What 2 Watch 4: SweetPro’s Bruiser Tries to Make Late Push at Fourth World Title at Final Event Before World Finals in Arlington

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – Could legendary three-time World Champion SweetPro’s Bruiser be the best bull in the PBR right now? PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert, to his own surprise, believes that indeed may be the case.

Lambert said as much during the CBS television call this week that for the first time this season it looks like Bruiser has risen to the top of the crop.

“Bruiser is the one that looks like, to me, he has the best chance,” Lambert said. “I never, ever would have thought he had a chance, but now he does.”

It still may be too little too late, though, for Bruiser to win a historic fourth world title this year.

Bruiser heads into his matchup with Daylon Swearingen during Friday night’s 15/15 Bucking Battle in Nampa, Idaho, sitting eighth in the 2020 YETI World Championship race. Bruiser is averaging 44.88 points per out compared to No. 1 Chiseled and his 46.06-point World Championship average, and No. 2 Smooth Operator’s 46.03 World Championship average.

 
Fans can watch the 15/15 Bucking Battle Sunday on CBS national television (check local listings).

Similar to riders on the bubble fighting for a spot for the World Finals, the postponement of next weekend’s Pensacola, Florida, UTB event means that Bruiser will not be getting a potential second out next weekend if D&H Cattle Company wanted to try to drop another low score before the 2020 World Finals begin in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium on Nov. 12.

Bruiser will need a bull score of at least 44 points in Nampa to drop his lowest score of the season and increase his World Championship average. Bruiser should easily increase his average score this weekend with a solid out against Swearingen. Two weeks ago, Swearingen rode Bruiser for 88 points in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bruiser was marked 45.75 points.

The 2020 YETI World Champion Bull will be the animal with the highest average bull score from their top eight regular-season outs and two outs at the PBR World Finals. Bruiser will likely need to end 2020 with three outs in the 46-plus range and get some serious help with subpar outs from Chiseled and Smooth Operator in Arlington. There are also another four bulls tied with or ahead of Bruiser in the standings that are eligible for the 2020 title.

The top two bulls in the world, though, do have some question marks heading into this weekend’s PBR Cooper Tires Take The Money and Ride, presented by Union Home Mortgage. Chiseled has been dealing with soreness, but he looks to be ready to buck on Friday night against Mauricio Moreira, while Smooth Operator heads into a rematch with Brennon Eldred following his worst out in three years.

Chiseled and Smooth Operator have been the class of the bucking bull championship race all season, and it is very possible they both post monster outs in Nampa to once again solidify themselves as the favorites. Nevertheless, there may be a sliver of hope for other challengers if the two bulls have another off weekend.

 
“I have gone back and forth with it all year,” Lambert said. “Earlier in the year, my favorite was I’m Legit Too, and I haven’t given up on him, but then Chiseled took over. Smooth Operator was doing well, and Bruiser has just steadily gotten better.”

In addition, if you are a fan of bull power, Nampa looks to have its best pen in the past nine seasons that the PBR has stopped at the Ford Idaho Center.

“This looks like the best we’ve ever had in Nampa,” Lambert said. “It is that kind of year where every bull is available damn near every week. I’m Busted is one people should be watching a little more. I’m Legit Too is definitely in the hunt for the world title, and so is Smooth Over. They are all there.”

WHO’S IN & WHO’S OUT THIS WEEKEND IN TULSA

This weekend’s event in Nampa is optional for all bull riders, and the PBR has invited 36 riders to compete. The first 30 draw spots were filled based on the 2020 world standings. Riders with World Champion exemptions, riders with guaranteed event exemptions or riders with approved injury exemptions filled remaining spots. The remaining draw spots were then filled based on the current season’s world standings.

Riders inside the Top 35 that are not competing this weekend

No. 5 Jess Lockwood (right shoulder)
No. 8 Colten Jesse (hip)
No. 9 Dener Barbosa (broken jaw)
No. 12 Eduardo Aparecido (not cleared to compete)
No. 16 Fabiano Vieira (severe head injury)
No. 18 Marco Eguchi (not cleared to compete)
No. 19 Ramon de Lima (not cleared to compete)
No. 21 Matt Triplett (groin)
No. 23 Andrew Alvidrez (broken neck)
No. 28 Aaron Kleier (in Australia)
No. 31 Dakota Buttar (in Canada)
No. 32 Lachlan Richardson (in Australia)
No. 33 Tye Chandler (hip surgery)

Alternates this weekend

No. 36 Taylor Toves (-15 points behind No. 35 Ryan Dirteater)
No. 37 Amadeu Campos (-15.34 points)
No. 39 Marcus Mast (-20.84 points)
No. 40 Junio Patrik Souza (-22.5 points)
No. 41 Paulo Lima (-27 points)
No. 42 Rafael Henrique dos Santos (-28 points)
No. 43 Cody Casper (-31 points)
No. 47 Wallace de Oliveira (-43.16 points)
No. 48 Bradley Brittain (-45 points)
No. 50 Chase Dougherty (-52.5 points)

Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour invites

No. 66 Valdiron de Oliveira returns for his first premier series event since retiring following the 2018 PBR World Finals after winning a Casper, Wyoming, Velocity Tour event last week. The 11-time PBR World Finals qualifier with the fourth-most qualified rides all time revealed this past January that his retirement two years ago was because of a serious gastrointestinal infection, and now he will look to qualify for his 12th Finals at a PBR record 41 years old.

Oliveira is 76 points behind the Top 35, but he is set to compete at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Nov. 6-7.

Andre da Cruz de Souza, the other Velocity winner last weekend in Casper, is set to make his premier series debut Friday night. The 34-year-old is competing in the United States for the first time this year, and he is 5-for-20 at all levels.

Riders competing via exemptions

No. 56 Dalton Kasel (-60.5 points)
No. 104 Cody Nance (-100.84 points)

Dalton Kasel, who won the Nampa event last year, is returning for the first time following a second surgery on his right groin in eight months that he had done in July, and Cody Nance is attempting to make a late rally at a 12th consecutive PBR World Finals. Both riders are really in need of a victory this weekend if they hope to qualify for the World Finals. Kasel may be able to snatch up an alternate spot with a Top-3 finish.

Leme continues pursuit of history and first world title

 
The 2020 World Championship race appears to be shaping up as a two-man showdown between Jose Vitor Leme and Joao Ricardo Vieira.

Leme will take a 563.09-point lead on Vieira into Round 1 on Friday night. The world No. 1 has drawn Joe Bannanas (0-0, UTB) while Vieira will take on Game Changer (0-3, UTB).

There are three PBR records realistically within Leme’s grasp this year. He is one event win away from tying Justin McBride’s season record for most wins (8), and he could break it with a win in Nampa and at the World Finals. He also could set a new all-time riding percentage record on the premier series. 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi owns that mark at 70.75%, and Leme is currently riding at a 70.18% clip. Leme also needs five more round wins to break J.B. Mauney’s record (19) for most round wins in a season on the premier series. There are nine rounds left this season – four in Nampa and five at the World Finals.

Round 1 Rematches

Brennon Eldred vs. Jaynette’s Pet 2 (86.75 points at the 2019 Last Cowboy Standing)
Derek Kolbaba vs. Sambuca (4.03 seconds in Denver this season)
Joao Henrique Lucas vs. Classic Man (3.42 seconds in Salt Lake City this season)
Marcus Mast vs. Outlaw (2.5 seconds in Guthrie, Oklahoma, this season)
Taylor Toves vs. Medicine Man (1-1; 3.88 seconds in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2019 & 85.75 points at the 2019 event in Little Rock, Arkansas)

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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