What to Watch For: Lockwood Returning in Time for Home State Event
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – There was never a doubt in Jess Lockwood’s mind if he was going to miss this coming weekend’s PBR Wrangler Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, in Billings, Montana.
Lockwood grew up three hours east of Billings, and the Volborg, Montana, native is stoked for the PBR’s 26th consecutive year in Billings.
The No. 24-ranked bull rider in the world standings has missed the past two Unleash The Beast events since injuring his left thigh in Oklahoma City on April 17 during a 3.95-second buckoff against The Bandit.
Lockwood has struggled in 2021 and is only 3-for-15 (20%) in seven events as he has battled a variety of injuries. The 23-year-old broke his jaw at the season-opener in Ocala, Florida, and injured his free hand in Glendale, Arizona.
Before injuring his thigh, Lockwood explained his need to be more aggressive this season if he wanted to break out of the worst start of his six-year career.
Lockwood may have taken the last four weeks off from active competition, but the Montana State High School Wrestling champion has been working hard in the gym with one of his former wrestling coaches to get back into championship riding form. Meanwhile, he has also gotten on a series of practice bulls to work on his riding inside the arena.
View this post on Instagram
“I will be getting on young practice bulls that don’t know what they do to just make me ride and get that feel back,” Lockwood said at the end of April. “Lots of them.”
Lockwood has drawn Jaynette’s Pet 2 for Round 1 on Friday night (11 p.m. ET CBS Sports Network / 9:45 p.m. ET RidePass). Jaynette’s Pet bucked Lockwood off earlier this year in Del Rio, Texas, in 5.86 seconds.
Billings has been a mixed bag of results for Lockwood. The youngest two-time World Champion won his first career event in Billings in 2016 by going 3-for-4. Since that win, Lockwood is 4-for-12 in Billings.
Also returning from injury this week are Rafael Henrique dos Santos, Mason Taylor, Claudio Montanha Jr., J.T. Moore, Luciano de Castro and Ezekiel Mitchell.
WHO IS IN / OUT FOR BILLINGS
Top 30 Riders Out Because of Injury or Other
No. 4 Joao Ricardo Vieira (abdominal/groin)
No. 11 Keyshawn Whitehorse (MCL sprain)
No. 11 Cole Melancon (right elbow surgery)
No. 15 Eduardo Aparecido (right elbow sprain)
No. 20 Kyler Oliver (left shoulder surgery)
No 30 Dalton Kasel (elbow surgery)
Alternates for this weekend (bold riders only guaranteed to compete in Round 1)
No. 31 Jesse Petri
No. 32 J.T. Moore
No. 34 Ezekiel Mitchell
No. 36 Paulo Lima
No. 37 Michael Lane
No. 38 Brennon Eldred
No. 41 Kyle Jones
No. 41 Hunter Ball
No. 43 Luciano de Castro
No. 43 Rodrigo Melgar
No. 46 Andrew Alvidrez
No. 47 Dakota Louis
No. 51 Manoelito de Souza Junior
No. 56 Logan Biever
No. 59 Leonardo Lima
Billings will feature 40 contestants on Friday night. As part of the 2021 UTB event structure, any rider who is not seeded based on Unleash The Beast tour event standards (Top 30 available plus any Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour invites or injury exempt riders) will need to earn a qualified ride in Round 1 to advance to compete in Round 2.
Carvalho set to make Unleash The Beast debut as Velocity invite
It took Caic Cassio Carvalho less than a month to earn his way to the Unleash The Beast. Carvalho made his season debut on April 2 in Ivins, Utah, and next appeared at two Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour events before winning the event in Corpus Christi, Texas, on April 30.
The 27-year-old has a Velocity exemption to compete in Billings, which will be the first premier series event of Carvalho’s career.
Also making their UTB debuts in Billings are Logan Biever and Manoelito de Souza Junior. Biever is ranked No. 56 in the world and is 7-for-28 (25%) at all levels of competition this season, while Souza is ranked No. 51 and is 8-for-15 (53.33%).
Round 1 Rematches
Claudio Montanha Jr. vs. Facetious (6.93 seconds in Glendale, Arizona)
Dakota Louis vs. Wooden Nickels (1.46 seconds in Grand Forks, North Dakota)
Jess Lockwood vs. Jaynette’s Pet 2 (5.86 seconds in Del Rio, Texas)
Silvano Alves vs. Rudy Can Do (1.45 seconds last year in St. Louis)
Taylor Toves vs. Solid Iron’s Hammer Down (0-for-2)
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
© 2021 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.