Decatur resident Kaique Pacheco No. 1 heading into PBR World Finals
Kaique Pacheco, a Brazilian who lives in Decatur, will enter next month’s Professional Bull Riders World Finals atop the world title race.
Pacheco ascended to No. 1 after finishing second during last weekend’s Built Ford Tough Series tour stop in Tucson.
The Tucson tour stop was the last show of the 2016 regular season on the Ford Series, the association’s top tier tour. The PBR World Finals is scheduled for Nov. 2-6 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Pacheco will enter the World Finals with 4,980.33 points. Cooper Davis, of Jasper is ranked No. 2 with 4,757.50.
Davis entered the Tucson show with the No. 1 ranking, but he slipped down a notch in the world standings after failing to make a qualified ride.
North Carolina cowboy J.B. Mauney, the defending world champion, is ranked No. 3 with 4,302.50. Mauney finished ninth in Tucson, a two-day show that concluded Sunday.
Arkansas cowboy Chase Outlaw clinched the title in Tucson. He’s ranked 23rd in the world race.
Kimzey coming over
Defending Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bull riding champion Sage Kimzey has accepted an invitation to compete in this weekend’s Professional Bull Riders’ BlueDEF Tour Finals in Las Vegas, according to pbr.com.
The show is scheduled for Oct. 29-31, at the South Point Hotel, Spa and Casino Arena.
If Kimzey finishes in the top two, he will advance to the 2016 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals. If Kimzey qualifies for the Nov. 2-6 championships, it would mean the defending PBR champion (Mauney) and the defending PRCA champion (Kimzey) would be competing against each other for the first time ever at the PBR World Finals.
Kimzey, a 22-year-old cowboy from Strong City, Okla., has never competed at a PBR event that has offered fans solely bull riding. However, he has competed in two rodeos in which the PBR approved the bull riding segment: the Calgary Stampede in Alberta and the RFD-TV’s The American at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium.
The PBR’s BlueDEF Tour mostly features young, emerging riders who are attempting to earn a berth on the PBRs elite Built Ford Tough Series, and Kimzey received the invitation to compete in the Finals from the PBR’s Executive Competition Committee.
A strong showing could give Kizmey a nice payout for eight days of work.
He told pbr.com he was excited about the possibility of earning $300,000 by competing three days at the BlueDEF Tour Finals and five days that the PBR Built Ford World Finals.
College rodeo update
After competing in the first three rodeos of the regular season in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southern Region, Hill College’s men’s team is ranked No. 1. Hill has earned 1,569.5 points. Sam Houston State is ranked No. 2 with 1,516.5.
This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Decatur resident Kaique Pacheco No. 1 heading into PBR World Finals."