By Doug Hare EBS STAFF
LAS
VEGAS – On Nov. 10, Jess Lockwood was crowned the 2019 Professional Bull Riders
World Champion, becoming the youngest two-time champion in the sport’s history.
Over the five-day event in T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, Lockwood had
a 5-for-6 showing, producing 4 qualified rides over 90 points, and winning him
the World Finals event title as well. Lockwood became the youngest PBR World
Champion ever when he won the title in 2017.
The
22-year-old made history with his come-from-behind victory, joining a short
list of cowboys who have won the PBR World Championship multiple times in bull
riding record books: Adriano Moraes (1994, 2001, 2006), Silvano Alves (2011)
(2012) (2014), Chris Shivers (2000) (2003), Justin McBride (2005) (2007), and
J.B. Mauney (2013) (2015).
For
his efforts, Lockwood left Vegas with his second gold buckle and close to $1.4
million in prize money. Just four years into his career, Lockwood is the sixth
all-time money earner in PBR history. Throughout the five-day event, Lockwood
went toe-to-toe with Jose Vitor Leme, eventually overcoming the Brazilian’s 852
point lead heading into the World Finals. Lockwood missed nine PBR events this
year while recovering from a broken collarbone.
The
Volburg, Montana native wasn’t the only one to leave Vegas with hardware.
Dalton Kasel, 20, captured Rookie of the Year honors finishing eighth in the
world standings after a meteoric rise late in the season. After winning the Big
Sky PBR in July, Kasel made his debut on the Unleash the Beast tour in Tulsa,
Oklahoma on Aug. 10 as the No. 43-ranked bull rider in the world. Since then,
Kasel went 14-for-35 (40 percent qualified rides) to finish the season ranked
No. 8 in the world, edging out Alan de Souza as the most dominant first year
pro in the PBR.
Chad
Berger won Stock Contractor of the Year honors for an unprecedented ninth time,
the sixth consecutive year that his deep bullpen has earned him that title. The
Mandan, North Dakota native also saw Smooth Operator put up his career-best
47-point bull score on the last day of the event to become the 2019 PBR World
Champion Bucking Bull. The nine-year-old bovine athlete took two victory laps
after bucking off Chase Outlaw in 4.1 seconds on Sunday, seemingly aware that
he had captured the title and accompanying $100,000 prize.
The
veteran bull went 13-3 on the season, averaging 46 points per outing, also
winning Bull of the Finals ($25,000) and regular-season top bull honors
($25,000). Smooth Operator is Berger’s first World Champion bull since Code
Blue won in 2009, who he co-owned.
Another
Montanan, Columbia Falls-based Matt Triplett closed his season out with five straight
eight-second rides to finish second place in the World Finals, ending the year
ranked No. 7 in the world.
The 2020 PBR Unleash the Beast season
kicks off Jan. 3-5 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
