FORT WORTH, Texas – Since leading the premier series pack for each of the tour’s first eight weeks, No. 3 John Crimber hasn’t seen his name listed atop the 2025 Unleash The Beast standings.

And while he’s still lurking behind both No. 1 Dalton Kasel and No. 2 Brady Fielder following the opening two rounds of the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Championship, he’s negated the deficit separating himself from the tour’s top dawgs.

All while nursing a completely broken collarbone. 

Having originally picked up the injury a few weeks back, he had an idea he’d be ailing a bit during the final weeks of the campaign.

But after suffering a complication during an unideal dismount via last week’s Eliminations segment, doctors upgraded the diagnosis from fractured to broken.

Of course, that simply meant the 19-year-old phenom would be rocking a sling for a few days as he healed up.

And while the idea of sitting out the biggest showcase of the season didn’t cross his mind, he wasn’t too confident about his odds a few days ago.

“Even though I bucked off that second one, I’m still walking out of this arena so thankful just being able to get on,” Crimber shared in the locker room Saturday night.

“At the beginning of the week when it happened I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it and I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He’s the one giving me all the strength to do this. I’m just thankful to be doing what I love for one more World Finals.” 

This is the type of cowboy shit that makes legends, well, legendary – And Mr. Crimber has certainly become quite the cowboy over the past 21 months or so since turning pro.

When you’re the sport’s next big thing – you have an established line to the best in the business.

Exactly who he phoned a few days after doubting his status.

And wouldn’t you know it the $7 million dollar cowboy had some wisdom to lend. 

“The main guy I talked to was definitely J.B. (Mauney). He’s the guy I called on Wednesday. Just kind of chatting it up – Just wondering what some stuff was and how I could do it and just the mentality is riding through an injury. He’s the guy that’s done it almost his whole career, so he gave me some good tips and just told me that winning feels a lot better,” he shared.

“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a weird pain. It’ll dang sure start hurting in a little bit when the adrenaline wears off. I can’t really bring my rope to my hand. My dad had to kind of help me a couple of times – just sort of a nagging pain, and uncomfortable pain. On the scale of 1 to 10? I’d say about 11 and a half. But we’re just trying to bare down and make it through, you know?”

The Decatur, Texas, native has only been around for two World Finals sessions at this point in his budding career.

But they’ve been pretty damn similar so far – Which he admitted following the opening night inside AT&T Stadium.

“100% -- It happened the same way last year. I rode my first one for 88 points and got third in the round last year then bucked off my second one,” Crimber said.

“Last year when I bucked off my second one, though, I remember I was frustrated and angry with myself. Kind of ungrateful for the opportunity. This year I think I’ve matured a lot in that way. Like I said, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it on Monday and I’m just going to try to have some fun with it. Live in the moment, for sure.”

Scored a quality 88.25 points aboard July, the very bull he used his third overall selection on during the opening round bull draft, tens of thousands of people inside Jerry World could see that the youngster was feeling some pain following the 8-second journey.

During it, however, it looked like he was in control all the way.

Which isn’t the only mirror-like takeaway we noticed when comparing the pair of season-culminating instances, as the triumphant warrior continues to battle through injury comes just one year after seeing the eventual 2024 PBR World Champion Cassio Dias fight through his own bumps and bruises. 

Knowing Dias was able to do enough to fend off a surging Crimber last spring, could this be a slice of destiny in the making? With Crimber in the driver’s seat this time? 

“Man, I’m just trying to worry about me and do my job – I’m not feeling any pain when I get on and just want to keep going out there and having fun,” he added.

“Last year in Teams, it was a hard-fought battle for the MVP as well. It came down to quite literally the last bull. And when you think about the world title last year, it came down to the last bull, so I’m just going to go out there and have fun. Leave it all in God’s hands and it dang sure motivates me knowing that I can do the type of stuff I did in the Teams season.” 

So, it’s far from the first time he’s gone on a wild goose chase. And likely far from the last time he’ll be involved in a dramatic championship shootout.

Now just 434 UTB points back from No. 1 Dalton Kasel and 196 UTB points behind No. 2 Brady Fielder, who each went 0-for-2 Saturday, he’s definitely keeping his dream alive. 

With 400 UTB points set to be awarded to Sunday’s aggregate winner and another pair of 80-point round wins available come the final session of the season, it sure seems like we’ve got some last-minute drama set to play out in Rounds 3 and 4. 

Fans can catch the final outs of the 2025 premier series season via Championship Sunday streams on PBR’s YouTube and X channels, RidePass, The Cowboy Channel and watch.pbr.com. 

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media