Vieira and Jesse Move up World Rankings During Electric Championship Round

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – It may not have been the same as eight 90-point rides last year in Bismarck, North Dakota, during Chad Berger’s $125,00 team challenge, but the four 90-point rides that fans witnessed on Saturday night in Bismarck brought with them added significance in a variety of fashions.

The main one during the championship round of the Dakota Community Bank & Trust Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, of course, was Colten Jesse’s 92.25-point ride on Sky Harbor, which was enough for him to old off Joao Ricardo Vieira for his first premier series win.

Let us look at each of the 90-point rides on Saturday evening inside the Bismarck Event Center following an exciting finish to the 20th annual Dakota Community Bank and Trust Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires.

Colten Jesse wins first career event & moves up to No. 4 in the world standings – 92.25 points on Sky Harbor

 
Colten Jesse believes he has a J.B. Mauney kind of run inside of him to make a late second-half push for the 2020 World Championship vs. Jose Vitor Leme, and Jesse backed up those words in a big way to open up the stretch run.

Jesse earned the first premier series victory of his career by riding Sky Harbor for a career-high 92.25 points in the championship round. The 23-year-old had previously ridden Sky Harbor for 88.75 points at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour event last month in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The two-time World Finals qualifier, though, turned things up a notch this weekend with a 3-for-3 showing, picking up the second 90-point ride of his career on the premier series. Jesse then watched as Cannon Cravens (5.53 seconds vs. Stretch) and Leme (7.29 seconds vs. Jive Turkey) bucked off, and Vieira (90.75 points on Safety Meeting) would not be enough points to steal his victory out of his grasp.

The win helped Jesse move up to No. 4 in the world standings, gaining 81 points on Leme, who finished sixth overall.

Jesse will head into next weekend’s PBR Bullnanza event in Guthrie, Oklahoma, 358.5 points behind Leme.

Joao Ricardo Vieira is now No. 2 in the world standings – 90.75 points on Safety Meeting

 
Vieira may have come up short of the event win, but the 36-year-old still got his second half off to a good start.

Vieira finished runner-up to Jesse in the event with his fourth 90-point ride of the season, which is the most Vieira has had in a season since his runner-up finish to 2014 World Champion Silvano Alves. He had five 90-point rides during the 2014 season.

Now Vieira is once again in the No. 2 ranking, and he trails Leme by 232.5 points.

Vieira would have won Round 2 with his 89.5 points on Melanie’s Dream if not for Leme riding Space Force for 89.75 points.

Considering this was Vieira’s first Unleash The Beast event since the March 14-15 event in Duluth, Georgia, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he sure looked impressive.

The 73 world points Vieira earned in Bismarck is his third-best total in 11 events in 2020.

Cooper Davis in no danger of missing World Finals – 90.25 points on Speed Demon

 
2016 World Champion Cooper Davis had not competed in an Unleash The Beast event since breaking his neck at the season-opening Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden, and the Monster Energy Team Challenge this summer did not offer him the chance to earn any world points.

Therefore, Davis knew he had to get off to a fast start in the second half to make sure he qualifies for his sixth consecutive PBR World Finals this coming November.

Davis did just that in Bismarck, bouncing back from his 2.84-second buckoff vs. Quickfire in Round 1 to ride Quid Pro Quo (87 points) and Speed Demon (90.25) points to propel himself to a fourth-place finish.

The 26-year-old earned 34 points toward the world standings to move up seven spots to No. 21.

Davis was thrilled to be able to draft Speed Demon in the championship round draft seeing as he has had a ton of success on the Chad Berger bovine athlete. Davis has now ridden Speed Demon in five of their six meetings for an average score of 90 points. The Jasper, Texas, cowboy is the owner of five of the 11 rides aboard Speed Demon in 74 outs at all levels, according to ProBullStats.

Ezekiel Mitchell gets his long-desired 90-point ride – 90 points on Good Night Robicheaux

 
Remember that time when Good Night Robicheaux was a bucker that no one in PBR competition could seem to figure out?

Well, that quickly changed in Bismarck.

World leader Jose Vitor Leme first won the $10,000 “Marquis Metal Works Duel in the Dirt” on Friday night by ending Good Night Robicheaux’s streak of 20 consecutive buckoffs on the premier series, riding him for 87 points.

Less than 24 hours later, Ezekiel Mitchell dominated a more powerful looking Good Night Robicheaux (20-2, UTB) for 90 points.

The ride left Mitchell seemingly speechless on CBS Sports Network after recording the first 90-point ride of his career at any level of competition. Mitchell had four rides in the 89-89.75-point range at all levels since first purchasing his PBR card in 2016.

Mitchell, who finished the weekend in seventh place (2-for-3, 27 world points) has shown a fearlessness when it comes to the championship round drafts, rarely shying away from the ranker buckers in the PBR, and he finally got the kind of ride he has so desperately wanted in his career.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

© 2020 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.