ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jose Vitor Leme arrived at Honda Center with a 95.80-point lead in the PBR Teams MVP race.

He left with 2.55.

Three days were enough for Paulo Eduardo Rossetto to nearly erase the gap, match Leme’s PBR Teams consecutive-ride record and help push the Missouri Thunder to No. 1 in the league.

Leme entered Anaheim with a league-record 12 straight qualified rides and 1,328.85 aggregate points to Rossetto’s 1,233.05. By Sunday afternoon, Leme still held first place. Almost everything around him had changed.

The three-time PBR World Champion — 2020, 2021 and 2025 — opened Friday by covering Young Buck for 86.80 points in Austin’s 263.30-172.25 victory over New York, extending his record to 13 straight.

Rossetto answered almost immediately. The Missouri Thunder standout covered Fury for 90.75 points as Missouri overwhelmed the defending PBR Teams Champion Carolina Cowboys 272.65-89.50. It was Rossetto’s 11th consecutive qualified ride in PBR Teams competition, continuing a streak that had developed alongside Missouri’s climb through the standings.

Rossetto is the only bull rider in Western sports history to consistently compete ambidextrously, switching riding hands based on the direction he expects a bull to turn. Whether the matchup favors left or right, Rossetto can put that hand in the rope and work into it — a weapon no other rider has consistently brought to the sport at this level.

The weekend turned Saturday night.

Leme was matched with Chewy. One night after pushing his PBR Teams record to 13 consecutive qualified rides, Leme was on the ground in 4.23 seconds. Chewy earned a 43.40 bull score and ended the hottest riding streak in the league.

Rossetto did not give anything back. He rode The HONDO for 90.05 points, extending his streak to 12 consecutive qualified rides as Missouri shut out New York 265.30-0. By the end of Saturday, Leme had 1,415.65 aggregate points and Rossetto had 1,413.85.

The margin had fallen to 1.80.

Sunday offered Leme the first chance to respond to a buckoff in weeks, and he did. Leme covered OptiWize Rescue Story for 88.45 points as Austin edged Florida 262.90-259.35. It was the 400th qualified ride of his career at PBR’s premier level, moving him to No. 11 on the all-time list.

The milestone added another line to a résumé that already included the highest-marked ride in PBR history, three PBR World Championships, back-to-back PBR Teams MVP awards in 2022 and 2023, and Austin’s 2024 PBR Teams Championship, clinched when Leme covered Tijuana Two-Step for 89 points.

But Sunday belonged just as much to the man chasing him.

Rossetto covered Me More Cowboy for 87.70 points in Missouri’s 171.85-0 shutout of Texas, extending his streak to 13 consecutive qualified rides and tying Leme’s PBR Teams record.

By the time Anaheim was over, the leaderboard looked almost symmetrical. Both Leme and Rossetto had ridden 17 of 20 bulls, and both were riding at 85%. Leme remained first with 1,504.10 aggregate points. Rossetto was second with 1,501.55.

Rossetto’s surge had become inseparable from Missouri’s own. The Thunder swept Anaheim 3-0, improving to 14-6 and tying Nashville for the league’s best record. Missouri held the No. 1 position through the first standings tiebreaker — season-long aggregate ride score — after putting more qualified rides and points on the board across its 20 games. A team that had spent much of the season chasing the top of the standings left the final neutral-site stop with everyone else chasing it.

And Rossetto was hardly carrying the Thunder alone. Missouri beat the defending champion Carolina Cowboys 272.65-89.50 on Friday, blanked New York 265.30-0 on Saturday and shut out Texas 171.85-0 on Sunday. Across three games, the Thunder outscored their opponents 709.80-89.50.

Macaulie Leather supplied Anaheim’s biggest exclamation point. His 93.35-point ride on King Tut Friday for Missouri was the highest-scored ride of the 2026 PBR Teams season to this point and Leather’s career best at the premier level. King Tut was marked 45.10, while Leather recorded his fourth 90-point ride of the season. Rossetto may have been chasing an MVP, but Missouri’s depth was turning his individual run into something larger: a legitimate push for the No. 1 seed at the 2026 PBR Teams Championship.

Austin left Anaheim on a four-game winning streak, while Leme remained in position to add another piece of PBR Teams history. If he holds off Rossetto for the 2026 Horse Soldier MVP Award and its $100,000 bonus, Leme would become a three-time PBR Teams MVP, winning the honor in three of the league’s first five seasons.

Leme arrived in Anaheim with room to breathe. Rossetto made sure he left without it.

Now, with the MVP race nearly even and both riders operating at 85%, there is no cushion left to protect and no ground left to casually surrender.

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media