JESS LOCKWOOD MAKES HISTORY AS YOUNGEST PBR WORLD CHAMPION

Jose Vitor Leme Goes 6-for-6 to win 2017 PBR World Finals and Rookie of the Year

 After five days and six rounds in one of the tightest championship races in PBR history, Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana) was crowned the 2017 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Champion Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.

Lockwood, 20, is the youngest World Champion cowboy in PBR history, and he joins three-time World Champion Silvano Alves (Pilar do Sul, Brazil) as the only riders to win the World Championship the year after being named the organization’s Rookie of the Year. 

Jess Lockwood 

Lockwood went 3-for-6 at the 24^th annual World Finals, reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the world following his Round 2 victory.

In winning three consecutive rounds at the season-culminating event, the Montana cowboy’s name was further etched into the PBR record books. 

Lockwood won the first three rounds, highlighted by 90.25-point rides in Round 1 and Round 3.

He is the 17^th rider to claim the PBR World Champion gold buckle in the PBR’s 24-year history. 

Lockwood earns the PBR’s $1 million World Champion bonus and finished 2017 with earnings of $1,525,292.90 and 4,862.5 world points.

“The money is icing on the cake, but money doesn’t mean much and it goes away,” Lockwood said. “The championship buckle will be with me forever.” 

Lockwood battled back from various serious injuries, including four broken ribs, a punctured lung and a lacerated kidney.

“A lot of grit went into this,” Lockwood said. “I got pretty banged up this year. You got to cowboy up each and every weekend and make the most of very bull.”

Joining Lockwood in the PBR record books, Jose Vitor Leme (Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil) won the 2017 World Finals event title as the only rider to go a perfect 6-for-6 at the five-day event. 

Jose Vitor Leme

The 2017 PBR Brazil Champion capped his near flawless performance with the high-marked ride of the event, covering Magic Train (Jared Allen’s Pro Bull Team) for 94.5 points to win the Built Ford Tough Championship Round and earn this year’s Lane Frost/Brent Thurman Award.

The 21-year-old is now the 20^th rider to win the event title and the fifth in PBR history to cover all of his bulls in the process.

Ryan Dirteater (Hulbert, Oklahoma) also went 6-for-6 to win the World Finals in 2016.

Leme, who played semi-pro soccer in Brazil, is an accomplished competitor in karate, and has been in the U.S. for only eight days, was also named the 2017 Rookie of the Year after his astounding performance adapting to the world’s rankest bulls to net 2,532.5 world points and $416,000. He began the event No. 53 in the world standings and rocketed to No. 7.

“I think I’m still dreaming,” he said in holding the event-winning check for $300,000. “I trained and worked hard to win the World Finals, but I didn’t think I had a chance to win Rookie of the Year. To accomplish that together is without a doubt the best day of my life.”

For the second consecutive year, SweetPro’s Bruiser (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.) was named the 2017 YETI World Champion Bull, after recording a 46-point bull score in the event’s final round in dispatching Dirteater in 7.19 seconds.

The bovine athlete is now just the fourth bull in PBR history to earn the title in consecutive seasons, joining Bushwacker (2013 & 2014), Little Yellow Jacket (2002, 2003 & 2004) and Dillinger (2000 & 2001).

Bruiser was also named the YETI Bull of the Finals with a combined two-score average of 46.5 points. Bruiser earned a 47-point bull score in Round 2 when he bucked off Emilio Resende (Santa Helena do Goiás, Brazil) in 1.91 seconds.

D&H Cattle Company earned $125,000 courtesy of Bruiser’s championship and Finals victory in Las Vegas.

Dakota Buttar (Kindersley, Saskatchewan, Canada) was awarded this year’s Glen Keeley Award for the first time in his career. This award goes to the Canadian bull rider earning the most points during the season.

Announced earlier in the week, Chad Berger was named the 2017 Stock Contractor of the Year, the seventh time he earned top honors.                                         - PBR Media 

PepperStewart.com