World No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme Headlines Draw for Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour’s Portland Chute Out
By: Kacie Albert
PORTLAND, Maine – PBR’s (Professional Bull Riders) visit to Portland, Maine on September 27-28 could be one of the most important Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour regular season events in the series’ history.
As the PBR World Championship race heats up, with valuable points at stake, 16 of the Top 35 riders in the world standings are competing in this coming weekend’s event.
The deep talent pool of riders anticipated to compete inside Cross Insurance Arena includes six of the Top-10 ranked riders in the world, including all of the Top 4, led by World No. 1 and Velocity Tour No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme.
The rider list for the two-day event is also anticipated to include: No. 2 Jess Lockwood, No. 3 Chase Outlaw, No. 4 Joao Ricardo Vieira, No. 8 Derek Kolbaba and No. 9 Marco Eguchi.
Last weekend, Leme extended his lead atop the world rankings with a fourth-place effort on the Unleash The Beast in Fairfax, Virginia, now leading No. 2 Lockwood by a season-high 1,026.66 points. In addition to leading the world standings, the Brazilian phenom also sits atop the Velocity Tour standings, 202.5 points in front of No. 2 Danilo Carlos Sobrinho.
Leme’s dominant 2019 season has included eight event wins across all levels of competition. The 23-year old has won the three Velocity Tour events he’s entered in Corpus Christi, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; and Window Rock, Arizona, picking up 635 points toward the world standings at those three events, more than Outlaw earned when he won the premier series stop in Fairfax this past weekend.
With 270 points available throughout the two days, world No. 2 Lockwood will be on the hunt to chip away at Leme’s lead. The 2017 PBR World Champion has ridden at just one Velocity Tour event thus far in 2019, recording a fourth-place effort in January at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado.
More broadly, Lockwood’s season has included 10 wins across all levels of competition, including the second victory of his career at the season-launch Unleash The Beast Major inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
After winning last weekend’s premier series event in Fairfax, Virginia, No. 3 Outlaw will look to continue his momentum at the Maine event. Outlaw’s fourth premier series event put him within 1,181.66 points of No. 1 Leme, giving the Arkansas cowboy, billed by USA Today as “the toughest athlete in sports,” the chance to eclipse Lockwood for the No. 2 ranking, a mere 155 points behind his countryman.
Rounding out the contingent of Top 4 riders set to compete at the Portland Chute Out is No. 4 Vieira. He is currently 1,719.16 points behind the top ranking, and the points available inside Cross Insurance Arena would be crucial to keeping the veteran Brazilian’s world title dreams alive.
Two other riders from the Top 10 will also be on-site via No. 8 Kolbaba and No. 9 Eguchi. In addition to angling for ground in the world title race, Eguchi is also ranked inside the Top 10 in the Velocity Tour standings, presently No. 7, 337.5 points behind tour leader Leme.
Other top-ranked riders set to compete are: No. 11 Ezekiel Mitchell, who leads the 2019 PBR Rookie of the Year race, No. 17 Claudio Montanha Jr., No. 24 Brennon Eldred, No. 28 Eduardo Aparecido, No. 29 Michael Lane, No. 30 Keyshawn Whitehorse, No. 32 Rubens Barbosa, No. 33 Taylor Toves and No. 34 Dylan Smith.
“The changes PBR made this season giving Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour events more points toward the World Standings has made the tour integral to the championship race,” said Sean Gleason, CEO, PBR. “As our expansion series, the PBR Velocity Tour was created to give fans across the country more opportunities to enjoy PBR at a high level. With this weekend’s star-studded event in Portland with 16 of the world’s Top 35 set to ride, it continues to exceed our most ambitious dreams.”
The Portland Chute Out is the Pendleton Whisky Velocity tour’s third visit to the city in as many years.
The bull riding action begins at 8:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 27, and at 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 28 at Cross Insurance Arena.
All riders will attempt one bull each in Round 1 on Friday night and Round 2 on Saturday night. The Top 10 will then advance to the championship round where they will attempt one final bull, all in an effort to be crowned the event champion, earning 170 world points and their portion of the $20,000 purse.
Tickets for the two-day event are on sale now, starting at $10. They can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or PBR.com.
© 2019 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.