PUEBLO, Colo. – There’s never a bad time to earn your first victory on the premier series tour, but for 2021 Rookie of the Year Eli Vastbinder, it may have come at just the right time.
Producing a flawless 3-for-3 performance at the PBR Express Ranches Classic, presented by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma, including an impressive 90.5-point ride atop hometown favorite Tulsa Time to cap off his productive weekend, the Statesville, North Carolina, native had something to build on.
While Vastbinder had logged a quality showing in Chicago earlier this year, courtesy of a 3-for-3 effort, his 87 points aboard Pookie Holler during the short round weren’t enough to get the job finished.
When he selected to compete against a talented bovine the next time he entered a championship round, he wouldn’t settle for anything less than the title.
“Anytime you can stay on three is a great accomplishment and then to come out of there as the winner, it’s even better. I had a slow start to my season and was kind of fighting things there for a while, so it was nice to be able to get that win.”
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“This whole sport is about confidence and riding that momentum, so any time you’re on a heater and riding good, everything is firing on all cylinders, any time you can look back on those weekends and pick apart the good from what happened those weekends, it gives you a little bit of confidence,” Vastbinder said.
The victory has served as a bright point in Vastbinder’s campaign, but has been sandwiched between his slow start to the year and now three consecutive buck offs after getting banged up a bit in Tulsa and adding some ailments the following weekend in Eugene, Oregon.
There are a lot of directions riders can potentially ponder exploring when not finding success. Often times the situation begs the question: What can one change? Or, better yet, does one change anything, at all?
Never an easy question when there’s so much on the line.
“It shouldn’t change … things shouldn’t change whether you have a little good luck or bad luck. You try to keep the same mindset and the same thing every single time, but it’s hard,” Vastbinder admitted.
“This is our livelihood, this is how we make a living, this is how I feed my family and give us the things we need and want, so anytime things aren’t going good, it’s hard not to change things. It’s hard not to think about it, hard not to wonder what you’re doing wrong.
“With that comes a winning attitude. All winners have a winning attitude, but you can’t dwell on it. You look at what you did wrong and fix it and go on, not sit there and dwell on it.”
Currently ranked No. 18 in the Unleash The Beast standings heading into this weekend’s PBR Brew City Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Vastbinder isn’t worried about the standings. He’s just focused on keeping a clear mind and riding his bulls.
“I don’t even look at them, especially with this last year I’ve had,” Vastbinder shared, referencing the unfortunate streak of injuries the 31-year-old has endured.
“For a while there, if I heard about the standings or seen the standings, it just hurt, so I didn’t look. There are different times when you look, but you either get excited or you get nervous, one of the two. The only time I seem to look is when I’m getting close to No. 1 or close to No. 35.”
Quite literally in the middle of the two referenced positions, the experienced professional has boiled his approach down to two key factors.
“All I can control is my effort and attitude, really,” Vastbinder said.
“I have to keep a good attitude and keep faith in myself, and then I have to have that effort: In the arena and at home, I have to put out the effort to be a World Champion and do the things I need to do to get me there, so as long as I keep those two things above everything else and only worry about them, I’ll be just fine.”
With the 2023 World Finals set to invade Dickies Arena May 12-21, Unleash The Beast points are ever-important, as Vastbinder will look to start the weekend in the ride column, first matched against Family Tradition in Saturday’s Round opening ride of action.
As the race to be crowned 2023 World Champion continues to heat up, let’s take a look at who’s drawing into the lineup during this weekend’s PBR Brew City Classic in Milwaukee.
WHO’S IN FOR MILWAUKEE Jose Vitor Leme Dalton Kasel Andrew Alvidrez Kaique Pacheco Cooper Davis Rafael Jose de Brito Daniel Keeping Boudreaux Campbell Dener Barbosa Keyshawn Whitehorse Jesse Petri Silvano Alves Joao Ricardo Vieira Mason Taylor Eli Vastbinder Tate Pollmeier Wingson Henrique da Silva Dakota Louis Sandro Batista Derek Kolbaba Manoelito de Souza Junior Koltin Hevalow Braidy Randolph Kyler Oliver Ramon de Lima Ezekiel Mitchell Marcus Mast Colten Fritzlan Wyatt Rogers Flavio Zivieri Mauricio Gulla Moreira Alex Cerqueira Griffin Smeltzer Claudio Montanha Jr. Nick Tetz Michael Lane Tyler Manor Chase Dougherty
OUT BECAUSE OF INJURY/OTHER Luciano De Castro Marcelo Procopio Pereira Brady Oleson Jess Lockwood Bob Mitchell Austin Richardson JP Souza Briggs Madsen Ednei Caminhas Rafael Henrique dos Santos Eduardo Aparecido Casey Roberts
FAMILIAR FACES
2022 PBR Canada World Champion Nick Tetz is prepared to join the Unleash The Beast action for the second time ever this weekend after making his premier series debut earlier this season in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While the 23-year-old Calgary, Alberta, native went 0-for-2 in that appearance, he’s coming off his first PBR Canada event title of the season. Going 2-for-3, including an impressive 86-point effort matched against Sure Shot in the short round, Tetz earned 140 national points and leads No. 2 Brock Radford by 26.5 points in the race to be crowned the 2023 PBR Canada World Champion. He’ll look to start this weekend’s showcase on a good note with a matchup against Death Warrant Saturday in Milwaukee.
After finishing in ninth place during the PBR SoCal Showdown in just his fourth career UTB appearance, fellow Canadian Griffin Smeltzer returns to premier series action this weekend with a matchup against Zorro. After posting an 86.5-point ride atop Mikey’s Surprise then bucking off his last two opponents a few weekends ago in Los Angeles, the No. 20-ranked PBR Canada rider will look to start strong in his fifth invitation to the big stage and bright lights.
By way of the qualifier list, Claudio Montanha Jr. will make his second Unleash The Beast appearance of the 2023 season, beginning with a Saturday night matchup against Wicked Lunatic. Currently ranked No. 1 in the Pendleton Velocity Whisky Tour standings, 14-for-26 (53.9%) overall, the 33-year-old Brazilian is 3-for-4 in his last two PWVT events, most recently besting 1 Keytell for 85.5 points last weekend at the Knoxville Invitational. 32-year-old Michael Lane, who’s currently ranked No. 9 in the PWVT standings, is set to appear in his first Unleash The Beast event since June 11, 2021. He’ll accept a challenge from Live Fire Saturday to kick things off as the Tazewell, Virginia, native looks to prove he belongs on the premier series tour once again.
LEME BRINGS 56.5-POINT LEAD INTO MILWAUKEE
Two-time World Champion Jose Vitor Leme currently holds a 56.5-point lead heading into Milwaukee, but it’s been No. 2 Dalton Kasel who’s enjoyed the limelight as of late. Fresh off capturing a pair of consecutive Unleash The Beast event titles in Los Angeles, California, and Little Rock, Arkansas, Kasel has been applying some pressure to the top-ranked riders, most recently surpassing No. 3 Andrew Alvidrez after last weekend’s second-straight win. Leme, who hasn’t earned a championship round berth since Feb. 11 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a combined 2-for-6 since that short round attempt nearly a month ago, and joins Alvidrez (1-for-6) in a recent slump. Kasel, however, is now 5-of-6 throughout his last two events, and will look to keep his three-out ride streak alive during Saturday night’s Round 1 showdown with Cabo. Leme is set to challenge Spirit World in the opening round, while Alvidrez will attempt to best Smooth Singer inside Fiserv Forum.
ROUND 1 REMATCHES
Alex Cerqueira vs. Detroit Lean (2.73 seconds at PBR ZipRecruiter Invitational, presented by Ariat in Indianapolis, Indiana) Casey Roberts vs. Prime Tested (4.08 seconds at Thunder Days in Ridgedale, Missouri)
FOLLOW ALONG
As this weekend’s showdown in Milwaukee quickly approaches, the action is set to begin Saturday, March 11 at 6:45 p.m. CST, with Round 1 set to air on RidePass on Pluto TV. The second round and championship go are slated to begin at 1:45 p.m. CST on Sunday, March 12, with the weekend’s championship round set to debut on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, March 12 at 3 p.m. CST.
Fans can stay tuned to PBR.com and PBR social media channels throughout the weekend for the latest scores, wrecks, injury updates and beyond as the world’s best bull riders prepare to compete at the PBR Brew City Classic inside Fiserv Forum March 11-12.
Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media