CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Grayson Cole (New Ringgold, Penn.) made Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour history after earning his second Velocity Tour Championship Saturday night at Hilliard Center, becoming the first rider to win multiple PWVT Championships (2024, 2026) in the tour’s 12-year history.
Despite going 0-2 in Corpus Christi, Cole parlayed two event wins and five top 10 finishes to earn 655 points on the season, clinching the tour championship by 44 points over Macaulie Leather (Calliope, Queensland, Australia) who finished runner-up with 611 season points.
“I didn’t ride any bulls this week, so we’re gonna go out next week and try to take some of that big money,” Cole said. “It’s all in God’s hands, and maybe we’ll get some round wins at World Finals.”
Cole won the 2024 PWVT Championship, and after finishing seventh in 2025 was able to rebound to make tour history in taking the 2026 buckle.
Following tonight’s event, five riders qualified for the prestigious PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast Rounds 1-4 in Fort Worth, Texas:
Cole Grayson Velocity Tour Champion
Gustavo Luiz da Silva (Inocencia, Brazil) International invitee
Macaulie Leather PWVT standings
Romario Leite (Brotas, Brazil) PWVT standings
Wyatt Rogers (Hulbert, Oklahoma) PWVT standings
These riders will advance to the first four rounds of World Finals competition at Cowtown Coliseum from May 7-10 followed by Dickies Arena May 14-17 where the 2026 World Champion will be crowned.
Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas) had a spectacular weekend in Corpus Christi, going 3-for-3 and recording two monster 90+ rides in the opening two rounds. He bested Doze You Down for 90.75 points Friday night, a round high, followed by another round-winning 90.95-point outing on Long Gone in round two.
Keeping finished the sweep with another high score of 88.10 points on Flapjack in the Championship Round. He was one of three riders to earn three rides on the weekend.
"It's a blessing God gives me the opportunity to do what I love," Keeping said to Kate Harrison on the RidePass broadcast. "I was tickled to get on Flapjack, who I have a love-hate relationship with. Guess he loves me tonight."
Luiz da Silva finished second in Corpus Christi with an aggregate score of 261.35 points on the weekend. He bested Stardust in the second round for 85.90 points to go 2-for-2 before tacking on 87 more points on It’s Cherry to close out his weekend.
Finishing in third for the event was Dener Barbosa (Paulo de Faria, Brazil) with 230.85 points. Barbosa rode Big Lunchfor 56.50 points in the second round, electing not to take the re-ride and keep the score. In the Championship Round, he rode Strapper for 86.20 points to earn bronze at the event.
Eli Vastbiner of Statesville, North Carolina took fourth at the event with an 86.40-point ride in the second round on Ah Hell, following 89.60 Points on UTZ BesTex Legend on Friday, for a total of 176 points on the weekend.
Leather rode Toad in the second round for 87.35 points to put up 174.75 points on the weekend, gaining 82 points in the standings to move to second in the standings.
The riders converted a total of 21 qualified rides Saturday night following the 23 from round one for 44 total rides at the Finals event.
Velocity Tour replays are available on RidePass and on the PBR App (mobile, web and CTV).
Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals
Hilliard Center – Corpus Christi, Texas
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)
1. Daniel Keeping, 90.75-90.95-88.1-269.80-346 Points.
2. Gustavo Luiz da Silva, 88.45-85.9-87-261.35-183 Points.
3. Dener Barbosa, 88.15-56.5-86.2-230.85-134 Points.
4. Eli Vastbinder, 89.6-86.4-0-176.00-92 Points.
5. Macaulie Leather, 87.4-87.35-0-174.75-82 Points.
6. Julio Cesar Marques, 86.9-87.1-0-174.00-64 Points.
7. Bruno Carvalho, 89.75-83.95-0-173.70-60 Points.
8. Mason Taylor, 87.25-86.2-0-173.45-38 Points.
9. Eric Novoa, 85.3-86.55-0-171.85-32 Points.
10. Donnie Rutherfurd, 82.15-87.05-0-169.20-32 Points.
11. Guilherme Valleiras, 0-90.8-0-90.80-33 Points.
12. Saul Zambrano, 89.1-0-0-89.10-24 Points.
13. Braidy Randolph, 0-88.45-0-88.45-26 Points.
14. Hudson Bolton, 88.35-0-0-88.35-20 Points.
15. Zane Cook, 87.75-0-0-87.75-16 Points.
16. Jean Carlos Teodoro, 0-87.5-0-87.50-24 Points.
17. Cassio Dias, 87.15-0-0-87.15-10 Points.
18. Marcus Mast, 0-87-0-87.00-16 Points.
19. Elijah Jennings, 86.8-0-0-86.80-8 Points.
20. Eric Henrique Domingos, 86.7-0-0-86.70-8 Points.
21. Vitor Losnake, 86.65-0-0-86.65-8 Points.
22. Ednei Caminhas, 0-85.95-0-85.95-8 Points.
23. Lucas Martins Costa, 0-85.85-0-85.85-8 Points.
24. Romario Leite, 85.75-0-0-85.75-8 Points.
25. Jean Fernandes Pereira, 0-85.25-0-85.25-8 Points.
26. Michael Lane, 85.2-0-0-85.20-8 Points.
27. Lucas Divino, 85.05-0-0-85.05-8 Points.
28. Brody Robinson, 84.9-0-0-84.90-8 Points.
29. Manoelito de Souza Junior, 0-84.8-0-84.80-8 Points.
30. Andy Guzman, 84.6-0-0-84.60-8 Points.
31. Dione de Souza Ribeiro, 83.9-0-0-83.90-8 Points.
Grayson Cole, 0-0-0-0.00
Jaxton Mortensen, 0-0-0-0.00
Kaleb Lewis, 0-0-0-0.00
Carlos Garcia, 0-0-0-0.00
Wyatt Rogers, 0-0-0-0.00
Vinicius Rodrigues Pereira, 0-0-0-0.00
Aaron Williams, 0-0-0-0.00
Cash Keeling, 0-0-0-0.00
Afonso Quintino, 0-0-0-0.00
Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 0-0-0-0.00
Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 0-0-0-0.00
Nathan Bayous, 0-0-0-0.00
Marshall Senger, 0-0-0-0.00
Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Standings
(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5's, Points, Total Winnings)
1. Grayson Cole, 26, 3, 6, 655.00, $81,834.42
2. Macaulie Leather, 12, 0, 8, 611.00, $39,727.70
3. Nick Tetz, 8, 4, 6, 597.50, $33,433.68
4. Dener Barbosa, 17, 1, 11, 590.00, $34,366.06
5. Daniel Keeping, 3, 2, 2, 560.00, $77,957.96
6. Romario Leite, 22, 3, 8, 545.50, $28,667.01
7. Wyatt Rogers, 21, 1, 7, 517.50, $31,153.24
8. Trace Redd, 9, 2, 5, 499.50, $28,167.08
9. Elijah Jennings, 15, 2, 5, 483.00, $23,268.33
10. Brody Robinson, 30, 0, 5, 421.50, $19,167.22
11. Andy Guzman, 11, 2, 3, 418.00, $19,630.00
12. Jaxton Mortensen, 15, 3, 4, 410.00, $22,023.45
13. Mason Taylor, 11, 2, 4, 400.00, $18,684.38
14. Kurt Shephard, 9, 3, 6, 395.00, $88,195.41
15. Braidy Randolph, 19, 0, 6, 394.00, $18,927.66
16. Zane Cook, 19, 1, 5, 390.00, $15,540.00
17. Ezekiel Mitchell, 11, 1, 4, 377.00, $16,390.00
18. Eric Novoa, 16, 0, 6, 363.00, $21,318.41
19. Marcus Mast, 16, 1, 2, 359.00, $12,877.52
20. Vinicius Rodrigues Pereira, 20, 1, 5, 351.00, $17,071.10
21. Kase Hitt, 7, 2, 3, 348.50, $20,973.64
22. Manoelito de Souza Junior, 19, 0, 6, 346.00, $16,592.63
23. Jared Parsonage, 3, 2, 2, 323.00, $116,566.29
24. Jean Fernandes Pereira, 21, 1, 6, 318.00, $17,106.37
25. Dakota Buttar, 10, 0, 3, 297.00, $21,256.11
26. Jean Carlos Teodoro, 19, 3, 7, 270.50, $15,664.12
27. Donnie Rutherfurd, 11, 2, 3, 260.50, $15,405.81
28. Dione de Souza Ribeiro, 26, 0, 7, 259.50, $13,671.86
29. Guilherme Valleiras, 15, 1, 5, 245.00, $12,902.46
30. Zane Hall, 9, 2, 3, 238.00, $17,517.36
31. Cody Coverchuk, 8, 0, 3, 230.00, $11,251.55
32. Gustavo Luiz da Silva, 6, 1, 2, 226.50, $20,226.58
32. Rogério Venâncio, 6, 1, 3, 226.50, $11,254.31
34. Bruno Carvalho, 7, 1, 2, 226.00, $27,921.67
35. Eli Vastbinder, 10, 0, 3, 221.50, $13,050.00
36. Afonso Quintino, 5, 1, 2, 220.00, $10,788.73
36. Warley Oliveira da Silva, 6, 0, 2, 220.00, $4,189.00
38. Kaleb Lewis, 9, 0, 3, 218.00, $12,135.00
39. Kade Madsen, 5, 1, 2, 214.00, $16,072.11
40. João Paulo Fernandes, 8, 1, 2, 210.00, $9,240.00
41. Alex Oliveira, 6, 2, 3, 208.50, $5,855.67
42. Tahj Wells, 14, 0, 3, 198.00, $6,954.17
43. Carlos Garcia, 9, 1, 1, 196.00, $7,120.00
44. Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 13, 2, 3, 194.50, $8,934.42
45. Jake Gardner, 7, 0, 3, 192.50, $37,711.62
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media