Davis Looking for ‘Essential’ Iron Cowboy Victory Sunday on CBS

By: Justin Felisko

FORT WORTH, Texas – County Jail wanted no piece of 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis on Saturday night during Round 1 of the Tractor Supply Co. Iron Cowboy, presented by Ariat.

County Jail did his best to toss Davis out of the bucking chutes inside Dickies Arena, but Davis made sure to stay focused on his ultimate task during the final PBR Major of the 2021 season.

The No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world knows Iron Cowboy is as close to a must-win event as there is if he wants to win the 2021 World Championship, and he was not going to let County Jail rattle him.

Davis eventually climbed back aboard County Jail and absolutely dominated him on his way to a 90.5-point ride and eventual Round 1 victory.

“I knew if I could get out on that bull, I’d have a good chance to be 90,” Davis said. “He was kind of a tough one to get out on, but I knew that coming into it. It all worked out.”

Moments after Davis rode County Jail, he was back on the bucking chutes helping reigning World Champion Jose Vitor Leme prepare for his matchup against @PBR on TikTok.

Davis then looked on as Leme opened the door in the world title race ever so slightly when he failed to reach 8 seconds, bucking off at 5.53 seconds.

“I have to win this, or at least finish above Jose,” Davis said. “But winning it is definitely – I think that’s going to be essential for winning the world title this year.”

 
Davis cut Leme’s deficit to 643.5 points in the world standings ahead of Championship Sunday, which airs live on CBS national television beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

The 27-year-old will have something of a home-field advantage on Sunday as he attempts to win the grueling progressive elimination format in front of his home-state fans.

The Jasper, Texas, native will need to ride four bulls in two hours Sunday to win his second career PBR Major. Even more so, the time in between rounds continuously shrinks, and at least two riders will be getting on bulls in Rounds 3, 4 and 5 in under 45 minutes.

The Top 8 riders via aggregate score following the second round will then advance to Round 3. Next, Round 4 will consist of the Top 4 riders in the aggregate based upon the previous three rounds.

Essentially, the first four rounds will be cut down from 40 riders to 25 to 8 to 4.

Round 5 will feature every rider that posted a qualified ride in Round 4. A minimum of two riders will compete in Round 5. If only one rider covers in Round 4, then the PBR will bring back one rider (based on aggregate scores following the completion of Round 4).

The rider with the highest score in Round 5 will win the title of Iron Cowboy. If all riders buck off in Round 5, the Iron Cowboy crown will go to the rider with the highest aggregate score among those who attempted a bull in Round 5.

The Iron Cowboy winner receives 150 world points, and the runner-up takes home 94 points.

If the event ends with more than one qualified ride in Round 5, then each rider with a qualified ride in Round 5 will be awarded the world points determined by their final ride scores in Round 5. (The runner-up only receives 94 world points if he rides his bull in Round 5 or if the event winner had also bucked off in Round 5).

If the event ends with no qualified rides in the fifth round, each rider who attempted a bull in the fifth round will be awarded world points (the 150 and 94) based on their aggregate score earned throughout the event.

The Texas fans erupted when Davis reached the 8-second mark on Saturday night, and Davis, who has roughly 30 friends and family in attendance, said that the added support will be beneficial as he tries to grit his way to victory.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Davis said. “This is kind of like my hometown deal, so being right here at home, 40 minutes from the house, it’s pretty cool to be able to just feed off the fans. It’s really neat.”

Davis can earn potentially 276 world points on Sunday as he attempts to crawl back into the world title race.

Davis was the only Top-10 rider to notch a qualified ride among the nine men who reached the 8-second mark in Round 1. However, Leme, No. 2 Kaique Pacheco and the other active riders ranked inside the Top 28 still advanced to Round 2, seeing as there were only nine rides.

Davis is treating Sunday like a completely clean slate, especially considering he was in this same position a month ago at Last Cowboy Standing after he won Round 1 in Cheyenne with 86 points on @PBR on TikTok.

Davis, though, would then buck off War Dress (2.26 seconds) in Round 2 and was eliminated from LCS by Smooth Wreck (3.97 seconds) in Round 3.

“Keep my hand shut and try to stay on,” Davis said of his strategy to win. “It’s one of those deals you can put a lot of emphasis on one thing or one round, and that round can take you out, or one guy makes a really good ride in the first round, and it keeps him in it until the final round, and he ends up winning it. I think whatever happens, just take it in small strides. That’s the big thing.

“Really, winning Round 1 doesn’t have anything to do with tomorrow. We don’t start at a clean slate, but I just have to keep acting like I’m playing catchup and stay aggressive and be the chaser, not the one that’s trying to fend them off.”

“So I got to keep my foot on the gas.”

The bolded riders below have advanced to Round 2.

Professional Bull Riders – PBR TRACTOR SUPPLY CO. IRON COWBOY PRESENTED BY ARIAT
Fort Worth, TX, 2021 – Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Round 4-Round 5-Event Aggregate-Event Points)

1. Cooper Davis, 90.5-0-0-0-0-90.50-39 Points.
2. Eli Vastbinder, 89.5-0-0-0-0-89.50-28 Points.
3. Dalton Kasel, 87.75-0-0-0-0-87.75-21 Points.
(tie). João Henrique Lucas, 87.75-0-0-0-0-87.75-21 Points.
5. Jesse Petri, 87.5-0-0-0-0-87.50-19 Points.
6. Paulo Ferreira Lima, 87.25-0-0-0-0-87.25-17 Points.
7. Daylon Swearingen, 86.75-0-0-0-0-86.75-16 Points.
8. Lane Nobles, 86.5-0-0-0-0-86.50-14 Points.
9. Claudio Montanha Jr., 86-0-0-0-0-86.00-13 Points.
Jose Vitor Leme, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Kaique Pacheco, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
João Ricardo Vieira, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Boudreaux Campbell, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cody Teel, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Junior Patrik Souza, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Silvano Alves, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cole Melancon, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Austin Richardson, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Eduardo Aparecido, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cody Jesus, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Ezekiel Mitchell, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Marcelo Procopio Pereira, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Taylor Toves, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Divino, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Andrew Alvidrez, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Conner Halverson, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Dakota Louis, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Manoelito de Souza Junior, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Leonardo Lima, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Matt Triplett, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Kyle Jones, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Cole Skender, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Ramon de Lima, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Lucas Fideles Souza, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Rodrigo Melgar, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00
Koal Livingston, 0-0-0-0-0-0.00

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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