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UTB Countdown: No. 5 Colten Jesse

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – With five days remaining until the Unleash The Beast resumes in Bismarck, North Dakota, with the 20th annual Dakota Community Bank & Trust Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, PBR.com will take a look at the Top 5 riders in the world standings before the stretch run to the 2020 PBR World Finals begins.

Today, we look at Colten Jesse, who is currently fifth in the world standings.

2020 First Half UTB Stats
Rides: 13
Attempts: 37
Riding Percentage: 35.14%
Top Ride: 90.25 points on Cool Customer (Guthrie, Oklahoma)
Average Ride Score: 87.29
Wins: 0
15/15 Bucking Battle victories: 1 (Kansas City, Mo.)
Round Wins: 2
Top 10: 5
Top 5: 2
90-point Rides: 1

 
First Half Recap: Jesse has remained in the upper echelon of the world standings this season by making sure that, when he does make the 8-second mark, it’s worth it. Jesse’s 87.29 average ride score on the Unleash The Beast is the third best in the PBR, which is only behind two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood (88.5) and world leader Jose Vitor Leme (87.64) among riders with double-digit qualified ride totals.

However, Jesse’s inconsistency got the best of him at times in the first half, where he posted only a 35.14% riding average – the second lowest among Top 10 riders.

To be a PBR World Champion, a rider has to ride at least 50% of his bulls to be a true contender, so Jesse will have some work to do in the second half to chip away at Leme’s 439.5-point lead.

It was a tale of two first halves in some ways for Jesse, though. He came out of the gate red hot in January, and he started the season 7-for-10 through the first three events. After that, though, he went 6-for-27 in the final 10 UTB events.

Jesse won the first 15/15 Bucking Battle of his career by riding Lil 2 Train for 89.5 points in Kansas City, Missouri, on Feb. 29.

Jesse’s 35.14% riding average is the best of his young career, and he is only three rides away from setting a new high for rides in a season. Jesse rode a career-best 16 bulls last year in his injury-shortened season.

He also has remained relatively healthy this season, evolving into the World Champion contender he always knew he could be, after missing five months last season because of reconstructive right shoulder surgery.

 
Best First-Half Performance: Jesse put forth two second-place finishes in the first half – Manchester, New Hampshire (75.5 world points) and Guthrie, Oklahoma (79 world points).

Jesse posted three qualified rides in a single event twice this season. He began the season 3-for-4 at the Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden before then going 3-for-3 in Manchester, New Hampshire, two weeks later. The Konowa, Oklahoma, native began Manchester with 87.25 points on Gubber and 87.5 points on Big Shot. He then capped his weekend of perfection with 88.75 points on Bad Beagle.

First Half Top Ride: Jesse notched the first 90-point ride of his career on the premier series when he rode Cool Customer for 90.25 points on April 26 in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The ride propelled Jesse to his second runner-up finish of the season as he bounced back from a 1.89-second buckoff against Crazy Times to ride Buckle Up (87.25 points) and Cool Customer.

First Half Reading:

Jesse: ‘Right now, my mind is bulletproof’
Jesse: ‘Bull riding was always there, I just knew’
2020 a year of personal highlights for Jesse
Jesse prepared to chip away at Leme’s lead

Summer Showing: Jesse was only 4-for-12 at the Monster Energy Team Challenge for Team Wrangler, but he did end the tournament on a personal high note by riding Short Pop for 89 points. Jesse is one of only four riders to reach the 8-second mark on Short Pop in 38 attempts at all levels.

Jesse then began to attempt to chip away at Leme’s lead following the METC as the summer PBR schedule opened up slightly. Jesse is 6-for-12 with four Top-3 finishes since the METC.

The 23-year-old won the second day of the Slick Rock Challenge in Rocksprings, Texas, with 87.5 points aboard Walkin Tall, but his best ride of the summer came when he conquered Uncle Gangster for 90.5 points at the Buckin’ at the Ranch TPD event in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. A week before that, Jesse rode Sky Harbor for 88.75 points for a third-place finish at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour’s Sioux Falls Invitational.

 
Analysis: Confidence does not seem to be an issue for Jesse as this summer he voiced his belief that he can challenge Leme in the 2020 world title race, and RidePass host Colby Yates believes Jesse may just be one of the dark horses ready to make a run in the second half.

“If there is somebody that I would say has a very good opportunity to jump into the World Champion picture it would be Colten Jesse,” Yates said. “I am excited to see what he does in the second half. I feel like I see a new focus.

“Like, in his eyes, I can just see him being locked in on what he wants. Obviously, Colten Jesse was one of those guys in the rookie race two years ago. Those guys that say they want to be a World Champion, but they don’t understand what they are going to have to put in to get there. For whatever reason, I feel like Colten Jesse is finding that vision and his purpose. He is figuring out on the mental side of what it is going to take to get over the hump and increase the riding percentage. We are going to see it happen. I really think we will. I have high hopes for the kid. I think he is really good and has that simplistic mindset that he is not going to let anything get in his way.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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