Desmond Purnell
The Carolina Cowboys and the Kansas City Outlaws continue to be the dominant leaders in the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series standings.
However, the field for the regular-season MVP race is up for grabs.
Heading into this weekend’s PBR Teams Series in Anaheim, a whopping 13 riders are within shouting distance of the top spot on the leader board.
What makes this MVP race even more palatable, three riders are separated by less than one ride score at the top of the standings.
Team Series MVP Standings
1. John Crimber (Florida Freedom) - 1,287 points
No Rider in PBR history has received the long-term hype and attention that John Crimber has had, tracing back to when he won the Mini Bull Riders Senior Division Championship in Las Vegas in 2019 at the age of 12. In many cases in sports, the hype isn’t justified. This isn’t one of those cases.
- Crimber dominated the PBR Challenger Series since debuting a day after his 18th birthday in August 2023. He finished 2nd in the premier UTB series in 2024. Now Crimber is the closer for the Florida Freedom, making his team a title contender while making a run to become 2024 Teams MVP.
- Hailed as “a generational talent,” the most exciting young bull-riding prospect to emerge since the formation of PBR Team Series... Crimber was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 Teams Rider Draft to start the league’s third season.
- Crimber is the son of 10-time PBR World Finals qualifier Paulo Crimber (now his coach on the Freedom).
- Crimber started riding at the age of five. He won the MBR championship at 12. He continued to take the youth bull riding circuit by storm, winning the National High School Rodeo Association Bull Riding titles in 2021 and 2022 and the Tuff Hedeman Bull Riding buckle in 2023.
2. Jose Vitor Leme (Austin Gamblers) 1,227 points
Leme is a two-time league MVP with the Austin Gamblers who are stacked with top riders (2020 & 2021 World Champion Leme, 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco and home run hitter Dalton Kasel).
Leme, a former soccer star in Brazil, owns the two highest scored rides in PBR history, both on Woopaa. Leme's PBR 2021 world championship was arguably the most dominant season in the sport's history. He set a new record for highest scored ride in PBR history. Leme owns the distinction of the best rider in Teams' league history thus far, leading Austin to two regular season championships.
However, a Teams championship eludes Leme. Individual MVP honors are great... but is it unfulfilling without a Teams title? Can Leme lead the Gamblers to a title this year?
3. Sandro Batista (Kansas City Outlaws) 1,216 points
Batista began bull riding at the age of eight while also (as many of our Brazilian athletes do) playing soccer. As a kid, Batista idolized Neymar Jr.
After initial stints with the Arizona Ridge Riders and Carolina Cowboys in 2022, the Outlaws acquired Batista in a trade with Carolina on September 27, 2023. He has been a valuable rider for Kansas City ever since.
In 2022, Batista became the first Challenger Series Championship Event champion - before tacking on two more clutch rides in Vegas during Carolina's postseason run.
Batista completed half of the 2023 season on Unleash The Beast before returning to Brazil. He went 7-for-23 (30.43%) on the top tour in 2024.
To push his way into the Top-5 of the MVP race, Batista just finished a remarkable 8-out ride streak, the longest streak on PBR Teams so far this season!
4. Cassio Dias (Kansas City Outlaws) 1,125 points
Dias is a great example of how PBR Teams helps PBR as a sport in attracting and developing talent. All-time ride PBR leader World Champion, Guilherme Marchi, is an assistant coach for the Kansas City Outlaws. Marchi had his eye on the young Brazilian. Dias was drafted and brought to the US for Teams competition first, to compete for K.C.
Dias competed first in teams and then he won the individual 2024 individual UTB Championship and rookie of the year honors in UTB - becoming only the 2nd rider in PBR history to win both honors in same season.
And Dias did that in remarkable fashion…. A week before the Championship Weekend was to be held at AT&T Stadium, during the preliminary rounds at Cowtown Coliseum, Dias was flung, stomped on, and back-boarded out of the arena. He was hospitalized with lower back fractures and other injuries. Many thought his season was over. Dias shocked the entire PBR landscape by returning a week later to compete inside the home of the Dallas Cowboys to win the title! That is toughness and grit!
The PBR Team Series next stop is Anaheim, California, for PBR Teams: Anaheim on Sept. 13-15 (Sept. 13 at 10 p.m. ET, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. ET and Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. ET on Merit Street and Merit+
* Photo Credit - Bull Stock Media
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