The first one-third of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) six-month season was dominated by 19-year-old John Crimber. Crimber narrowly missed being World Champion last year at 18 years of age. After dealing with an injury, John came into this year’s PBR Finals in third place.
Brady Fielder, a 25-year-old bull rider from Australia, dominated the middle one-third of the PBR season. He ended the season with the highest riding percentage of all the PBR riders. It’s hard to put him on the ground! Fielder came into his first PBR Finals in second place.
Dalton Kasel, the 26-year-old bull rider from Texas, dominated the last one-third of the season. Dalton has been a favorite of mine since he first came on the scene six years ago. Dalton went into 2025 PBR Finals in the number one position for the World Championship.
After the PBR Elimination Rounds, the top rider for the event (not the world) was José Vitor Leme from Brazil. He rode four out of four bulls in the Elimination Rounds. Leme was the 2020 and 2021 World Champion bull rider. Because of an injury, Leme missed nearly half of this year’s season. Two months ago, he was ranked 31st in the world. Coming into the finals, he had moved all the way up to 18th.
While the top three riders were bucking off most of their bulls at the PBR Finals, José Vitor Lemi continued to make the 8-second whistle on every bull they ran under him. He rode eight out of eight bulls for a total of 712.5 points. WOW! That’s an average of 89 points per ride. José Vito Leme just made the greatest comeback in the history of the PBR! He is now a three-time World Champion Bull Rider!
There is a tremendous amount of talent in the PBR – but I think José Vitor Leme will go down in history as being the best there has ever been. José is as mentally strong as he is physically talented. Best yet, he remains very humble. If José can stay healthy, he will be nearly impossible to beat. I expect him to win more world championships. Click on the links below to watch videos of Leme’s last two rides at the 2025 PBR Finals.