FORT WORTH, Texas – After seeing 2024 PBR World Champion Cassio Dias narrowly capture the sport’s grandest honors last spring inside AT&T Stadium, a fire was lit within then 18-year-old John Crimber, who came up just 238.5 UTB points short of his ultimate goal.

It’s never a fun feeling chasing down the very prize you’ve been dreaming of obtaining for more than a decade – But a No. 2 placement during his outright rookie campaign was surely a good sign for things to come.

And when the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series regular season came to a close in Glendale, Arizona, no man had pieced together a better 12-event slate than the young Florida Freedom star.

Ending his inaugural 5-on-5 campaign with a tour-topping 26-for-40 record, he outperformed the league’s first-ever Great 8 Award recipient in Brady Fielder by two qualified rides en route to reminding his red, white and blue-themed squad he’s got what it takes to lead the squad to the promised land.

Attempting six more bulls than any other rider, it was clear his body was feeling good and that his Head Coach, Paulo Crimber, was intent on helping his son win big, regularly featuring the kid within Shootout Round competition.

And very often he’d show up on the scoreboard in a big way, adding some points to his MVP run while injecting some additional adrenaline into the Freedom locker room.

Recording a competitive seven 90-point rides throughout the four-month season, he redefined what it means to set the bar.

Helping his team to a franchise-best 16-12 record, which was good enough for a No. 3 seed at the 2024 PBR Teams Championship, there wasn’t a rider amongst the 90-plus that suited up which brought a greater impact to their respective squad.

As if that wasn’t enough, Crimber went on to secure the 2024 PBR Teams Championship MVP honors as well, thanks to an eye-popping 4-for-5 performance throughout the dramatic gauntlet.

So, as we prepare to usher in the fourth season of PBR Camping World Team Series action, with the season officially kicking off July 11-13 during Wildcatter Days in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, we’re taking a pass down memory lane as we take a victory lap on the young phenom’s successful stretch.   

Today, PBR.com’s From the Vault series looks back on the 5-on-5 landscape’s second-ever PBR Teams MVP recipient!

John Crimber wins 2024 PBR Teams MVP award, avenging world title disappointment

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Heading into the last weekend of the 2023 PBR World Finals this past May, John Crimber was down, but not quite out.

Ranked No. 2 in the world and rapidly gaining ground on No. 1 Cassio Dias, Crimber needed to be perfect and have Dias stub his toe if he wanted to win the 2024 World Championship.

But Crimber bucked off his last bull of the season, and Dias did enough to maintain his lead and win the world title. Crimber went home empty-handed.

Heading into the last weekend of the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series season, Crimber – the 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick of the Florida Freedom – was in almost the same position.

He trailed Brady Fielder of the Texas Rattlers in the MVP race by 111.5 points with a maximum of six bulls remaining at Ridge Rider Days in Glendale, Arizona, to make up ground.

Crimber desperately needed to convert on at least two bulls, and he needed Fielder – who won the Great 8 award for highest riding percentage and hadn’t bucked off two bulls in a row since July – to buck off a couple.

This time, Crimber wasn’t going home empty-handed.

RELATED: Crimber using heartbreaking world title miss to fuel his PBR Teams MVP chase

He made the 8-second whistle twice on Friday night, when the Rattlers had a bye, riding Where’s the Whisky for 77.25 points and Umm for 91.25 points in the shootout round to retake the lead by 57 points.

On Saturday, Fielder bucked off in the Rattlers’ loss to the Carolina Cowboys and, therefore, didn’t have the chance to get on in the shootout round. Crimber then rode High Ball for 90.25 points as the Freedom fell to the Kansas City Outlaws, meaning all would be decided on Championship Sunday.

Crimber led Fielder by 147.25 points. Fielder needed two qualified rides to stay alive. Shockingly, he bucked off his second bull in a row, and the rest was immaterial – Crimber had clinched the MVP award.

“It feels really good,” Crimber said. “It’s definitely a dream come true, but now that it’s over, we’re going to go to Vegas and hopefully get that gold buckle with the team.”

While leaving things until the last day of the regular season may have been stressful, Crimber knows he thrives in the position of the hunter.

“I think I like the chase,” he said. “I mean, of course, you want to be in first every time, but I think that made me work harder this week. I got on bulls every day. I got on at least two bulls a day, and I did what I needed to do to feel like myself before the weekend. Last weekend, I stubbed my toe on two bulls I shouldn’t have bucked off of, but I just went back home and put in the work that I needed to put in, and it all worked out how it’s supposed to.”

Crimber ended the season having gone 26-for-40 (65%), getting on six more bulls than any other rider this season (Fielder and Dias each attempted 34 bulls).

That’s no accident. The 19-year-old wanted to go all-out in his pursuit of the MVP award.

“I really just left it all in God’s hands because he’s the one that, if it’s in His will, that’s the way it was going to go,” Crimber said. “I just give all the glory to Him. I just tried to do my job every weekend, bull for bull. I went out this season the way I wanted to because I left nothing behind. No regrets for what I did, getting on the most bulls. I got on the most bulls out of everyone, and it’s just what I had to do.”

He and Fielder have battled it out in the standings all season, with Fielder ultimately finishing with 2,109.5 points (24-for-34, 70%) to Crimber’s 2,256.75 points. Fielder is the third rider in PBR Teams history to finish a season with a riding percentage of 70%, and his aggregate would’ve been enough to win the 2023 MVP award by 344.25 points.

“That guy’s an animal,” Crimber said of Fielder. “I told all my buddies, I said, ‘This isn’t going to be easy.’ I always thought he had the potential to be a contender to be a World Champion every year, and like I said, he’s an animal. He’s been the most consistent guy out there, and it was really fun going against that guy because he’d ride one, and I’d want to ride one, and I’d ride one, and he’d

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Crimber celebrates PBR Teams Championship MVP award as Freedom finish fourth

FORT WORTH, Texas – A year ago, John Crimber was an 18-year-old phenom tearing up the Challenger Series, placing fourth at the 2023 PBR Challenger Series Championship in Las Vegas.

He was too young to compete during the 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series season, though, so he missed out on the action inside T-Mobile Arena, where the Texas Rattlers were crowned the PBR Teams Champions.

Crimber has spent every moment since that time proving that he was well worth the hype.

During his debut Unleash The Beast season, he finished No. 2 in a world title race that came down to the final bulls of the season.

He was then drafted No. 1 overall by the Florida Freedom and proceeded to tear up PBR Teams in 2024.

Crimber ended the season having gone 26-for-40 (65%), getting on six more bulls than any other rider this season and making the 8 more than anyone else as well, becoming the first rider not named Jose Vitor Leme to win the regular-season MVP award.

RELATED: John Crimber wins 2024 PBR Teams MVP award, avenging world title disappointment

When he arrived in Las Vegas for the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series Championship, many expected him to carry the Freedom to their first title.

While that did not happen, Crimber went 4-for-4 to win the Teams Championship MVP award, leaving another marquee event with a big check.

He’s been doing some serious winning as of late.

“Trying to!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “I’m trying to!”

Crimber spent the regular season trying to win the MVP award. His team intentionally had him get on as many bulls as possible in Ride-In Rounds to get him more qualified rides, and the strategy worked.

In the postseason, however, Crimber didn’t even know there was an MVP award to be won.

“I didn’t even know there was an MVP for this event,” a still-astonished Crimber said. “It surprised me. Right before I got on my last bull, I heard them say I was leading the MVP of the Championship, and I was like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s awesome!’ It’s one thing that I didn’t know that could happen, but I was really happy because I wasn’t even in the championship round.”

The Freedom desperately needed Crimber’s contributions in their first two games, as he provided walk-off wins in both of them – he rode Riser for 88.75 points against the New York Mavericks and Mo Money for 89.75 points to upset the Rattlers.

That was all the winning the Freedom would do, going 0-for-2 on Championship Sunday. In both games – first against the Carolina Cowboys and next against the Kansas City Outlaws – the Freedom were mathematically eliminated by the time Crimber’s turn came up.

When teams have clinched a game, either a win or a loss, coaches can substitute new riders into the lineup or skip outs altogether. But not the Freedom, and not Crimber – he wanted to keep getting on, even if the outcome was already set.

“It kind of sucks, but I think it makes me want to ride better. I don’t know why,” Crimber said. “Versus Carolina, I think I just sat up there and didn’t even think about nothing and just rode my bull. And I think I rode a lot better, honestly. I don’t know what it was. Of course, I like winning. I prefer getting on knowing we won, but you’ve just got to have a clear mind and know you still have a job to do.”

RELATED: Crimber using heartbreaking world title miss to fuel his PBR Teams MVP chase

That was, in fact, Crimber’s best ride of the weekend, scoring 90.75 points on Renegade.

He then rode Peterbilt for 89.25 points against the Outlaws to cap off his season.

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Fans can stay tuned to PBR.com and @PBR social media channels throughout the offseason build-up as we continue to usher in the approaching 2025 PBR Camping World Team Series season!  

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media