternate in 2019, riding Pure Gangster for 87.75 points in the Eagles’ second-place effort. He was also a member of the winning team at Chad Berger’s $125,000 team challenge, presented by Marquis Metal Works, in 2019, riding Gambini for 90 points on the historic night of eight 90-point rides.

STETSON LAWRENCE

 
2020 did not get off to the start Lawrence had hoped it would. After beginning the season a dismal 3-for-17 on the Unleash The Beast, Lawrence was cut from tour and had to work his way back up via the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour. However, that trip down was short-lived, as he won the Bangor Classic to earn a spot back on the premier series. Since then, Lawrence has gone 5-for-10, finishing third and fourth overall at the last two events, and improved to No. 17 in the world standings.

Additionally, Lawrence has competed at three Global Cups, representing the Team USA Eagles in Sydney in 2018 and the Team USA Wolves in Arlington in 2019 and 2020.

KEYSHAWN WHITEHORSE

 
Whitehorse may currently be ranked No. 47 in the world, but there’s more to him than his ranking shows. The 2018 Rookie of the Year finished that season ranked No. 19 in the world. He’s struggled thus far in 2020, going 4-for-17 on the Unleash The Beast while dealing with a hand injury, but he does have a Top-5 finish at the Gwinnett Invitational on his resume. Whitehorse has also been a member of the Team USA Wolves at the 2019 and 2020 Global Cups.

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