PUEBLO, Colo.— Chase Outlaw had a rifle in his left hand and a belt buckle in his right.
Standing next to him on the floor of the Bismarck Event Center was 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis and five-time PRCA champion Sage Kimzey.
“Legends,” Outlaw said.
Outlaw may be able to put his name alongside Davis as a PBR World Champion later this year as the No. 4-ranked bull rider continues his push for his first World Championship with the PBR World Finals (Nov. 6-10) less than five months away.
The seven-time PBR World Finals qualifier, though, will need to elevate his game inside T-Mobile Arena just as he did alongside Davis and Kimzey in Bismarck and in Arlington, Texas, at the 2019 WinStar World Casino & Resort Global Cup USA.
“Them guys are legends and that’s a big honor to be put in the same category,” Outlaw said two weeks ago in Bismarck. “I was on the same team with them for the Global Cup, to represent our country, but to be on a three-man team out of anybody in the frickin’ world, it was an honor to be on a team with them.”
Davis and Kimzey have proven throughout their careers that when the pressure is at its highest, they are ready to succeed and clinch a championship.
Outlaw has demonstrated that ability as well this season, such as in Bismarck during Chad Berger’s $125,000 Match of Champions and in St. Louis at the Mason Lowe Memorial, and he has kept his eyes on the end prize.
Not that Outlaw is a tortoise by any means. He is certainly more of the hare type – a never-stopping, high-energy engine with no plans on slowing down.
However, Outlaw has continued to circle back to the same thought process whenever any talk of his success in 2019 comes up.
“Let’s talk on November 10,” Outlaw often replies.
Outlaw, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Monday, knows the 2019 World Championship race is a marathon, not a sprint.
Whether he is the tortoise or the hare, he wants to be the victor on the final day of the season. That is when he can truly celebrate.
Outlaw, of course, knows he needs to win portions of the marathon to the title race – such as his mini one this past weekend at the Henson Manufacturing Touring Pro Division event in Vinita, Oklahoma – but he knows the ultimate victor is the rider hoisting that PBR World Championship come the Sunday of the 2019 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.
Outlaw’s tortoise-like approach to the ebbs and flows of a rollercoaster sport has been one of the many areas in which he has matured in 2019.
Take this past week.
Outlaw ended Chad Berger’s $125,000 team challenge, presented by Marquis Metal Works, with a sensational 94.25-point ride on No. 2 bull Smooth Wreck -- a ride Davis called “probably the best I have ever seen” – after riding Sky Harbor for 89.25 points a day earlier.
The Hamburg, Arkansas, bull rider then went on a slight cold streak, bucking off three bulls at the Williston, North Dakota, Touring Pro Division event, presented by Marquis Metal Works, and Bojangles (6.61 seconds) at the Forever West TPD event in Sheridan, Wyoming, on Friday night.
Outlaw nipped that slump in the bud once he arrived in Vinita, Oklahoma, on Saturday night for the Henson Manufacturing TPD event.
He covered Bat Masterson for 89 points before riding Times Up for 90.5 points and the event victory in the championship round.
Outlaw earned 60 world points to cut world leader Jose Vitor Leme’s lead to 389.16 points.
Leme finished in fourth place following his 88-point effort on Burning Sky. The 22-year-old took home 15 world points. Bocephus bucked Leme off in 4.46 seconds in the championship round.
Rounding out the Top 5 was Junior Patrick Souza (2-for-2, 169.5 points, 30 world points), Ryan Dirteater (1-for-2, 90.5 points, 20 world points), Leme (1-for-2, 88 points, 15 world points) and Cannon Cravens (1-for-2, 86.5 points, 10 world points).
Cravens posted X-ray results on his Instagram account that showed he broke his leg when he was stepped on by Lefty following a 7.82-second buckoff in the championship round. Cravens says he will be out 4 to 6 months and is tentatively scheduled for surgery on Monday.
Dirteater won Round 1 with a 90.5-point ride aboard Pick-It Construction’s Find Jesus, but Marquis Metal Works Bill The Butcher bucked him off in 1.56 seconds in the championship round.
Outlaw and Dirteater then squared off in a $40,000 bonus match in Vinita to no avail.
Dirteater was bucked off by Zorro (3.34 seconds), while Outlaw, who had two shots at the $40,000 because of his event victory, found no success against Lester Gillis (3.03 seconds) and Lil 2 Train (4.57 seconds).
Gene Owen said he can tell Outlaw has the drive to be a Word Champion this year.
Even despite his shortcomings in the bonus match, the fact that Outlaw fearlessly attempted multiple championship round-caliber bulls in a matter of minutes stood out to Owen.
“The want to is there,” Owen said. “(Times Up) was away from his hand and Chase rode him easy. None of them better slow down. It’s going to be a race till the end.”
Outlaw does not intend to rest this summer.
He is next headed to Rocksprings, Texas, on Friday and Saturday night for the two TPD events taking place at the Edwards County Fairgrounds. The Slick Rock Challenge begins at 8 p.m. ET each night.
Leme, No. 5 Cody Teel, No. 19 Ezekiel Mitchell, No. 24 Brennon Eldred and No. 28 Taylor Toves are also expected to compete.
One rider can win up to 120 points toward the world standings if they win the back-to-back events.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko